Ted Hankey was the defending men's champion having won the title for the second time in the previous year's final against Tony O'Shea.

Players from 32 countries around the globe competed to reach the BBC televised finals, which ran from 2–10 January at Frimley Green.

The tournament is also remembered for the first round match between Martin Adams and Anthony Fleet, which featured what has been called "the worst leg of darts ever".

[2][3][4] Martin Adams won his second World Championship title, beating Dave Chisnall 7–5 in the final.

Having fronted their coverage since 2001, Ray Stubbs did not host their broadcasts in 2010 following his decision to join ESPN the previous summer.

There was no coverage on SBS in the Netherlands, for the first time in several years as they chose to follow the majority of their players who featured in the PDC World Championship instead.