Dancing on Ice

The series was announced in November 2004 and originally titled Stars on Thin Ice, the show was renamed following the failure of ITV's celebrity oriented 2005 summer schedule. Dancing on Ice is frequently compared to the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. In 2004, the BBC aired a Strictly special entitled Strictly Ice Dancing at Christmas, which was won by England goalkeeper David Seaman, who later became a contestant on the first series of Dancing on Ice. ITV's show was given a January premiere amidst network doubts about its viability but became a surprise hit in Britain, where it became the third highest rated television show of 2006. It attained an impressive 13 million viewers for the final in March. Britain's best-known ice-skating duo and Olympic champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean help to train the aspiring dancers, and also appear throughout the show with comments and advice. Head Coach Karen Barber also trains the skaters for the live show. From the beginning, Torvill and Dean opened every episode with a performance, with the exception of the second, third and fourth shows of the fourth series, when Torvill performed alone due to Dean's recovery from a shoulder operation. From 2012, they performed less frequently. Schofield previously presented with Holly Willoughby, with commentary originally from Tony Gubba (later Simon Reed for the final three weeks in series 8 and then for the whole of series 9 following Gubba's death) and voiceovers done by John Sachs (previously Marc Silk in series 1 and Bob Lawrence in series 2 and 3). The members of The Ice Panel were originally Karen Barber, Jason Gardiner, Nicky Slater and Robin Cousins, and the fifth judge varied from series to series: Karen Kresge in the first series, Natalia Bestemianova in the second, Ruthie Henshall in the third and fourth and Emma Bunton in the fifth. In series 6, there were only three judges: Gardiner, Cousins and Bunton. During the shows first two series, it ran two supplementary programmes – Dancing on Ice Defrosted, which aired on ITV2 directly after the main ITV1 show, and presented by Stephen Mulhern, whilst Dancing on Ice Exclusive (or Dancing on Ice Extra during series 1) was aired on ITV1 in a weekday teatime slot, and presented by Andi Peters alongside Andrea McLean in series 1 and Ben Shephard in series 2. In mid-2007, it was announced that both shows would not return to accompany the third series as the audience attracted was out of ITV2's target range. As part of ITV's new revamped schedule at the start of 2008, from the third series, the show aired on a Sunday night and featured updated music and new titles as well as redesigned graphics. The series 3 finale was a massive draw, pulling an average 11.7 million viewers (up from 9.6 million the previous year) peaking at 12.6 million viewers over the two-hour slot, up over a million from series 2. The seventh series began on 8 January 2012, with Torvill and Dean as coaches for which they will be paid £250,000 each series. Christine Lampard was announced as the new co-presenter of the show replacing Holly Willoughby, whilst Katarina Witt and Louie Spence replaced Emma Bunton and Jason Gardiner on the judging panel. On 20 November 2012, it was announced that Gardiner was to return to the panel for the 2013 series, replacing Spence. The full judging panel for the 2013 series was revealed on 28 December 2012, with former The Pussycat Dolls singer Ashley Roberts joining and Karen Barber returning to the panel after acting as head coach on the show the previous two years; they joined Gardiner and head judge Robin Cousins on the panel. Cancellation and revival On 21 May 2013, Torvill and Dean announced that they would leave the series after its ninth series in 2014, leading to speculation that the whole show would be axed. On 24 June 2013 it was rumoured that Dancing on Ice may continue after they have left with new coaches, however, on 22 October 2013 it was confirmed that the show would end after its ninth series in 2014. On 4 September 2017, ITV confirmed that the show would return in 2018. Torvill and Dean will return to the show as head judges along with Schofield and Willoughby as presenters. On 19 October 2017, Ashley Banjo was confirmed as a judge. Later that month, Gardiner confirmed that he would return to the judging panel. Ashley's brother, Jordan Banjo, acts as the show's backstage digital host. ITV Racing's betting presenter Matt Chapman was announced as the new commentator on 16 December 2017. However, following the first live show on 7 January, Chapman claimed that he had "quit" the show but it was later confirmed to be a decision by the ITV producers, responding to pressure from the TV audience. ITV and Talksport football commentator Sam Matterface was later confirmed as Chapman's replacement. On 21 August 2019, Gardiner confirmed that he would not return for the 12th series in 2020. At the start of September, series one contestant John Barrowman was confirmed as his replacement. On 3 October 2021, ITV announced that Barrowman would not be returning to the judging panel in 2022. In December, it was confirmed that Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse would replace him for the fourteenth series. Stephen Mulhern, who previously stood in for Schofield as presenter during the fourteenth series, was announced as his replacement and co-hosted alongside Willoughby until the show's cancellation in March 2025. ==Format==