The ratings this year are even better than those of last year..

So I imagine SCD could last another 10 or so years...

However DOI looked like a healthy programme in 2009, yet it had plummeted and burned by 2014, so I guess we just can't guess.

However, I think SCD will go on for decades, but by the time it is axed it will bear no resemblance to the programme we used to know.

If ITV come up with something competitive then things might improve on Strictly.

If the opposition to Strictly is getting old faster then you can successfully get away with anything.

Oh gosh. That would be one hell of an improvement on SCD. It would avoid all the dross, joke candidates and journeys and get on with the show.

It can't / shouldn't be called "All-Stars". "Champions" maybe. And bring in all finalists into the field. Not sure how many of the pros have won a few times.

I think it'll either be massively successful for a few years as more people tune in for the drama and treat it as a reality show more, accept the manipulation.

Or it'll die slowly as the thrills it gives disconnect more and more from actual ballroom and latin and the judges get less and less credible and more people see it as just some manipulated rubbish.

With viewing figures consistently going up, and as long as the alternative in the time slot is XFactor, and as long as TPYB don't mess with the foormula, SCD could last a very long time.

Viewing figures for this years Strictly semi-final (9.9 million)were the lowest since 2009.

The X-Factors viewing figures on Saturday for the first part of the final (8.5 million)were the lowest since 2004.

Bump I stick by my prediction when this thread started of 20 series! The show is still going from strength to strength, and I swear it's only when it's coming to an end I realize how much I love it

I am amazed that after 13 years, it still doesn't feel tired in the slightest.

Until they run out of gimmicks.

SCD is one of the least gimmicky talent/popularity shows on TV.

I must be one of the very few people (maybe only a million or so) who think that Strictly is getting better over time - not necessarily with regard to contestants (that's always a lottery) but because it is able to send itself up a bit, while the competitiion itself remains just as intense.

For me, the whole atmosphere has loosened up with Tess and Claudia presenting, the judges rollicking into the arena, and the singers and band given proper recognition.. OK we are still quarrelling about camerawork and lack of feet, but that could improve next year - you never know.
Even those dreadful VTs are beginning to be cut down in length and tackiness - not all, but some.

For me the lighting and costumes were infinitely better in in 2015 than they were 5 years ago (some real hideosities come to mind).

We have also had some new iconic dances to add to the palette.

So that's my tuppenceworth. I prefer Strictly now, there are loads of new younger viewers coming in now - it is "cool" to like Strictly and some of the old fogey posters on the discussion forums may well find themselves displaced by an enthusiastic younger generation.

So I look forward to Series 20, even 25 before some meanie pulls the plug (Like they did with Dr Who, remember). But the BEEEB won't do this as long as they can exploit the franchise and sell the UK show all around the world.

Nothing lasts forever, but I say Strictly has a very minimum of at least 10 more years to go. Possibly a lot more!

I remember Charles Kennedy presenting Have I Got News For You and said something like 'The pollsters reckon the Liberal Democrats will have a very good election result... that's as long as the Liberal Democrat leader doesn't go and do something stupid!'

I have the same feeling about Strictly... it has a lot left in the tank as long as production don't do something stupid. There have been signs of stupidity this series, though, and The X Factor is there to show how quickly a show's fortunes can change.

All stars tend to be predictable as someone is better anyway and wins easily - like Big Brother, , or the results are random, and don't reflect merit. By definition its somone really good going every week on the lowest vote - because, usually ,of reasons that have nothing to do with the skill on show. Dancing on Ice was ridiculous in that the male winner's top opposition didn't turn up, the female runner up was the worst female skater competing, and the third best female skater went out in week one, for no rational reason at all. They . might as well have handed Ray the crown on day one and told jokes to win their placings

I don't know if the trend is moving the same way/speed in the UK as in the USA, but fewer and fewer people have television sets and they instead watch streaming videos from Netflix, Hulu and the like. This is especially true for younger people. Maybe that could eventually spell doom for Strictly?

I thought this year was interesting in that they found more good dancers than ever. The pool isn't drying up yet. An dit may be replaced - easily if they let the dancing on ice competitors in ,or with more difficulty if they go for the youngsters making a breakthrough without being too successful.

I always watch it on catch up and have for the last few series, can't remember when I last watched it live actually on the TV. I'm also not "young" either being in my 40s but I tend to watch any TV via my PC or laptop or tablet or via the PS3 on the TV.

'Strictly Come Dancing' grew out of 'Come Dancing', which dated back to the 1950s. It was a staid, leisurely programme about ballroom dancing, which was interesting for anyone into that, but tedious for anyone else. The 'Strictly' came from a surprisingly popular feature film, called 'Strictly Ballroom', which made dancing glamorous. Add the rising star of reality TV programmes at the time and you have a recipe for a winner. Now that 'Top Gear' has lost its three presenters, 'Strictly' must be the Beeb's biggest programme.

'Strictly' is now at its peak. It has survived the (more or less) departure of Bruce Forsyth, and I do not count myself among the Tess / Claudia detractors. I think they do a good job of maintaining the light-hearted ditziness which gives the show its charm (a feature pointedly missing on, say, 'The X Factor'). It will run for a good few years yet. Eventually, however, its flame will wither because that is what always happens. When that day comes, it will either have to be reinvented as something else (remember that the programme is, itself, a reinvention) or replaced altogether.