Strictly and X Factor won't clash this weekend

Strictly’s debut show, which sees the celebrities paired up with their professional dance partners, starts at 6:50pm on BBC1. Meanwhile The X Factor, back for its second week of ‘room auditions’, kicks off exactly when it finishes at 8.15pm over on ITV.

So that’s a full 2 hours and 25 minutes of shiny-floored entertainment you can enjoy this Saturday night. Well, until you take out all of ITV’s adverts. So you know, maybe just the twenty minutes.

X Factor runs Strictly-free on Sunday from 8pm until 9pm, the ballroom's results shows not kicking in until the show begins proper.

It’s unlikely this will continue throughout the rest of the two show’s series. What’s an autumn TV schedule without a bit of a tussle over the remote between these two telly titans?

Indeed, schedules aren’t bereft of a clash this weekend. The two channels are already going to head-to-head on Sunday night with two big dramas. While 9pm sees the BBC offer the first episode of the brand new Aidan Turner-fronted Poldark, ITV brings the third part of Jenna Coleman’s Victoria.

Thankfully, there’s a world of on demand and catch-up services to solve these timing woes. And hundreds of other channels to watch something entirely different. Or, you know, some drying paint no doubt needs an audience somewhere.