Popstars (UK TV series)
| Popstars | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Talent show |
| Presented by | Davina McCall (Live final episode) |
| Judges |
Nigel Lythgoe Nicki Chapman Paul Adam |
| Narrated by | Daniel Hill |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60–120 minutes |
| Production company(s) | LWT |
| Distributor | ITV Studios |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Original release | 10 January – 18 March 2001 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Popstars: The Rivals |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Popstars is a UK talent show series that was broadcast on ITV in early 2001. It was the first UK series of the international Popstars franchise, and was billed as a documentary on the formation of a modern pop group. The series began with audition rounds of aspiring singers (good and bad) performing songs before a panel of judges. The best performers were selected to come to London for further rounds of auditions. Over the weeks, the judges eliminated various singers from the auditions until just a few singers were left in contention. In the final weeks, five contestants were chosen by the judges to form the new pop group Hear’Say. The programme then showed the group recording and promoting their first single, documenting their first ventures into the music industry.
The first series of Popstars proved popular with audiences, and a second series (named Popstars: The Rivals) followed in 2002, but used a vastly different format, heavily influenced by the success of Pop Idol. Another follow-up, Soap Stars, used the original Popstars format to find actors for a new family in ITV's hit soap Emmerdale, but neither the show, nor the winners' roles in Emmerdale, were deemed a success.
Unlike the modern Idol or X Factor television series, which are presented as singing contests with public votes, the original UK series of Popstars was presented as a documentary, looking at the formation of a modern pop group from the auditions through to the first released single. There was no public vote, rather the panel of judges decided on which aspiring singers formed the group.
After the formation of the group (called Hear'Say), the programme documented the group recording and promoting their first single ("Pure and Simple"), with the series ending on the night the single charted in the UK Singles Chart (The single went straight to number 1).
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