Strictly Come Dancing has returned to the small screen for its 24th series, in a new era for the show with a revamped presenting line-up.

An average of 5.3 million viewers tuned in on Saturday with a share of 49.2% of the overnight ratings, which was 7% up on last year, and it remained high on iPlayer’s most popular chart on Sunday.

Broadcaster Emma Willis, comedian Josh Widdicombe and former Strictly professional Johannes Radebe made their presenting debut, taking over from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who left last year.

Famous faces including actress Melanie Walters and former England footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips stepped on to the ballroom floor for the first time.

During the launch show, it was revealed which professional dancers they were paired with.

Perhaps inevitably, critics are asking if three presenters is not a crowd compared with the long-running duo of Daly and Winkleman.

Taking to the ballroom floor after a huge all-cast opening dance routine, Willis said presenting Strictly was a “genuine honour”.

“Josh, you’ve got moves,” proclaimed Radebe, a former professional on the show. Widdicombe added that it was a “little bit overwhelming” but he was “delighted” to be there.

In a first for the show, celebrity and pro pairings were revealed via three dance routines. It functioned as a musical chairs of sorts, in which the contestants switched partners until the music was paused, and a couple was announced.

Saturday’s episode saw 200,000 more viewers at its peak than during last year’s launch show.

The figures were not the “full picture of all those who watch”, the BBC noted, as fans caught up on iPlayer.

Here is a list of the pairings in full:

One pair who will not need to get to know each other are reality TV star Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin.

Dyer is back to compete for a second time, having withdrawn from last year’s series because of a fractured ankle.

“I’m just over the Moon. I’m so, so happy,” she said after the pairing, while Kuzmin added that he had “tears of joy” in his eyes.

Meanwhile, actress Bethany Antonia and professional Nancy Xu became the third two-woman couple to compete in the show.

In a poignant moment, Antonia revealed that watching boxer Nicola Adams and Katya Jones performing together in Strictly’s 2020 series had been a “big part of my coming out journey”.

Among the other pairings were EastEnders actress Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola, former Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon, and Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr.

Also back on the dancefloor for a final spin was reigning Strictly champion, former Lionness Karen Carney.

Clad in the same diamante-encrusted football shirt, Carney recreated the Jive that first marked her out as a contender of her series, alongside dance partner Carlos Gu.

“I absolutely feel like I’m at home,” Carney told Willis after the routine, as she paid tribute to her pro partner.

In 13 weeks’ time, she will have to surrender that glitterball trophy to a new victor.

And it is not just presenters and celebrities navigating the ballroom for the first time: Aleksandra Isaeva, Cristian Priori, Lethabo Monametsi, Maddie Ingoldsby and Mark Karmalita are the five new professionals joining the Strictly cast this series.

They hail from the UK, Canada, Italy, South Africa and Ukraine.

The five made a high-impact entrance, performing a searing routine that kicked off on top of an enormous encaged disco ball.

Saturday’s show was a more pared back role for Craig Revel Horwood and his fellow judges – Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke – who featured less.

But there was still time for resident villain Horwood to direct a jibe at broadcaster Will Best’s hip action: “Call in the paramedics darling, dislocation – my goodness.”

And some other traditions remain intact.

Once all the dance routines were wrapped, the pairings announced, and the chats in the “Clauditorium” concluded, it was time for the show’s three new hosts to bid farewell with the customary order to “staaart dancing!”

Writing in the Independent, external, Rachel McGrath and Lauren Morris ask if three hosts is “truly a crowd” but decide the trio are “certainly off to a good start”.

“Emma Willis is undoubtedly doing the heavy lifting, but that makes sense as she is the presenter with the most experience,” they note.

“At times, when the three of them were all together, it did feel a little crowded – but there is more than enough presenting to go around…”

The pairings “as usual, seem very well matched”, they add, singling out Antonia and Xu.

“Did it take three to tango?” asked Michael Hogan in the Guardian, external‘s live blog.

“It will take some getting used to, of course, but I thought it worked pretty well. Emma Willis seemed completely at home and smoothly steered the ship. Johannes Radebe was a legend and his understanding of the contest from a pro’s perspective will prove invaluable. Josh Widdicombe was enthusiastic and entertaining, although the loud laughing into his mic might need to be turned down…

“An even sterner test will come next weekend, of course, as we go live for the first time. No pressure, you three. But a promising start.”

In her analysis of the show for the Guardian, external, Emine Saner says “the presenters look terrified and some of the celebs are hard to identify, but Strictly remains a rare refuge of joy”.

“The vibe” the new presenters are “going for is can’t-quite-believe-we-got-the-gig humility combined with superfan credentials, which is absolutely the right note”, she says.

But she suggests “the pro dancers must now be better-known than some of their celebrity partners” to “which the response can only be ‘no, me neither'”.

Writing in the Telegraph, external, Anita Singh clearly sees Willis and Radebe as the company, and Widdicombe the crowd.

“Why has the BBC hired jokeless Josh?” she asks.

“Can someone come and collect little Josh from the Strictly studio, please? The poor thing got left behind after the Year 7 school trip and accidentally found himself on Saturday night TV.”

By contrast, her initial concerns about Radebe’s ability to make the jump from dancing to presenting now look misplaced as he is “so at home in the studio, and so genuine in his interactions with the celebrities and professionals”.

And Willis is “great, a pro who could do this job in her sleep”, Singh writes.

But both male presenters clearly must do better if they are to impress Sasha Morris of the Express, external who declares that “Strictly’s new Tess and Claudia are total car crash”.

“Just seconds after seeing the three new hosts… bumble onto the set together, my hope died, and quickly,” she writes.

“Poor Josh… looked like a deer in headlights and was completely out of his depth from start to finish…

“Backstage with the stars, both male hosts were too often wide-eyed, nodding and smiling as if they were being held hostage, while charismatic Emma showed them up, moving seamlessly from one position to the next.”

“Having three presenters seemed unnecessary, too, as if the bosses didn’t feel they could trust Josh or Johannes to hold a role on their own,” she adds.

However, for Morris too “the real test will be next week”.