Best: Without a doubt it would probably be Kara's year. Series 8 (2010). It was a totally revamped show and I think it had one of the best winners and runners up. Also perhaps was the series that turned SCD into a massive show to actually beat X Factor and be No.1.

Worst: Series 6 (2008). Just horrific winner and overall I remember being disappointed each week. Along with the disgraceful elimination of Austin over Snowdonia who obviously was going to lose. At least we got Bacofoil?

BEST. Series 5 (Honourable mentions: 4, 8, 9, 10)

WORST. Series 7 (Honourable mentions: 3 and 12)

I've only been watching since 2012.

Best: 2013. Literally the whole series went exactly my way. I was hoping Sophie would be decent, I was hoping abbey would get Aljaz, top the week 1 leaderboard, get the first 40 and win, which actually happened. I also had a sneaking suspicion she would be in the bottom two that Halloween week, and she was. I also had a feeling Julien would disappoint. Literally the whole series went exactly my way, which was amazing, seeing as I can't vote (I live in ROI)

Worst. 2014

After the high of 2013 I was so excited for 2014 but it was such a let down. It was like as soon as Mark, one of my favourites, was getting good, Simon, my least favourite, did even better again. Also, I was rooting for Alison and was outraged when she went out over Judy. I loved their Charleston! Not to mention, Pixie was my favourite, and we all know what happened there...

Best Series without a doubt is serie 11 when Abbey won. There was something for everyone I think. All the finalists were likable for the most part IMO. It just seems so improbable and laughable to think that Abbey would win at the beginning; even when she was starting to gain momentum starting week 7, I was settling for 2nd or 3rd place; I just couldn't believe it. Most shocking result for me EVER. I remember being so, so happy . I have watched strictly for a long time but I have NEVER rooted or liked a contestant/partnership as much as I liked her . I was just so happy. What made me the most happy about her win was the fact that she proved her detractors wrong; a lot of people changed their opinion about her; even till this day. If there was ever a contestant who has gained the most from the show individually (not money, or more work...even though she gained those), it would be her. Anyways, I can ramble on and on about her but her series was a rollercoaster of emotions from me and for it to end with a victory was just the cherry on top of the cake.

Prior to Abbey it was Series 5 with Team Matheesha (Alesha and Matthew ) .So Series 5 and 11 are my favorites with 11 being my MOST favorite .

Hmmmm....I dont really have a " worst series " because as cheesy as this sounds I do enjoy strictly no matter what but if I have to pick one it would be series 12. Just a boring series; with a boring set of contestants and boring set of top 5/6. I couldn't wait for it to end. It was actually the first time that I stopped watching the show after week 7 or 8; I didnt even watch the finale ....I did not like Caroline as a contestant and her partnership...just a weird series for me; I did not like ANY of the finalists partnership; I warmed up to Kevin/Frankie but even then it was Meh...
Then you had Sunetra and Brendan with a weird dynamic; I liked Sunetra but imo Brendan (who is someone that I really like ) couldn't seem to bother ; it seems like he wanted to be voted off every week and dreaded being in the competition any longer; I dont know what was going on with him that series; I felt bad for Sunetra.
Then you had Pixie who was good but couldnt connect with the public no matter how hard she tried
Kevin and Frankie : bland, bland, then OTT kevin to compensate the blandness urghh...she seemed really sweet but this one wasnt working for me as well
-Tom and Iveta who were a disappointment
-Jake and Janette that I couldnt stand and who were propped to the high heavens every week . I was so happy to see them not make the finale; Only redeeming quality about that series
-I already mentioned Caroline and Pasha
-Simon and Kristina who had the same Trent and Pixie problem
-Annoying Aljaz and Allison

I could go on about Series 12..so yeah this takes the cake as the worst series imo; The top 7 or 6 couples were bland, uninteresting, overrated...and the standard of dancing was lower imo but the marks did not reflect that; they were particularly inflated that series IMO.

At the other end of the spectrum ,the mediocre dancers had great partnerships and didn't last long.

I still think that this is the first time that the producers got it wrong castings wise imo; why would they cast Frankie, Pixie and Caroline in the same series; these 3 just seem interchangeable for me; on paper, in terms of personality as well.

I did not mean to make this long so to sum it up,best series : series 11. Worst series: series 12

Best ever series was series 13 because of Jay and his incredible dancing ability he had shown all of us, he also gave Aliona another win which was absolutely unexpected I did not expect Aliona to ever get a decent partner again let alone think she was actually going to win.. So the benefits of this series kept flooding in. Even though Jay IMO was the best dancer in the competition by a good old few miles all the other contestants were really good too, I didn't really care for them but hey they were there and they put on a damn good show. I just enjoyed this series more probably because I had something to look forward too again after Aliona and Harry's win..

The worst series for me has to be lets see there was quite a few but pixies year was quite bad, Series 12 was the most horrendous series IMO just because pixie was the stand out dancer that year and Simon and Kristina got through during the dance off, that left a bad taste in my mouth and I felt confused, I don't care what people think of pixies supposed lack of personality her routines with Trent were class.. I still remember Simons tango it was rubbish yeah I know I'm being harsh but it's the truth, I think his only decent dance that was good was his AT which I'm sensing is why people gave him so much hype after, but no way should he have gotten through against pixie therefore this was a joke of a series.. Hold on to top it all off Caroline flack won the whole thing so it just goes to sum up how bad the overall series was.. Series 11 was also on par with being the worst just because Natalie and artem should have won strictly that year but yet again she was bashed upon because of her lack of likability and personality this is really getting pathetic, she danced like a professional and personally gave me memorable dances that I rewatch all the time artem was one heck of a choreographer I don't think she or artem could have done much to prove they were the best the majority of the viewers I think we're more interested in Abbey and Aljaz's "romance" I only liked abbeys show dance and that wasn't because of the dancing it was because they were dancing to one of my favourite songs lol

So to top it off the BEST series IMO was series 13 my a country mile, but honourable shout out to series series 9 which also gave me something to look forward to given Harry's awesome ballroom dancing and also watching Aliona doing what she does best which was creating some magic.. That Argentine Tango though😀

And the WORST series was 12 and 11 as I have explained above.

Top post Ano! I couldn't agree more. I loved Jay's dancing but Aliona and Harry's partnership will always have a special place in my heart and their quickstop at Blackpool in the final is my favourite Strictly dance of all time.

We have the same opinion I was so shocked (in a good way) when Abbey won that I jumped up but then the sofa's footrest hit me and I fell It was still an awesome night though!

Best: Series 5
Worst: Series 12

Best = Series 8.

Worst - don't know. Don't really care.

agree, that quickstep is the best quickstep to have ever been done on strictly and I've watched a lot of them, there's always something wrong with a quickstep either the hold isn't up to scratch or the timing is off and the pro and celeb look like their trotting on mud at completely different speeds or the choreography is just boring.. Alionas choreography was just outstanding and complex yet she perfected Harry's ballroom hold to the point of which I thought I was watching two pros dancing a quickstep, but other than their quickstep my favourite is truly their VW which was so different, romantic and elegant.. I could go on and on but I'm afraid this thread isn't about what dances are the best lol.

Best - Series 13
Worst - only watched since 2012 - can't really pick a worst one, just know none of them were nearly as good as the last one for me!

The Best

Series 8 : Really the best series. It has a lot of energy coming off a total relaunch with a real determination to put Series 7 behind it (compare this to the desperation and slight feeling of despair every time X Factor completely revamps itself yet again). Manages to combine a genuinely unpredictable bootlist with the best people making the final 4, which is also one of, if not the strongest in the show's history, both in terms of dancing and personality, and also diverse in age. Widdy is a problem for those that don't find her antics funny, but she leaves before the end, and leaves cleanly without a fuss or a Sargeish controversy. The show also is just gimmicky enough to produce memorable routines (after the increasing lack of them) from all contestants, without being the overdone pudding you sometimes get today.

Series 2 : Probably the best of the old school Strictly, and the tightest cast. Every single one of the 10 contestants apart from maybe Roger Black sets down a strictly archetype for the series to come, be it unstoppable ringah (Jill), preternaturally talented novice SPORTSPERSON (Denise), camp comedy character on a journey (Julian), The Couple That Hate One Another (Sarah & Brenda), surprising housewives favourite (Aled), or The Vorderman (Carol).

Series 11 : The Year Of The Woman and probably the most fun cast from beginning to end, with most of the front-runners being almost as faintly ridiculous as the official comedy contestants, if not more so. Natalie gurning her head off, fainting and touching the divine ; Susanna getting into a feud with Fiona and turning up in Grimsby in full Norma Desmond furs and sunglasses ; Sophie's nigh on parodic primness and distrust of filthy dirty rumbas ; Patrick boring for England and crippling himself in a freak rollerskating accident ; Ashley turning up for every episode fresh from a 4am feed and looking half dead. Nothing is quite as funny as Mark & Iveta though, probably the best comedy pairing the show's ever done

In The Middle

Series 5 : Fun, and Alesha is an all time great, but between shock dance-offs and Kelly's dad dying and Gethingate it marks the start of the ugly tone of controversy that mars 5 to 7 a lot as a run.

Series 9 : Harry & Chelsee are one of my favourite Final 2s ever, but a lot of the middle order contestants are kind of boring and overpromoted, Anita and Russell in particular.

Series 13 : A fun series until Musicals Week, at which point Helen is wuzzrobbed ;Georiga gets the flu, goes off the boil and makes too many comments about being Giovanni's "little sister" to maintain creduilty ; Aliona and Jay disappear up one another's bums ; Kellie starts overdancing so hard her arms threaten to fly out their sockets and gets overmarked accordingly ; Katie stops trying and worst of all Gleb, after spending the entire series riding the edge of glorious choreographical madness hurls himself off the edge into a sea of utter tosh.

Series 4 : A really good series objectively, marred by the fact that I subjectively find Matt Dawson and Emma Bunton absolutely unbearable

Series 6 : A lot of memorable stuff and a great final 4, marred by the fact that the series is so bloody long and nothing interesting happens at all until about halfway through.

Series 10 : In retrospect made by the Olympians who are either great (Louis), an incredibly endearing underdog (Michael) or absolutely batshit insane (Victoria). Otherwise most of the cast is dry and the last two weeks, which were spent endlessly discussing how much of a ringer Denise was, were a pill.

Series 12 : Felt like an utter placeholder series. Very generic.

The Worst

Series 3 : Two of my all time favourites (Zoe and Colin) livened up what was otherwise the show going hell for leather for a blokey male winner and not being at all subtle about it, to the point where a lot of Len's comments to Colin felt pretty straightforwardly homophobic. It's a good job that, Zoe aside, all of the female contestants were pretty dull, and even Zoe herself was a little bit...overly intense on occasion, so you didn't miss them after they all went out in a row at the beginning.

Series 1 : The show's still finding its feet but despite impressions I give to the contrary most of the time I am watching the show for the dancing first and foremost and... it just wasn't there. Claire was the only real good dancer but most of what she did was so joyless. Everyone else was there for their storyline only, with nothing really interesting happening on the floor to back it up.

Series 7 : A lot of it wasn't their fault, but after a certain point in the non stop stream of controversy (probably around Ricky's arrest), the whole thing feels like a Bataan death march that everyone just wants to make it to the end of in one piece. Also the point where it became apparent that watching really deeply mediocre dancers like Ricky Groves, Laila Rouass and Sonia from Eastenders do basic ballroom routines for three months without getting much better had stopped being in any way interesting in and as of itself, and you'd need to start zhushing it up with themes.

As much as I consider myself a SCD fan, actually over the last 10 years I've watched, very few series have held my complete attention from start to finish.

I think my favourite has to be Series 13: I really did like almost all of them when we got the last few, and there were so many fantastic, memorable routines. I loved Series 5 and 10 too.

The least favourite was probably Series 7, very uninspiring series, disappointing, dull cast, very few contenders and a disappointing ending. I wasn't that keen on Series 11 either and whilst Series 12 showed potential, I did get bored.

I am too young to remember Series 3, what did Len say to Colin?

Of the ones I've watched (series 4-7, 9-13):

Best - series 10, 2012

Worst - series 7, 2009

The words 'airy fairy' were used at one point.

Series 5 because of Alesha in the main, 8 the revamp worked and set the template for the series to follow and actually last series which had a very likeable cast. The final result I guess surprised nobody who has watched over the years.

Worst 7 awful from beginning to end. Too much Yeah Baby and gurning from the winner and probably the worst overall standard outside the first couple of series.

6 Horrible and bad tempered from beginning to end. Nobody should leave just because they could win.

12 Actually pretty dull and forgettable

I can only base my worst/best on the finals as I usually pretty much enjoy the series on the whole but the final can ruin it for me, and no not because the one I like doesn't win, because they very rarely do.

Best: Tom Chambers year because it was a shock he won and that showdance I still think is the best ever.

Worst: Harry, Louis and last year. Because the finals were boring, we all knew who was going to win, last year pretty much from week 3. I stopped watching the year Harry won it (only time) but did catch the final.

He was constantly being criticised for being "feminine" and "mincy" as well. Not that I want to revisit the subtext too deeply, especially as Colin isn't openly gay, but this would usually be followed by Len talking about how Darren (or James a few times) was a REAL MAN who danced LIKE A BLOKE.

Anytime I start to mellow towards Len I think back to that, and the heart is hardened again. It was appalling.

Haha Yes


Your description of series 11 .
I only remember series 1 because of the whole Brendan -Natalie debacle 🙈 and Christopher Parker Paso ....one of the worst dancers EVER

er my fave series 6, Really liked Tom& Camilla, IMO best winner SCD. Series 7 I enjoyed seeing a longer series and it was one of my faves, loved Ali's VW possibly one of the best I liked Lalia a lot she was good,. Series8 the change of format was fantastic and I really liked the cast that year, the right person won (I think Ali should've won series 7) and I loved series 13. I thought the cast was fantastic and the series where I knew most of them so that was a help, I was glad Anton got to the final too, would've liked to see their VW in the final 3 again though
WORST Series 12. Boring and uninspiring

BEST: Series 8 or 13.

Series 8 was definitely one of the strongest series overall, genuinely think Matt would have won most series. Series 13 was also very high quality.

WORST: Series 6 or 7- Actually enjoyed 6 until the final result. Rachel was completely robbed! Series 7 suffered from lack of big name celebs and I didn't like the format of one long show.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Series 3 (good)- First year I really got into watching it
Series 12 (bad)- Pixie eliminated far too early.

Series 10 (meh)- Can't really judge this one as I missed the first few weeks.

Best: Series 2 for Jill and Darren and Series 5 for Alesha and Matt. A number of my favourite pro dances are also from Series 5.

Worst: Series 7. Although this brought us the lovely Natalie I still haven't got over Chris and Ola winning.

Worst series - series 6 ... not so much for itself, but for the fact the hangover of grumpiness and power struggle between viewers and judges carried on to to series 7 and beyond meaning that any celeb who is judged to have stayed a week longer than their ability presses the Sargent Panic Button.

Best series ... Any that's not 3, 6, 7, 11 or 12.