I am determined to actually apply for tickets this year. I am still annoyed with myself for forgetting last year. So my question is does anyone know how and when I can apply for tickets? (I am presuming they are going to do a lottery like last year.) Thanks

They'll be on the BBC site come August presumably.

Ta! I thought so, I just don't want to miss out again.

I don't think it's as simple as remembering to apply for them unfortunately grockleprincess!!

Last year the tickets were like gold dust and I don't expect this year will be any different. What I found really amazing was the fact that even people lucky enough to get tickets apparently had to arrive hours early to ensure that they still got in!!

I got tickets for the first week last year.

I nearly died when I got the email.

Yeah you've got to get there at least 2 hours before the gates open

Hi Grockleprincess.

I signed up for an e-mail alert from the Beeb so that I could apply for tickets as soon as the lottery opened. I applied last year but had no luck.

Reading the Beeb forums very few people were fortunate enough to get any tickets, and in one memorable case someone got some but turned up way too late and didn't even get in!

'Celebs', on the other hand, seem to have no trouble getting in

Especially if they're in/were in Eastenders.

As often as they like as well - I've seen faces in the audience week after week which is so unfair on the GP who pay the licence fee.

Do they allocate them on a first come first served basis?

Camilla's sister was there when I went. Sue Barker and Stephanie Beacham.

You have to get there really early, I was 25th in the que and I got there 3 hours before the gates opened

It's done on a lottery/raffle type thing, or has been, so it doesn't matter how early you are into applying.

I wouldn't trust the emails the BBC sends out about tickets, last year I didn't receive an email about SCD tickets even though I had subscribed, so the best thing to do is to keep checking the online site.

That it just nonsense!!!! How cross would you be if that happened to you!!!!

I can see why they want to be sure of a full house but IMO they should have a "reserve" list, rather than bump the lucky ticket holders - I'm sure there'd be no shortage of fans who would be happy to turn up and queue on the off-chance of getting in.

Thanks for that laura. I wonder what percentage of a chance people have of getting tickets?

Think it varies between slim and none!!!!

They were very, very annoyed Floss. They did only turn up about an hour before the doors opened, but you would hope that if you'd been allocated a ticket you'd be guaranteed a seat. After all, SCD would be nothing without us, the fans, watching avidly and voting weekly. It would be nice to have a little bit of gratitude in return by way of a seat for the show, rather than simply filling it up with celebs and hangers-on.

I also recall someone getting shifted out of their seats because Ant and Dec had turned up! Imagine being seated then turfed out!

Those few who are lucky enough to get a ticket this year know now to turn up in plenty of time and unfortunately know that even that doesn't guarantee them a seat.

I can't remember how I came to this conclusion but I saw some statistic that said how many applications there were for tickets last year, I think it neared 250,000 and I worked out (I have no idea how) that the chances of getting a ticket was about 1 in 700 for me. I doubt that's accurate, I'd say chances were a lot slimmer!

If you think there are about 200 tickets available for us non-celebs per show and there are 12 live shows. That is not very many tickets at all to go round. Plus the fact celebs can have as many guests as they want, someone could probably fill up the whole studio with their friends/family if they wanted.

I am so disappointed after reading this page. I have been a fan from Series 1 and watched every show(thanks to Sky+). So when we were invited to a wedding in London I was over the moon, thinking I would finally get to see SCD in person.

So am I to understand, if you are lucky enough to get picked for a ticket, it doesn't guarantee you will get the date that you can go?

As far as I remember last year, you had to nominate the date you would like to go and then there was a lottery. You didn't just enter for Strictly tickets, you entered for Strictly tickets on x date.

you can apply for tickets for a particular date, but there's no guarantee you will get them as there are so many applications in the lottery. And you do need to queue for hours beforehand to make absolutely sure of getting in.

However, I believe those who got tickets last year but then didn't get in because it was already full, were then offered tickets for the Christmas Special, so it wasn't all bad - although obviously some people would have been unable to take up the offer as they had travelled from a long way away and couldn't then come back just before Christmas.

Thanks EmilyIRE. Maybe there's still a chance. Did you get to the show yourself?

Nope. They wouldn't accept my application as I live in Ireland.

Well so do I, but this wedding is in December and we are there for a long weekend. So hopefully I'll be lucky.

You need to put down an address for the tickets - so if your address is in Ireland you won't get them.

Even people with tickets fail to show so they allocate more tickets than seats. Production guest numbers are also only vaguely known until just before the show (they might make up 30-50% of the audience!). The first chunk of the public queue will get seats and go into the studio, the rest will get standby stickers and will be let in if there's space. I would suggest that downstairs is celebs and anyone gets bumped out for a celeb will go upstairs. Public would make up the blank spots once the celebs are seated.

On other shows anyone with a ticket who doesn't get in will get priority tickets for another date - don't know if strictly do this.