Strictly Come Dancing will welcome back Amy Dowden with celebratory group dance

Professional dancer was too ill to compete in last year’s show

Strictly Come Dancing will celebrate Amy Dowden’s return with a special quickstep group routine featuring the show’s professional dancers.

The Welsh ballroom dancer, who first joined the cast of Strictly in 2017, was too ill to compete in last year’s series as she recovered from treatment for stage three breast cancer.

In May 2023, the dancer found a lump in her breast the day before her Maldives honeymoon with fellow professional dancer Ben Jones. She underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy and fertility treatment in those nine months and was eventually told she had “no evidence of disease” in February.

As the show prepares to kick off again this Autumn, Dowden’s monumentous return will be marked with a dazzling quickstep choreography with Dowden front and centre.

They will perform a medley of songs including Dua Lipa’s “Training Season”, Jungle’s “Busy Earnin’” and another of their songs, “Keep Moving”, as played by Dave Arch and his live studio band. The routine will be choreographed by Jason Gilkison.

The BBC has said that the “empowering routine will exude glamour” and it is the “perfect way to welcome Amy back for the 22nd series”.

Speaking about her return, Dowden said: “I am so excited for every element of being back with my Strictly family. I am so grateful to get this opportunity, especially as it’s such a special year for this legendary show.”

“It feels like it’s my first year again. I’m buzzing to see the whole team, for costumes, for dance routines, to meet the celebrities, the judges. Everyone’s laughing at me because I am just smiling constantly.”

Amy Dowden photographed in May 2024 (Getty Images for Deichmann)

Dowden will dedicate the dance to people who are currently dealing with cancer and to her “pink sisters” who she credited for supporting her during the past year.

When Dowden’s name was announced in the 2024 line-up for Strictly, she told her fans that she could not wait to be back doing what she loves the most: dancing.

“My heart is so happy,” she wrote. “The best team on and off the dance floor. Feel blessed and more excited than ever. Bring it on!”

However, Dowden revealed last week that her return to the dancing show was nearly thrown into uncertainty when she had another cancer scare in recent months.

In her new documentary, Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me, Dowden explained that her doctors had conducted a routine MRI scan but had noticed “change occurring in the breast”. Her doctor warned her it could be a sign of breast cancer returning.

Dowden will return to the ‘Strictly’ floor with a dazzling group number to celebrate the occasion (BBC/Wildflame/Stephen Hart)

Dowden, who took the news in her stride, then underwent a biopsy, and told the cameras afterwards: “I’m feeling really anxious and worried because it obviously brought back memories of everything I went through a year ago.”

In the next clip, Dowden and her husband Ben are given the welcome news that the biopsy showed benign changes – there was no cancer detected.

“When the consultant told us there was no evidence of disease, it felt surreal,” Dowden exclaimed. “I’m so relieved. It feels like I’m set free.”

Reflecting on the hardest year of her life, Dowden said: “In the past year, I’ve had a mastectomy, fertility treatment, chemotherapy, sepsis, blood clots, a broken foot and finally it’s time for me to get back on that dancefloor.”

Strictly Come Dancing continues this Autumn.