Soapstar Superstar

Soapstar Superstar
Presented by	Ben Shephard Fern Britton (2006) Zoë Ball (2007)
Starring	Soap stars from the UK and Australia
Judges	Billy Sammeth (2006-07) Chris Cowey (2006-07) Cilla Black (2006) Martine McCutcheon (2007) Michael Ball (2007) David Gest (2007)
Voices of	Peter Dickson (2006-07)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Production
Producer(s)	ITV Productions
Running time	60 to 90 minutes
Release
Original network	ITV
Original release	6 January 2006 – 13 January 2007
Website

Soapstar Superstar is a British reality singing competition produced by Granada Productions (later branded ITV Studios) which first aired on British television station ITV in 2006. In the competition, ten soap opera actors perform in front of a celebrity panel, which included Cilla Black, Billy Sammeth and Chris Cowey. The contestants are judged on their singing ability, in a format similar to Pop Idol and The X Factor. However in this show, the audience decided which song contestants would sing in the next round. The two with the fewest votes were then put up for the public vote, and the one with the fewest votes from that round was eliminated from the competition. However, the eliminated contestant did get the honour of being part of the judging panel for that show and they got to save one contestant and decide which song they got to sing. Series one was presented by Fern Britton and Ben Shephard, with the ITV2 coverage presented by Jayne Middlemiss and Duncan James. The Voice Over was provided by Peter Dickson.

The second season began on Friday 5 January 2007. Zoë Ball became the new host on ITV, with the ITV2 show being fronted by Mark Durden-Smith, Sheree Murphy and Rob Deering. Billy Sammeth and Chris Cowey returned as judges. However, Martine McCutcheon and Michael Ball replaced Cilla Black as judges. David Gest was also a guest judge for one episode. This was due to Michael Ball coaching the stars on how to sing songs from musicals. The Vocal Academy based in Manchester supplied the vocal coaching for the stars. The second season coaches were Jo Price, Jerone and Mandy.

On 25 May 2007, ITV confirmed that the show would not be returning for a third series in 2008, citing that it had reached "natural conclusion".^[1] It has therefore been axed.

Judges and presenters

Presenters

Judges

Series 1

The actors who took part were:

Series 2

The actors who took part were:

Note: Leon Lopez was a replacement for Ben Freeman, who was banned by ITV because he'd been suspended from Emmerdale as he had a court case abroad, and so he was not in the country.^[2]

Controversy

On 18 October 2007, after an in-depth investigation of ITV phone-in shows by Deloitte, it was revealed that phone-in votes for songs and even votes for contestants to go through to the next round had been manipulated by the programme makers. This involved some 20% of the viewers' votes for songs being ignored, and Jane Danson and Tupele Dorgu being put up for eviction in the first episode when the bottom two contestants by votes were actually Verity Rushworth and Leon Lopez.^[3]

As a result, ITV aired an Ofcom summary of findings announcement just before the final of the second series of Britain's Got Talent on 31 May 2008. It was shown again on 8 June 2008 before that night's episode of Coronation Street.

International versions

The Polish edition of Soapstar Superstar, Jak Oni Śpiewają (How They Sing) aired from 3 March until 2 June 2007. It was won by Agnieszka Włodarczyk (Weronika Potoczny from "Plebania"). The second season ran from 8 September until 15 December 2007. The winner was Joanna Liszowska (Dorota Lewkiewicz from "Na dobre i na złe"). The third season aired from 8 March until 31 May 2008. It was won by Krzysztof Respondek (Michał Jeleń from "Barwy Szczęścia"). The fourth season ran from 6 September until 6 December 2008.The winner was Artur Chamski. The 5th season won Laura Samojłowicz. The 6th season won Krzysztof Respondek again (It was All Star Season).

In Belgium, the third season of Steracteur Sterartiest is currently airing on één, all editions were hosted by Katja Retsin and Thomas Vanderveken.

References

External links

• Soapstar Superstar at the Internet Movie Database