Spice Girls: How Girl Power Changed Britain | |
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Genre | Documentary |
Directed by |
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Starring | Spice Girls (archival footage) |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 3 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Editors |
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Production company | 72 Films |
Original release | |
Network | Channel 4 |
Spice Girls: How Girl Power Changed Britain is a three-part British television documentary produced and directed by Vari Innes, Alice McMahon-Major, and Jessica Ranja. The documentary examines modern feminism in the United Kingdom, particularly "girl power", through the lives and legacy of British girl group the Spice Girls. [1]
The production company 72 Films was commissioned to produce the series by Channel 4 in 2020, under the working title Girl Powered: The Spice Girls. [2] Spice Girls: How Girl Power Changed Britain premiered on Channel 4 from 14 to 28 September 2021. [3]
No. | Title | Original air date [3] |
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1 | "Episode 1" | 14 September 2021 |
2 | "Episode 2" | 21 September 2021 |
3 | "Episode 3" | 28 September 2021 |
The premiere received generally positive reviews. The Guardian 's Rebecca Nicholson called it a "fabulous and intimate" documentary and gave it four out of five stars. [4] Elizabeth Aubrey of The Independent similarly gave the premiere four out of five stars, finding it to be a "damning" critique of the music industry in the 1990s. [5] James Jackson of The Times gave the episode three out of five stars and concluded that it was "an intelligent bit of back-to-the-1990s nostalgia layered with dismay at the era's laddism." [6] The Daily Telegraph 's Kat Brown also gave it three stars, finding the lack of input from the Spice Girls themselves to be a notable omission. [7]
The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ; Melanie C ; Emma Bunton ; Geri Halliwell-Horner ; and Victoria Beckham. They have sold over 100 million records worldwide, making them the best-selling girl group of all time. With their "girl power" mantra, the Spice Girls redefined the girl-group concept by targeting a young female fanbase. They led the teen pop resurgence of the 1990s, were a major part of the Cool Britannia era, and became popular culture icons of the decade.
Jennifer Jane Saunders is an English actress, comedian, singer, and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama with her best friend and comedy partner, Dawn French. With French, she co-wrote and starred in their eponymous sketch show, French and Saunders, for which they jointly received a BAFTA Fellowship in 2009. Saunders later received acclaim in the 1990s for writing and playing her character Edina Monsoon in her sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.
Emma Lee Bunton is an English singer, songwriter, media personality, and actress. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Baby Spice, reflecting the fact that she was the youngest member.
Geraldine Estelle Halliwell-Horner is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, author, and actress. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Ginger Spice. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the Spice Girls are the best-selling female group of all time. Their slogan "girl power" was most closely associated with Halliwell and her Union Jack dress from the 1997 Brit Awards also became an enduring symbol. Halliwell left the Spice Girls in 1998, citing exhaustion and creative differences, but rejoined when they reunited for a greatest hits album (2007) and two concert tours: the Return of the Spice Girls (2007–2008) and Spice World (2019).
Melanie Jayne Chisholm, known professionally as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sporty Spice. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the Spice Girls are the best-selling female group of all time. The group went on an indefinite hiatus in 2000, before reuniting for a greatest hits album (2007) and two concert tours: the Return of the Spice Girls (2007–2008) and Spice World (2019). She is known for her unique and distinctive tone.
Melanie Janine Brown, commonly known as Mel B or Melanie B, is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, and actress. She rose to fame in the mid 1990s as a member of the pop girl group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Scary Spice. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the group became the best-selling female group of all time.
Third-wave feminism is a feminist movement that began in the early 1990s, prominent in the decades prior to the fourth wave. Grounded in the civil-rights advances of the second wave, Gen X third-wave feminists born in the 1960s and 1970s embraced diversity and individualism in women, and sought to redefine what it meant to be a feminist. The third wave saw the emergence of new feminist currents and theories, such as intersectionality, sex positivity, vegetarian ecofeminism, transfeminism, and postmodern feminism. According to feminist scholar Elizabeth Evans, the "confusion surrounding what constitutes third-wave feminism is in some respects its defining feature."
"Wannabe" is the debut single by the British girl group the Spice Girls, released on 26 June 1996. It was written by the Spice Girls, Matt Rowe and Richard "Biff" Stannard and produced by Rowe and Stannard for the group's debut album, Spice, released in November 1996. The song was originally mixed by Dave Way, however the Spice Girls were not pleased with the result, and the recording was instead mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent. A dance-pop song, its lyrics address the value of female friendship over heterosexual relationships. It has since became a symbol of female empowerment and the most emblematic song of the group's girl power philosophy.
Girl power is a slogan that encourages and celebrates women's empowerment, independence, confidence and strength. The slogan's invention is credited to the US punk band Bikini Kill, who published a zine called Bikini Kill #2: Girl Power in 1991. It was then popularized in the mainstream by the British girl group Spice Girls in the mid-1990s. According to Rolling Stone magazine, the Spice Girls' usage of "girl power" was one of the defining cultural touchstones that shaped the Millennial generation, particularly during their childhood in the 1990s.
Katerina Alexandre Hartford Graham is an American actress, singer, dancer, and activist. She played Bonnie Bennett on The CW supernatural drama series The Vampire Diaries (2009–2017). Her film credits include The Parent Trap (1998), 17 Again (2009), The Roommate (2011), Honey 2 (2011), Addicted (2014), and All Eyez on Me (2017). In music, Graham has released two extended plays and four studio albums.
A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of whom were influenced by doo-wop and which flourished in the late 1950s and early 1960s between the decline of early rock and roll and start of the British Invasion. All-female bands, in which members also play instruments, are usually considered a separate phenomenon. These groups are sometimes called "girl bands" to differentiate, although this terminology is not universally followed.
Channel 5 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK and Australia division. It was launched in 1997 to provide a fifth national terrestrial channel in the United Kingdom.
Zoe Nicholson is a feminist activist, author, and a longtime member of the National Organization for Women. Openly lesbian, she is known for her work as an independent historian of Alice Paul as well as her role in the campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment.
Little Mix are an English girl group that formed on the eighth series of The X Factor. They are the first group and the only girl group to win the original UK series. The lineup consisted of Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards, and originally Jesy Nelson, before her departure from the group in 2020. Regarded as the show's most successful winning act, their success led to a girl band renaissance in the UK. Little Mix's vocals and harmonies have garnered critical acclaim and the group have been ranked as one of the best vocal girl groups. They were often dubbed, by some media, as the "biggest girl group in the world", before going on a hiatus in 2022, allowing its members to pursue solo projects.
Olivia Hastings Holt is an American actress and singer. She starred in the Disney XD series Kickin' It, Disney Channel Original Movie Girl vs. Monster, and the Disney Channel Original Series I Didn't Do It. From 2018 to 2020, she portrayed Tandy Bowen / Dagger in the Freeform series Cloak & Dagger, the Disney XD series Spider-Man, and the Hulu series Runaways. In 2021, she portrayed Kate Wallis in Cruel Summer.
DNA is the debut studio album by British girl group Little Mix, released on 19 November 2012 through Syco Music and Columbia Records. The recording stages for the album took place between December 2011 and concluded in September 2012. Throughout the recording process, the group worked with several producers, with the album being largely co-written by them and other girl group members, Nicola Roberts of Girls Aloud, Shaznay Lewis of All Saints and T-Boz of TLC. The group stated that they were involved in the development of the album as much as possible.
The Spice Girls are an English girl group that first came to international prominence in 1996 with the release of their debut single "Wannabe". The following year, they became involved in a prolific marketing phenomenon, leading to an unprecedented number of Spice Girls merchandise and sponsorship deals. With their name attached to numerous sponsors including Pepsi, Cadbury and Polaroid, and the official Spice Girls branding on hundreds of different product tie-ins, they quickly became the most merchandised group in music history. Their global merchandising efforts alone brought in over £300 million in 1997, while the group's total grosses were estimated at US$500–800 million by May 1998.
English pop girl group the Spice Girls have starred in one feature film, as well as several television specials, documentaries and commercials. They made their film debut in 1997, starring in their feature film Spice World. The film was a commercial success, but was widely panned by critics, earning the group the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress.
Raw Spice: The Unofficial Story of the Making of the Spice Girls is a 2001 British documentary film about British girl group the Spice Girls. The film focuses on the group before they found success and features previously unreleased footage of them from 1994. Raw Spice also features an interview with Michelle Stephenson, one of the original members of the group who had left before the Spice Girls found fame.
Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power is a 2021 British documentary film directed by Natasha Gaunt that follows English singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock opening about racial issues and colourism she experienced in her life and in the music industry. The documentary aired on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer on 13 May 2021. The documentary was filmed in 2020 after conversations about racism raised awareness following the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. The documentary also shows Pinnock participating in protests in the UK against racial injustice and discussing the issue with fellow activists and artists including Alexandra Burke and Sugababes' Keisha Buchanan.