To be fair, I think Tess only ages at the same rate as every one else.

There's nothing wrong with the presenters we've got thank you very much. I was soooo glad when 'dear old Brucie'! went leaving the two women. And for me, they've perked the show up no end. I love those funny little things Claudia does, she's absolutely marvelous, and I love watching her. Zoe Ball on the other hand is just completely manic, and in my opinion not altogether sincere, she really annoys me so much that I just can't watch the hour long Friday programme, I can just about stand her for half an hour but that's it.

I agree its going over the same ole recent ground again with this thread as someone else suggested. SCD Saturday is a live show 90/120 min show and as such is micro-produced by an active busy gallery...and just in my personal opinion, it regularly succeeds with great style and polish - surely one of the many reasons we enjoy it so much. Its very much a credit to all involved that theres no stop/start and it would pass as a pre-record such is the lack of error/continuity glares. Of course its heavily scripted...it is timed with precision otherwise it would lose structure and over-run. Same in Brucie's era... great respect to him, but he did struggle with the ole autocue and I used to cringe for him. So you cant really beat Tess and Claud up for following the given format and maintaining tight studio discipline. In anchoring the show from the floor, Tess Daly is clearly even more strictured than Claud but I also feel that some of the latter's asides and comments aren't all verbatim script especially on her upstairs banter with the celebrities which can be hilarious. That's just my take on it...I know some people just cant stand either/both of them and that's their call, but I have to stick up for them when theyre knocked for simply doing whats asked of them.

You obviously don't know Claudia very well.
Some of it is scripted. I'll tell you which, it's the remarks she makes which are directed straight at the camera, where she gives you the "knowing look." It's some of the stuff she says when talking directly to the contestants, that's her own ad-libs.
In her first few stints on ITT, she was an absolute scream, because of her sometimes acerbic ad-libs. To the extent it was obvious that she'd been told to turn it down a bit in later series.
Some of the questions she asks can only be her own when they relate to an incident that has only just happened. All that is live. No time for scripting such situations.

She's adept at going "off-script" then returning, making the transition seamless. A skill not possessed by Tess.

It's a cheesy show.
It needs cheesy presenters

Give the show a proper joke writer first and a stage director who understands comedy, then lets see if Tess and Claudia can be funny. Most of comedy at the moment comes from Claudia's timing rather than anything in the script. Tess can play the old fashioned comedy 'straight man' role if the material is right.

The points you make are not mutually exclusive. Nobody is asking for an all male team or a mixed team or any other sort of gender description. What is needed is a polished professional team that ADDS something to the show rather than a bit of glamour and some (allegedly) comic cuts.

As I've said before, the show should comprise three sections: the hosts, the contestants and the judges. At present the first category is hardly functioning and it leaves the show floundering, particularly when it is a dull week as we had the week before last. There should be far more to hosting the UK's biggest live entertainment show than introductions.

People don't need to 'move with the times' just because it is politically correct to decide that two women need to be co-presenters. Both entertainment and the cause of feminism are way past such basic considerations. If there were two (or even one) female who I thought could do the job, I'd be rooting for them but the two we have are wooden and imbecilic. Cat Deeley is the only possibility I can think of or possibly Ruby Wax or the late great Victoria Wood, but something needs to be done.

'Perfectly competent' is simply not good enough

All of the above I agree with, but this is not the right show for her.

That wasn't my point - but rather that two women as co-presenters is a perfectly acceptable combination as would be two male co-presenters. There is no magic formula which fits all shows and all formats - and nor should there be.

It matters far more that the presenting team complement each other and work well in their respective roles, rather than appearing to be at loggerheads or in competition with each other. Everyone brings something of value to the show, whether they are each to everyone's taste or not.

Ruby Wax would drive everybody potty as the show would become about her. She's way too hyper for such a role.

What is though, never did anything for years, disaster on radio, they had to change the film show totally to fit her in. This is all she will be remembered for and for anybody who wants certain standards she won't be remembered fondly.

Perhaps she could work with that bumbling bufoon Baker on the One Show that is her level.

Is it a myth then Winkleman and Daly can't stand each other, they certainly don't look comfortable and have zero chemistry. Double act they certainly are not.

For the BBC, Louise Rainbow and the majority of viewers they work just fine as presenters.

With Len leaving they will remain the glue that holds things together.

Probably.

They look as if they get on just fine together.

However, it looks like you just don't like them and can't/won't contain it. But that says rather more about you than it does about either of them.

Tess and Claudia work but maybe next year with Len leaving is a good time to make a change, Ive always said Tess is better suited upstairs with the celebs and not on the main floor, so maybe tess goes back to her original role and they bring in a male presenter. I think someone like Shane Ritchie or Bradley Walsh would be great for Strictly

I think it says more about the erosion of standards on the BBC than anything else, 20 years ago these 2 wouldn't have got close to a TV screen. Due to clever control they can put an entertaining show on and have presenter who they know won't embarrass the BBC name but really they could do so much better.

Walsh could get the right tone, not sure about Ritchie, maybe John Bishop, rest I agree with. Goodman should be easily replaced better and the same goes for Winkleman.

I could go with either of those two, also Patrick Kielty, Graham Norton, Julian Clary. I also think Cat Deeley would be good. Time for the BBC to forget about political correctness and get their flagship entertainment programme a top-class host. Tess and the little wizened one got the gig by default. They have no real mandate for it and the BBC shouldn't have let themselves be press-ganged into it.

Even those posters who apparently like the deadly duo use words like competent and glue. Hardly a ringing endorsement.

Look, you make good points which stimulate debate, but why spoil things by always getting personal? Lets all stick to the subject of the thread and the show and not comment on what other posters may or may not be like.

I love them. I think they're perfect.

It isn't the Tess Daly show. She just presents. I think she does that well. She doesn't make it about her. She does her job. She doesn't have some schtick or an angle. She doesn't have to show off or do a Brucie. She's exactly what is needed.

Claudia as "dumb" sidekick.

Works brilliantly.

Erm I don't remember that poll, and if I did see it I would certainly have voted for nothing short of long term incarceration for crimes against broadcasting.

yeah their no better than Brucie used to be so definatley time for a change and to get some good presenters, Zoe& Anton maybe

Patrick Kielty would be a great choice

Brucie became the worst thing about the show.

Zoe and Anton?

What a dreadful thought. Zoe makes much of ITT unwatchable and Anton thinks he's a comedian.

No thanks!

Why does it need more?

After all it is the celebrities learning to dance who are the "stars of the show". Not Tess, Claudia or even the Judges.

I'm not spoiling anything - nor am I getting personal. I was merely pointing out that someone who clearly and vociferously dislikes both presenters but thinks they speak for everyone else, is mistaken. That is not "getting personal" but rather establishing that he cannot speak for the entire nation. It's fine not to like them, if that's his opinion but there's no need to keep ramming that message home in quite such an abrasive manner as if his opinion holds more authority or weight than anyone else's.

It is clear that if the public were actively put off by Tess and Claudia, they would not watch but that apparently does not happen.

One of the things I like is the fact that neither Tess not Claudia are particularly over-exposed. They both have other things which call on their time, such as bringing up their children. Aside from Strictly, their other TV commitments are much less high profile.

I get a bit fed up seeing the same presenters being wheeled out time and time again until everyone is bored by their style of presentation and seeing their face on the screen. I love Graham Norton and i think he's enormously talented but I don't need to see him on the TV every time I switch on. Sometimes less is more but sadly it's one of the things that the BBC has still to learn.