ALISON BOSHOFF: Strictly's tango with TikTok falls flat with fans

Strictly Come Dancing quickstepped into a partnership with the video-sharing platform TikTok this series - but six weeks into the experiment it has proved a flop.

It was hoped that by taking on celebrities and dancers who are TikTok stars - such as social media personality John Nellis (2.6million followers) and former Love Islander Cach Mercer (1.3million) - the show could find a new audience.

The idea was that this young audience would enjoy the TikTok content and then watch along on a Saturday and Sunday night, too.

That's what happened in the US to Strictly's sister show, Dancing With The Stars, which has enjoyed incredible ratings growth with younger audiences thanks to a bold strategy to incorporate TikTok into every part of the programme.

Last year, viewing figures were up 118 per cent year on year for the under-35s, and competitor and content creator Alix Earle got 30million views on a collection of videos she took during the Wicked-themed show.

But it can be revealed that videos posted by the biggest social media stars Nellis and Mercer haven't hit big in the same way. Nellis's week one dance drew 411,000 views but this has declined steadily week by week and his latest one garnered only 79,000 views. Cach Mercer's first dance got 544,000 views but his latest was down to 496,000.

By far the biggest sensation on 'StricTok' was the live performance of Babydoll by Jamie Miller and Antonio Cipriano, a huge viral hit. Views of that performance hit

3.3million. However, most of the content on the BBC's Strictly TikTok page is nowhere near as popular and gets between 20,000 and 150,000 views.

Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby dancing on this year's Strictly. The BBC hit series hopes that through Tik Tok they can find new audiences

Social media personality John Nellis and dancer Katya Jones during last week's show. Nellis has over 2.6million followers

The TV audience has remained stubbornly very much as it was last year. It's still a hit - consolidated figures say it was the third most watched show in the second week in October, only behind The Celebrity Traitors which took the top two slots with more than nine million viewers. Strictly was the most watched show on Saturday, October 17, with 5.1million viewers and the launch show got 5.3million viewers.

But the story is still one of decline. In 2025, the first live show drew 5.4million viewers - 432,000 off the 2024 tally, and the smallest opener since 2007.

Strictly's all-time ratings peak was the 2020 finale, won by Bill Bailey, which drew 13.2million viewers. Alex Bryson, an analyst with social listening and audience intelligence platform Pulsar, says: 'John and Cach come out as number one on the number of social video posts and the level of engagement those posts get. So, in a limited sense, the Strictly influencer strategy is working because these social video-native stars attract more reaction on their favoured platforms. However, that's clearly not translating to positive viewing figures.

'One hypothesis is that the communities who follow these creators simply do not overlap enough with the audiences who might watch Strictly.'

The BBC say that the show has embraced digital platforms for a long time.

A Strictly spokesman said: 'We're confused by this article's emphasis on TikTok. Strictly is one of the UK's most watched TV programmes, with the kind of viewing figures and social engagement that most shows dream of.'

Four Beatles films may not all be Fab

The four Beatles films will all be released simultaneously in April 2028 - but Sony are already tying themselves in knots over the probability that some of the movies are going to be more popular than others.

Apparently, the company are thinking they may not report individual gross figures to save the blushes of the less popular of the Fab Four (ahem, Ringo), and are also mulling ideas such as selling tickets in a four-pack.

Ringo Starr and Sir Paul McCartney are actively involved in the films, as are the estates of George Harrison and John Lennon. The movies are authorised, with the musicians and their heirs offering a final thumbs-up on the cast and the scripts.

Paul Mescal is Macca, Harris Dickinson is John Lennon, Joseph Quinn is George Harrison and Barry Keoghan is Ringo.

Zendaya's Oscars odyssey turns into a drama

Mixed news for superstar Zendaya. She's not going to get an Oscar campaign for her work in The Odyssey, even though a clutch of her co-stars will have the backing of distributor Universal.

The firm will be running a megabucks effort to try to land the Best Picture and Best Director gongs for Christopher Nolan, Best Actor for Matt Damon, Best Actress for Anne Hathaway and Best Supporting Actress for Samantha Morton.

Zendaya is not going to get an Oscar campaign for her work in The Odyssey, even though her co-stars will have the backing of distributor Universal

Zendaya in Dune: Part Three which is set to be released in December 

The movie, which has taken $1.7billion (£1.3billion) worldwide remains the one to beat come March next year. Zendaya is, though, set to be in the conversation for Dune: Part Three - released here just before Christmas - in which her role, as Chani, is a stand-out.

Zendaya, 30, who married Spider-Man star Tom Holland earlier this year, might even get another nomination for A24's dark comedy The Drama, in which she co-stars with Robert Pattinson, now that rules preventing a thesp from getting more than one nod per category have been scrapped.

She has never been Oscar-nominated but picked up a hatful of awards for the TV show Euphoria.

Olivia Colman plays a woman who has a basket-maker weave her a husband, whom she falls in love with, in the movie comedy Wicker, out today.

She says her co-star Alexander Skarsgard's full-body suit was a good thing when it came to love scenes.

Wicker stars Olivia Colman and  Alexander Skarsgard who was weaved by a basket maker which is released in cinemas today 

'It actually made it less embarrassing for me because there wasn't skin touching,' she grimaced.

The out-there film has divided critics. However, Swedish retail giant Ikea thinks it's hilarious. It has posted pictures of its rattan furniture on Instagram with the caption 'husband material'.

Business is booming for The Celebrity Traitors star Romesh Ranganathan. 

ITV wants more episodes of his comedy game show Romesh Ranganathan's Parents' Evening and has ordered a fourth series even though they haven't yet aired the third. 

That has been pushed back to early next year owing to budget cuts. It's made by his company, Ranga Bee. 

Humiliation for Ali G as America pulls the plug

Sacha Baron Cohen's idiot character Ali G has suffered a humiliating fate.

Amazon MGM was too embarrassed to report grosses for the film Ali G: Who Iz I? in the US, after dialling down the release to just 125 cinemas for two days, despite an initial plan for 1,000 cinemas for a week.

It was then dumped on Prime Video on Wednesday. Reviewers hated it, young people stayed away amid accusations of racism and the movie is sitting at under 50 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Oddly, it has done better than expected in the UK, where it was third at the box office taking £1.3million from 458 locations which is considered better than solid.

Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G has suffered a humiliating fate after Amazon MGM was too embarrassed to report grosses for the film Ali G: Who Iz I? in the US

Dame Helen Mirren plays the writer Patricia Highsmith in A Talent For Murder, a film which is out next month.

Mirren, who has never smoked, reveals: 'There is a trick with smoking on screen. You're gonna go one shot, that's all you need. Other than that you just hold the cigarette. You do that one shot. Hopefully, you don't have to do three takes of it.'

No Marti, no party for Wet Wet Wet fans

Singer Marti Pellow says that he is 'worried for the fans' after ticket-selling giant Viagogo implied wrongly that he was still part of the band Wet Wet Wet and used his face to sell their tickets.

The singer, who left the band in 2017, was stunned to see that advertisements on the Viagogo site for a forthcoming Wet Wet Wet tour prominently included his face.

He has sent legal letters to the company, which has its headquarters in Geneva, but nothing has changed and the dates are still for sale with his face attached.

His manager and friend Deke Arlon tells me: 'This has been going on for months. Marti doesn't want people to book tickets to see Wet Wet Wet expecting to see him and then be disappointed. This is terrible. Marti is worried for the fans.

'Our concern is that the public are getting tricked into buying tickets for something that does not exist. This company is breaking British trading rules but because they are in Switzerland it seems that there is nothing we can do. We feel powerless.' Arlon added: 'He's not the first artist to have issues with Viagogo over exactly the same thing.'

Singer Marti Pellow says that he is 'worried for the fans' after ticket-selling giant Viagogo implied wrongly that he was still part of the band Wet Wet Wet

Wet Wet Wet (minus singer Marti) are playing 40 dates next year to celebrate 40 years since the release of their smash hit first album Popped In Souled Out, which included hits Sweet Little Mystery, Angel Eyes and Wishing I Was Lucky. The official artwork for their tour does not feature Marti Pellow. His singing role is taken by Kevin Simm, formerly of Liberty X. The only original member left in Wet Wet Wet is the bassist Graeme Clark.

Marti is also going to be on tour. His is titled No Marti, No Party and will also celebrate 40 years since the release of Popped In Souled Out. On what fans can expect, Marti says: 'The clue is in the title of the tour, it's what the fans always sing back to me when the lights go down.'

Wet Wet Wet had a smash hit in 1994 with Love Is All Around, a cover version of The Troggs song, which sold more than 1.9million copies and spent 15 weeks at number one in the

UK after featuring in the film Four Weddings And A Funeral.

A spokesman for Viagogo said: 'We have no record of receiving this request from Mr Pellow or his representatives regarding the image used on our platform. However, we are following up with the relevant team internally to have the image updated.'