Frequently Asked Questions: Strictly Come Dancing 2009

In order to secure the best guests possible for the show on rare occasions musical guests are pre-recorded because of their availability.

Full details of how to vote, including the terms & conditions, can be found on our How to vote page.

The aggregation of the judge's points and public phone vote for each week, including show 9 (14/11/09), have been verified by PromoVeritas Ltd, the independent verification service.

If your call was made from a BT landline then you will pay 15p for voting in Strictly Come Dancing. We state on screen and verbally that "other networks may vary, and calls from mobiles will cost considerably more" - this includes other landlines as well as calls made from mobile phones. We have a cost guide available on the How to vote page for callers using their mobile phones to vote.

We state clearly on screen and verbally when the voting period opens and closes, and that callers should wait till that time before casting their vote. There is a small chance that if you called outside this time that another network other than BT would charge for this call. If you have been charged then notify your service provider immediately.

All voters are asked to dial carefully. The BBC has implemented a thorough testing schedule before each show to ensure correct audio is playing on the correct celebrity line. If you have a phone bill you can send us, we can check whether the number you called corresponds with the correct celebrity audio.

Because the phonelines are very active throughout the UK when the vote window opens, some callers may experience the engaged tone - especially those in rural/remote areas. We recommend that you call back within a couple of minutes when the traffic through your local exchange would have subsided. Engaged tones are controlled at local telephone exchanges and are something that the BBC cannot control.

If after dialling the first four numbers of the premium rate number you heard a dead tone - then this means that you are premium rate barred and you should check with your network operator about lifting the ban if you wish to vote in Strictly Come Dancing.

Given the high volume of viewers and callers that some TV voting shows generate, it is possible for a very large number of people to pick up the phone simultaneously when the on-screen announcement is made. Sometimes this can cause some callers to get an engaged tone for short periods of time immediately after an on-screen announcement; however, any congestion tends to clear quite quickly.

Like all the big shows, Strictly Come Dancing uses a voting system where at least the first eight digits of the phone numbers are the same for all contestants, with only the last few digits of the phone number changing depending on who you want to vote for.

As the telephone network only uses the first eight digits in a telephone number to route calls to the voting system, it is impossible for calls for different couples to be treated differently.

Once calls reach the voting system they are answered in turn, on a first-come, first-served basis. Each answering point is instructed to accept votes for all couples; there are no dedicated answering points for individual couples.

This means that your chance of getting through to vote will never depend on the celebrity or couple you wish to vote for.

Tickets are allocated by a random draw before each series starts - registration for this year's draw closed on 11th September 2009.

If you have applied for a ticket, please be aware that they will be sent out approximately 2 weeks prior to each show from BBC Tickets - please do not contact the website with any enquiries.

Enquiries about BBC Tickets and attending the show, including accessibility, can be found at the BBC Tickets website FAQ, where there is also a contact telephone number for questions not covered by the FAQ.

To make sure you are alerted in time for next year's show, go to www.bbc.co.uk/tickets and register for their Entertainment newsletter. Sadly there are no tickets kept in reserve to give away to charity events or for other special causes such as weddings or birthdays.

The Strictly Come Dancing website uses the Embedded Media Player (EMP), which allows you to watch streaming video clips.

You can find an overview of common questions about the EMP on the BBC News website.

More detailed technical questions are answered on the BBC iPlayer Help pages.

Some clips and packages are not available outside the UK because of rights reasons. If the BBC has secured the rights to broadcast a clip only in the UK, then non-UK users will be unable to access it.

Please be aware that our live embedded video streams, including watching TV channels live over the internet, are also available in the UK only.

If you are viewing the site from outside the UK, you will be unable to access our live video streams and rights-restricted content and should see a message stating that this media is not available in your territory.

We're very sorry, but we just don't have time to track down information about the designers of the dancers' or presenters' outfits. Most of the outfits are created by a team working across different locations - both on BBC premises and in freelance costumiers. The presenters' outfits are also a mixture of high street and specially designed outfits.

We invite you to vote for the dancers that you liked best, based on their performance in each show and during the series. Releasing voting figures could affect the way that people vote, and also have an impact on the participants. We therefore do not disclose the exact voting figures.

Although the BBC is subject to the Freedom of Information Act, information which is closely connected to our programme-making is not covered by the Act. The Information Commissioner, who regulates the Act, has confirmed that information about Strictly Come Dancing voting is not covered. We are therefore not required to disclose the voting figures under the Act.

Two Strictly Come Dancing CD albums featuring a selection of songs from various series and the show's theme tune were released in 2004 and 2008 respectively, and both are still currently available from a range of retailers.

The Official 2010 Strictly Come Dancing Annual is also available to buy. The annual features the inside scoop on all the Series 7 celebrities, a chat with each of the dancers, plus games and gossip.

The Strictly Live tour 2010 runs for 45 dates in venues across the UK, throughout January and February. Celebrities from the television series past and present will be joined by their world-class professional partners, to perform intricate dance moves and show stopping routines.

Also available to purchase are Strictly 2010 Calendars and a DVD of the 2009 Strictly Come Dancing Series 6, again from a range of retailers.

In accordance with the BBC code of conduct for competitions and voting no money from calls made to Strictly Come Dancing will go to charity.

The main focus of fundraising at the BBC has always been the big appeal shows on BBC One and surrounding activity. That continues to be the case. Raising money for charity through premium rate phone calls has only ever been an incidental and occasional activity on BBC programmes.

Although we recognised many viewers enjoyed giving to charity in an incidental way through these phone lines, our main concern was clarity for viewers. The new policy of having just two premium call categories - one capped at 15p for all BBC programmes and the other for any charity appeals - would make it even clearer to audiences what to expect when they interacted with BBC programmes in competitions or votes. As such the BBC does not make any money from phone voting.

You can read more about how the scoring system works on Strictly 2009 on our BBC Press Office voting information page.

The the final of Strictly Come Dancing is currently scheduled for the 19th December 2009. Please note the full transmission time and date will be confirmed closer to the end of the series.

For information about when the next episode is due to be shown, visit The Shows page.

You can get a full tracklist of each of the songs performed in each episode by going to The Shows and finding the episode you're looking for. Scroll down the page a bit and you'll find the tracklisting underneath the clips.

A free newsletter about Strictly Come Dancing will be sent from the website team several times throughout the series.

If you have any specific comments or queries about the Strictly Come Dancing website, or you wish to send fan mail to the TV Office, please visit our Feedback page.

Please note, all emails are read but if your email is a general comment or your question is answered on the site or in this FAQ section or in the Message Board House Rules & FAQs we will not get back to you.

Although we'd love to be able to answer all the questions we receive about Strictly Come Dancing, it takes time to research queries and this costs the BBC money. For this reason we would ask you to try to find the answer to your question before sending us an email - the greater the number of queries we receive, the less money we can spend on programmes.

Please see the Smiley section of the Message Board FAQ for full details.