Hi. Someone I know has tickets for an upcoming show and they wondered what was the best time to turn up? He said that the doors open at 2pm but he thought he should get there before. Are tickets just general with no seat numbers, and it depends on where you are in the queue?

Thanks for any advice.

I'm surprised no one has responded yet to your thread . From what I read in the past around 11 to 12 if you want a good seat. I think its first come first served basis .

Thanks

I didn't realise that you had to be there so early. I expected maybe 4pm or something (I've never been so I wouldn't know).

Have fun!

Was replying but a blummin ad thing came up and I lost all my blummin typing. So here I go again....

Yes the earlier you get there the better, our filming did not start until seven thirty, we queued from ten thirty and we were fortieth in the queue. About two thirty they came came down the queue and put a number on our ticket so we could go away and go back later to get in. We had very good seats to the left of the judges, fab-u-lous.

Well worth the long wait tho.

Feena yes, it's a long old wait.... but you may be entertained by the judges or the dancers along the way... You have to surrender your mobile etc,. One year you got kit kats and orange juice in the break. I'd dress up if you want to be close to the front; you don't have a seat just because you've got a ticket and they do not want any gaps, so on the basis that some people will not turn up on the day.... it's best to be early !

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate it

My friend was very lucky to get tickets for yesterday, at least we thought we were lucky until we got there yesterday! Our tickets said admissions from 2.15, we got there to an amazingly huge queue at 2.30. Straightaway we were told that they had given out all the blue tickets (definite entry) and 150 white tickets (standby), and everyone else was turned away. We were gutted as we had no idea that you had to get there so early, we'd been at westfields shopping centre since 11am, so could have easily made it to the bbc at that time. It's ok if you are a regular to these events and know the process but many of us rely on what the bbc send out in the email, which said admissions at 2.15....it was such a disappointment and ruined the rest of our day. The bbc really need to think of a better process than the current excess over allocation.

That was your first posting so presumably you have not read the thread or two which appears here every year asking about the best time to arrive and join the queue.

Inside tips on when to arrive amounts to an escalating arms race. The more ticket-holders learn to arrive no later than 1pm, the quicker 12 noon and 11am will become the new safe time. Given the number of tickets sent out by BBC, the bottom line is that 100, 200, 300(?) ticketholders are doomed to travel in hope and arrive in despair.

What a shame for you.

I'm really sorry, it must have been such a disappointment for you

Sorry to have made yet another unnecessary thread, but thanks for taking the time to reply to it

Sorry you didn't get in but I've been to other less popular shows at the BBC where there have been empty seats in the audience. The problem of course is that since the tickets are free, then not everyone turns up so they have to send out more tickets than they have seats available. Even with Strictly, there will be some people who have got tickets who don't use them so they still have to send out more than the 450 or so that they need to send out to ensure a full studio. The question of course is how many extra tickets do they need to send out to ensure a full-house and for a show like Strictly where the audience is visible then they'll have no choice but to send out too many rather than too few.

Not that any of that will be any comfort for you of course but perhaps you could try contacting the BBC to see if you can get priority tickets to another recording?

I went last year and we arrived around 12pm. We got a guaranteed place when they came down with the stickers but we were around 100th in the queue. Our seats weren't fantastic to be honest, kind of under Tess's area and we had no view of the judges because of the stairs up to her bit. We had a good view of the dancing though.

It is really well organised though and they take you in strictly in number order so there is no queue jumping at all.

If I was to go again, I would aim to get there no later than 11am to ensure a better seat.

Hope this helps.

As much as I sympathise that you didn't get in I can't believe people think they're going to get in if they rock up at 2.30!

I haven't been lucky enough to go since series 7 but even then I got there at 10.30am, setting off from Devon at 6 in the monring just to make sure. I was in the first 10 in the queue. Safely in, no stress.

Worth remembering some weaks 70% of the tickets will go to production leaving only a couple hundred for joe public.

x x x x x

Turning away customers who arrive on time is a tradition unique to Strictly, and sadly not known to innocents who unlike sophisticated Vikki do not read this forum and as a result believe BBC to be an honest man

@vikkikaplinsky.....I know, perhaps we were naive to rock up at 2.30 and expecting that we would get in. I wish I had known about these forums prior to yesterday. I only posted my comment on here as someone was asking what time to get there and I didn't want them to have the same bad experience as us

Been lucky again (twice last year, 1x studio 1x Wembley) and off to watch SCD this week. Arrived at 12 last yr but not chancing it this yr! It's very well organised on the day, unlike the dark sides audience procedures (went yest) .....8 hrs of queuing, but you could keep your mobile! Lol

Just come across this useful thread......have applied for tickets for every show, as per BBC instruction, but when do you actually get to know if you've been successful? The FAQ's says tickets get sent out 2 weeks before the recording but do you get to know before that. Th BBC website says 'fully booked' but it would be fully booked the minute the tickets became available....still hoping..!!