Sir Bruce Forsyth to leave Strictly Come Dancing live shows

Sir Bruce Forsyth is stepping down as presenter of the hit BBC1 series Strictly Come Dancing after a decade fronting the show.

He said it was the "right time to step down from the rigours" of hosting the live shows which have become Saturday night ratings winners.

However he will continue to work on pre-recorded Strictly shows for Christmas and Children In Need as well as one-off BBC specials, and said he will also be performing in theatres.

The future of Sir Bruce, 86, on the show had been a cause of speculation for some months. He had already scaled back some of his commitments, stepping down from the weekly results show and writing occasional rest weeks into his deal with show bosses.

The presenter - who has been in showbusiness since childhood - had also talked in interviews about how he would liked to spend more time abroad to avoid the cold winters in the UK.

The official BBC Strictly Twitter account said:

Sir Bruce said today:

Sir Bruce joked that he should be replaced by London Mayor Boris Johnson.

He told BBC Radio 4's PM programme: "This has been going on for seven or eight years - 'Who's going to replace Bruce?' I've been retiring or semi-retiring from this show ever since it started, and the name I keep coming up with is Boris Johnson."

But he refused to offer a serious suggestion for a successor:

Sir Bruce's Strictly co-host Tess Daly tweeted:

Her full statement read:

Strictly will return in the autumn. In recent years it has beaten its Saturday night ITV rival The X Factor in the ratings, but the singing contest is hoping to revitalise its audience by bringing back Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole to the judging panel later this year.