Strictly Come Dancing bosses facing scheduling 'mess' with upcoming World Cup

BBC bosses are tap dancing around a scheduling nightmare – with this year’s Strictly Come Dancing series clashing with the World Cup.

The football tournament has been moved to winter for the first time to dodge 45C summer heat in host nation Qatar.

And some fixtures – possibly including England games – will kick off at 6pm or 7pm UK time on three Saturdays and two Sundays.

That is set to cause chaos with the usual Strictly timeslots.

A TV source said: “The World Cup is going to mess with schedules.

"There are lots of games in primetime slots and even the most popular show on TV, in Strictly, is likely to be affected.

"The Glitterball will get kicked into touch if England has a game on BBC1 on a Saturday night.”

The World Cup starts on November 21 with evening weekend games up until to December 10 with coverage on BBC and ITV.

After the draw this Friday, Beeb bosses will try to work out how to keep Strictly fans onside.

Options could include moving the show to BBC2, Friday night or a less family-friendly time. A BBC spokesman declined to comment.