What is in a title?

It is difficult to imagine a time when Strictly Come Dancing wasn’t on the air, but it was an incredibly unusual idea. When it was first pitched to Lorraine Heggessey controller of BBC One it was called “Pro Celebrity Come Dancing”. She loved the concept and the programme was commissioned.

The programme makers insisted that “celebrity” needed to be in the title and Heggessey argued that as soon as celebrity was in the title it would be skewed negatively.

At the time no-one could understand why Heggessey was so insistent. Finally some-one came up with “Strictly Come Dancing” and everyone agreed it was perfect.

Heggessey to this day maintains that if she had not negotiated on the right title the programme may well have been a flop.