Stars in Their Eyes is a British television talent series, based on Joop van den Ende's Dutch format Soundmixshow. It featured a singing contest in which members of the public impersonate showbiz stars.
Pop Idol is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer in the UK based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast, one in 2001–2002 and a second in 2003. An immense success when it launched in 2001, Maggie Brown in The Guardian wrote, "the show became a seminal reality/entertainment format once on air that autumn". Series judge Simon Cowell became a major public figure in entertainment, and the show produced instant No. 1 chart hits, including for the first series winner Will Young, whose single "Evergreen" was the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history and the best-selling song of 2002. Pop Idol was subsequently put on an indefinite hiatus after Simon Cowell announced the launch of The X Factor in the UK in April 2004.
William Robert Young is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. He came to prominence after winning the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest Pop Idol, making him the first winner of the worldwide Idol franchise. His double A-sided debut single "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" was released two weeks after the show's finale and became the fastest-selling debut single in the UK. Young also came in fifth place in World Idol performing the single "Light My Fire" written by the band the Doors.
Ant & Dec are a British television presenting duo consisting of Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly from Newcastle upon Tyne. After meeting as child actors on CBBC's drama Byker Grove, they performed together as pop musicians PJ & Duncan, the names of their characters from the series.
The United Kingdom was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 with the song "Say It Again", written by Paul Varney, and performed by the group Precious. The British participating broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), organised a public selection process to determine its entry for the contest, The Great British Song Contest 1999. Eight songs competed over two rounds, with four songs selected through a radio-broadcast semi-final to advance to the televised final round, held on 7 March 1999, where viewers selected the winning entry through televoting. "Say It Again" performed by girl group Precious received the most votes and was selected to represent the nation in the contest.
The United Kingdom was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "Hold Onto Our Love", written by Gary Miller and Tim Woodcock, and performed by James Fox. The British participating broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), organised a public selection process to determine its entry for the contest, Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up 2004. Six acts competed in the national final and the winner was selected entirely through a public vote.
"Flying Without Wings" is a song by Irish boy band Westlife, released on 18 October 1999 as the third single from their self-titled debut studio album (1999). It is the band's fourth-best-selling single on both paid-for and combined sales in the United Kingdom as of January 2019.
Michael Louis Vincent Walsh is an Irish music manager and television personality. He has managed Johnny Logan, Boyzone, Jedward and Westlife, four of Ireland's most successful pop acts in the 1990s and 2000s. He has also served as a judge on television talent competition shows, including Popstars (2001–2002), You're a Star (2003–2004), The X Factor, and Ireland's Got Talent (2018–2019). In 2024, Walsh was a contestant on the twenty-third series of the reality show Celebrity Big Brother.
Kimberley Jane Scott is an English singer, dancer, television personality and actress. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the talent-search series Popstars: The Rivals on ITV. The series announced Walsh had won a place as a member of the girl group Girls Aloud. The group achieved large success, nearly managing 20 consecutive top-10 UK singles, interrupted only by 2008 film-promotional single Theme To St Trinian's peaking at No 51; six studio albums all certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), two of which went to number one in the UK; and accumulating a total of five BRIT Award nominations. In 2009, Girls Aloud won Best Single with their song "The Promise".
SMTV Live was a British Saturday morning children's television programme, produced by Blaze Television for ITV. Operating on a similar format to other Saturday morning programmes for children, such as BBC's Live & Kicking, the programme premiered on 29 August 1998 and ran for 279 episodes across five years, before its conclusion on 27 December 2003.
Eurovision: You Decide is the most recent name of a BBC television programme that was broadcast annually to select the United Kingdom's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The show had previously gone under several other names, including Festival of British Popular Songs (1957), Eurovision Song Contest British Final (1959–1960), The Great British Song Contest (1996–1999), Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up (2004–2007), Eurovision: Your Decision (2008), and Eurovision: Your Country Needs You (2009–2010), but was known, for most of its history, as A Song for Europe.
The United Kingdom was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Touch My Fire", written by Javine Hylton, John Themis, and Jonathan Shalit, and performed by Javine. The British participating broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), organised a public selection process to determine its entry for the contest, Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up 2005. Five acts competed in the national final and the winner was selected entirely through a public vote.
The United Kingdom participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Teenage Life" written by Daz Sampson and John Matthews. The song was performed by Daz Sampson. The British entry for the 2006 contest in Athens, Greece was selected via the national final Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up 2006, organised by the British broadcaster BBC. Six acts competed in the national final and the winner was selected entirely through a public vote.
Austria was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Y así", written by Christof Spörk and Edi Köhldorfer, and performed by the group Global Kryner. The Austrian participating broadcaster, Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), organised the national final Song.Null.Fünf in order to select its entry for the contest. Five artists and ten songs competed in a televised show where a public vote consisting of regional televoting and mobile phone voting exclusively selected "Y así" performed by Global Kryner as the winner.
The X Factor is a British reality television music competition, and part of the global X Factor franchise created by Simon Cowell. Premiering on 4 September 2004, it was produced by Fremantle's British entertainment company, Thames, and Cowell's production company Syco Entertainment for ITV, as well as simulcast on Virgin Media One in Ireland. The programme ran for around 445 episodes across fifteen series, each one primarily broadcast late in the year, until its final episode in December 2018. The majority of episodes were presented by Dermot O'Leary, with some exceptions: the first three series were hosted by Kate Thornton; while Caroline Flack and Olly Murs hosted the show for the twelfth series.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The fifth series was broadcast on ITV from 16 August 2008 until 13 December 2008. Dermot O'Leary returned to present the main show on ITV, while Fearne Cotton was replaced by Holly Willoughby as presenter of spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, and Dannii Minogue returned to the judging panel. Sharon Osbourne left after four series and was replaced by Cheryl Cole. The series was won by Alexandra Burke, with Cole emerging as the winning mentor. Auditions in front of producers were held in April and May, with callbacks in front of the judges in June. The number of applicants for series 5 reached an all-time high with a reported 182,000 people auditioning. A number of well-established music acts from around the world, such as Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Girls Aloud, Take That, Il Divo, and series 3 winner Leona Lewis, performed during the live stages of the show.
Popstars: The Rivals is a British television talent show series, broadcast on ITV in late 2002. It was the second UK series of the international Popstars franchise. Unlike Popstars, which resulted in the formation of one winning group, Hear'Say, Popstars: The Rivals created two rival groups, Girls Aloud and One True Voice, who competed for the Christmas number one spot on the UK Singles Chart. Girls Aloud won and went on to nearly achieve 20 consecutive top-ten hits, including four number ones, and six top-ten albums, two of which reached number one. Group member Cheryl has achieved five solo number-one singles and two number-one albums.
Azerbaijan participated in and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Running Scared" written by Stefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman and Iain James Farquharson. The song was performed by Ell and Nikki. The Azerbaijani Eurovision entrant for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany was selected through Milli Seçim Turu 2011, organised by the Azerbaijani broadcaster İctimai Television (İTV). Following seven heats, a semi-final and a final on 11 February 2011, a seven-member jury selected Nigar Jamal and Eldar Gasimov as the winner. The song "Running Scared" was internally selected and presented to the public on 14 March.
Azerbaijan participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "Hold Me" written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, John Ballard and Ralph Charlie. The song was performed by Farid Mammadov. The Azerbaijani entry for the 2013 contest in Malmö, Sweden was selected through Milli Seçim Turu 2013, organised by the Azerbaijani broadcaster İctimai Television (İTV). Following eight semi-finals and a final on 14 March 2013, a six-member jury selected "Hold Me" performed by Farid Mammadov as the winner.
