The band has been a staple of the show since it started and is a source of inspiration for aspiring musicians. Image credit: The MU.
The MU has launched a petition calling on BBC Director-General Tim Davie to bring back the full Strictly live band.
Strictly Come Dancing has halved the usual number of live musicians to appear on the show since 2019. The production is refusing to reinstate the full band following social-distancing measures put in place at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following extensive negotiations, the production has offered to retain the full band for just four key episodes from a previous total of fourteen, but is refusing to reinstate them across the full series.
Bring back the full Strictly live band!
Have you signed the petition? Share why you love the show with a fully live band on social media, using the hashtag #KeepStrictlyLive.
Cutting the band is not just a huge loss of earnings to the musicians; it denies audiences the opportunity to see and enjoy fully live music. The band has been a staple of the show since it started and is a source of inspiration for aspiring musicians.
Audiences want and expect Strictly to have fully live music
An anonymous member of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing band said: “To cut down the live band and record half the musicians as pre-records is not what the viewers want or expect. A cynical money saving vehicle on the back of the Covid distancing rules is wrong on all levels.
“If this is allowed to continue, then eventually, all live music will disappear and be replaced by taped music. And with the advent of AI, maybe not with any musicians at all. Our young up and coming musicians will inevitably have no involvement in playing on television entertainment. A long and glorious art form gone forever – it’s tragic on all levels.”
Protecting opportunities for musicians
MU General Secretary Naomi Pohl added: “The BBC is the largest employer of musicians in the country – and with very few shows left on television with a house band now – it is extremely disheartening to see opportunities for musicians diminished in this way. We don’t accept that Strictly Come Dancing, of all programmes, needs to cut corners like this.
“The compromise of restoring the full band to some episodes didn’t go far enough. We will campaign to have them back in the full series and we know our membership of 35,000 will be behind us on this.”
Sign the petition to show your support for the full Strictly live band.