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Airdate: Let it Shine

Gary Barlow's talent search, featuring Dannii Minogue, premieres later this month on UKTV.

Gary Barlow’s new talent show Let It Shine premieres later this month on UKTV.

The series, which also features Dannii Minogue and Graham Norton, is searching for 5 male singers to front a new musical using Take That songs (not to be confused with previous musical Never Forget).

The line-up also includes Martin Kemp, Amber Riley and Mel Giedroyc (who may need a stylist before giving out too much advice?).

Lulu is one of several upcoming guests along with Olly Murs and Mel C.

Over eight weeks of competition, Let It Shine will search for five talented boys that will form a band to perform the songs of Take That in a brand new stage show touring the UK next year.

Gary Barlow will be joined on the judging panel by singer, actress and global talent show judge Dannii Minogue, and actor, musician and Spandau Ballet star Martin Kemp, to find the very best talent the UK has to offer. The judges are looking for a band that exudes the charisma, showmanship and stage presence that Take That became so famous for.

Let It Shine will have three stages of competition. The musical theatre star Amber Riley, who rose to fame as Mercedes Jones in Glee, will join as guest judge during the audition stage of the competition to give her expert opinion to the budding stars.

During the auditions the boys have just one performance to impress our judges. They will all sing, and some will dance and others will play instruments. But have they got what it takes to get through to the next round, where the lucky ones will get to perform in groups alongside hugely popular music acts?

As well as those who have applied to be on the show, Gary has gone out across the UK to find talented contestants who have been secretly nominated by their friends and families. Gary surprises them and personally invites them to audition in front of the Let It Shine judges.

Singer, television personality and actress Lulu, OBE, who famously collaborated with Gary Barlow on Take That hit Relight My Fire, will join the three permanent judges for the second stage of the competition, helping to whittle down the groups to five final bands who will go forward to compete in the live shows.

The finalists will seek to prove their worth as they collaborate with some of the UK’s most-loved artists, with spectacular staging and one big song after another. Confirmed guest performers for the live shows include Busted, Beverley Knight, Melanie C, Olly Murs and Kaiser Chiefs.

Let It Shine is a BBC Studios Entertainment Production, overseen by Guy Freeman, Editor of Formats and Special Events (Diamond Jubilee Concert, Children In Need Rocks, Adele At The BBC) and Executive Producer Andrew Cartmell (Sport Relief: Clash Of The Titans, Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two).

7:30pm Sunday January 22 on UKTV.

2 Responses

  1. Good point, but reviews of this from the UK seem to suggest it doesn’t take itself too seriously and is actually quite light hearted. It even pokes a bit of fun at the genre in the intro apparently.

  2. I think we are reaching talent show saturation point. I gave up watching them because the novel idea became a nightly occurrence with each channel trying to go one better. This is my opinion and I’m sure a lot of viewers still love them.

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