Strictly Come Dancing executive producer Sarah James has confirmed that the popular Halloween Week will not go ahead this year due to time constraints.

Production problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic have meant that this year's series will run for nine weeks instead of the usual 13 weeks, with the live shows not starting until Saturday, October 24.

The performance episode of week two will fall on Halloween itself but that has been deemed too early in the run to hold a themed week.

"We will have Movie Week and Musicals Week but we won't have Halloween Week this year," James told reporters last week.

"We have done a Halloween group number but Halloween would fall on the second week this year and we thought it would be a bit soon for a themed week."

James also confirmed that as usual none of the celebrities will be voted off in the first week, with the first elimination coming in the second week.