Strictly Come Dancing welcomes three new professional dancers as FIVE pros leave

Brendan Cole, Pasha Kovalev, Aljaz Skorjanec, Giovanni Pernice, Karen Clifton, Janette Manara and Oti Mabuse are also set to reprise their coaching roles. Joanne Clifton, who appeared on It Takes Two and in the group professional performances last year, will return as a full dancer this year and pair a celebrity.

Five dancers are, however, hanging up their dancing shoes and won't be part of the line up when the series kicks off later this year. Ola Jordan, Kristina Rihanoff, Aliona Vilani and Tristan MacManus all announced at the end of last series that they wouldn't be returning, while Gleb Savchenko has now also decided to depart "due to family commitments."

Three brand new dancers have been added to the line-up: dancing World Champion Katya Jones, Ukrainian Champion Oksana Platero and top Spanish dance professional Gorka Marquez.

"We are delighted with our professional dancer line up this year and we welcome three new stunning dancers to our Strictly family," says the show's executive producer Louise Rainbow, adding: "Our most recent series was a terrific one for Strictly, winning both an NTA and BAFTA Television Award, and we are all so excited to build on that and look forward to yet another brilliant and entertaining series.”

Other professional dancers will also join the Strictly family in due course, reveal the show.

See the full line-up so far:

Anton Du Beke
Brendan Cole
Pasha Kovalev
Aljaz Skorjanec
Kevin Clifton
Gorka Marquez
Giovanni Pernice
Karen Clifton
Joanne Clifton
Katya Jones
Janette Manrara
Natalie Lowe
Oti Mabuse
Oksana Platero

Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC1 later this year