Student number: 21505969 Assessment 2: Transnational media
How the British television show Strictly come dancing has become global through the shows
television format and production?
The nature of the British television show Strictly come dancing will be carefully analysed and critiqued
to highlight how the program has become a huge global phenomenon (BBC Strictly come dancing, 2017
and Moran, 2009). Therefore, the creation of the shows format, the celebrities and their professional
dancers, the judges, the presenters and the dancing on the show will each be analysed to determine how
these elements have increased the shows globalisation (Moran, 2009: p88). Equally, a variety of
methodologies and relevant theories will be scrutinised to inform how the format of Strictly come
dancing has increased the show’s popularity and how the show has become a globalised product
(Steemers, 2004).
Over the last decade Strictly come dancing has become an internationally recognised television
programme that airs in over fifty countries worldwide including Sweden, Japan, India and Mexico to
name a few (BBC Worldwide, 2014). Strictly come dancing began in 2004 as a ballroom and Latin
dancing competition that was commissioned by the British television channel BBC one (Moran, 2009:
p87). Interestingly, Moran (2004) argues that broadcasters and producers of television shows rarely
produce their own programmes due to insufficient ideas and resources to create an entertainment show
(Moran, 2004 cited in Oren and Shahaf, 2013: p149). Moran (2004) expresses further that many
television broadcasters buy licensed television programmes from the distributor of the original program
and reproduce it into their own show which is referred to as format trade (Moran, 2004 cited in
Steemers, 2004: p58). BBC entertainment produced and created Strictly come dancing using the
foundation of an earlier show that was produced called Come dancing (1949-1998) aired on BBC one
which shows that BBC entertainment have recreated the concept of a ballroom dancing competition
show as a means of producing Strictly come dancing (Moran, 2009). Since the show Come dancing
(1949-1998) BBC entertainment later came up with the idea that twelve celebrities would each be
partnered with a professional dancer competing and learning how to dance on a live television show
(Moran, 2009). This indicates that BBC entertainment have ownership of Strictly come dancing but this
is subject to change when the show is sold to other countries because these countries will be licensed
with a degree of ownership to create their own version of the show (Moran, 2009: p88).
Furthermore, the show attracted 8.1 million viewers in 2004 which prompted Germany to become the
first country involved in the format trade of the show (Oren and Shahaf, 2013: p149). The German
television market were distributed with a license from BBC Worldwide to broadcast their own version
of Strictly come dancing which has since led to up to fifty other countries seeking a license to broadcast
, Student number: 21505969 Assessment 2: Transnational media
their own version of Strictly come dancing (Moran, 2009: p88). This shows that Strictly come dancing
has become a globally transported product and sold internationally because it is a huge globalised show
that countries have bought into the shows format (Oren and Shahaf, 2013: p64). This links to the term
‘globalisation’, Thompson (1995: p149) states that ‘globalization…refers to the growing
interconnectedness of different parts of the world… a process which gives rise to complex forms of….
interaction and interdependency’. This reinforces that Strictly come dancing is globalised because it
exchanges the shows format with countless countries around the world yet these countries adapt the
show in accordance with their culture to ensure they remain independent from the original version of the
show (Esser, Smith and Bernal-Merino, 2016). For example, the popularity of Strictly come dancing led
to the development of Australia developing their version of Strictly come dancing and renaming their
show to Dancing with the stars Australia in 2004 (Steemers, 2004). This has clear links to Roberston’s
social theory on globalisation (1992) as Robertson ignited that the preconceived ideas within society
regarding globalisation is that ‘bigger is better’ resulting in the locality of a globalised product lacking
acknowledgement (Robertson, 1992 cited in Robertson, 1995: p26). For example, Dancing with the
stars Australia made use of the same format as Strictly come dancing incorporating the same number of
judges, presenters, professional dancers and celebrities on the programme (Steemers, 2004). This shows
Dancing with the Stars Australia made use of the same format as Strictly come dancing which reinforces
that the show has not been locally revised because the show is trying to replicate Strictly come dancing
to ensure the show becomes a global phenomenon in their country (Esser et al, 2016).
On the other hand, Robertson (1992) outlines further that time and space are required to enable the
locality of a universalised product to become locally adapted by different cultures internationally
(Robertson 1992 cited in Robertson, 1995: p26). This is referred to as the ‘glocal’ whereby the
globalisation of a product becomes globally transported to different countries and the product changes
meaning (Moran, 2009). Strictly come dancing has become increasingly ‘glocal’ overtime because of
how globalised the show has become, although it did not take a long period for Strictly come dancing to
become locally adapted by different countries around the world (Esser, Smith and Bernal-Merino,
2016). For example, Dancing with the stars in Brazil was released in 2005 and the show made use of the
same format as Strictly come dancing yet the show made slight alterations along the way including
changing the number of contestants on the show, changing the voting rules and making use of local
talent in the community on the show (Oren and Shahaf, 2013: p63). This identifies that Brazil has
adapted the original version of Strictly come dancing to ensure that the show is culturally modified to fit
with their own culture (Oren and Shahaf, 2013: p64). The fact that Brazil have developed a different
format to Strictly come dancing is a way of making sure that this local production is a success because it
