Stars in Their Eyes

Harry Hill took over as host on 10 January 2015, with all episodes pre-recorded and the winner of each show again voted for by the studio audience.

The revival proved divisive – fans of the original format were critical of it, saying that Harry Hill had made the show about him rather than the contestants; while others acknowledged that the revival was a post-modern parody of the original, with its knowing ridicule of talent show cliches such as terrible performances being overpraised, and the actions of the presenter receiving high editorial focus to distract from the outdated performance element being thinly stretched.[15] Each episode features Harry being pursued by Adele (really a look-alike) for being in possession of her baby and she would comically chase him until she got the baby back.

In April 2015, it was announced that due to poor viewing figures, ITV would not be renewing the show for another series, and it was axed.[16]

The contestants appear firstly as themselves, talking briefly to the host about their lives and giving clues as to who they are going to be performing as, finishing with the now famous catchphrase 'Tonight [presenter name] I'm going to be...' The contestants then disappear through the equally famous doors and reappear as the famous singer they are going to impersonate, seemingly instantly.

At the end of the show, the studio audience vote for their favourite, and the winner is announced. The winners from each show in the series return for the grand final to perform once more.

In the original Leslie Crowther version and 2015 revival, the grand finals were pre-recorded, and the winner of the whole series was voted for by the studio audience at the end of the show. The first series final in 1990 also had a celebrity panel, consisting of Joe Longthorne, Sally Dynevor and Pete Waterman, who gave their opinions after each performance.[17]

When Matthew Kelly took over, the grand finals were broadcast live, and the winner of the whole series was voted for by the viewing public through the phone lines and in later years online as well. The winner was announced later that same evening in a separate broadcast.

The same process applied during Cat Deeley's tenure as host.

• Series 1 (1990) – Maxine Barrie as Shirley Bassey
• Series 2 (1991) – Bernard Wenton as Nat "King" Cole
• Series 3 (1992) – Amanda Normansell as Patsy Cline
• Series 4 (1993) – Jacquii Cann as Alison Moyet
• Series 5 (1994) – John Finch as Marti Pellow
• Series 6 (1995) – Lee Griffiths as Bobby Darin
• Series 7 (1996) – Paul Doody as Marti Pellow
• Series 8 (1997) – Faye Dempsey as Olivia Newton-John
• Series 9 (1998) – Jason Searle as Neil Diamond
• Series 10 (1999) – Ian Moor as Chris De Burgh (also won Champion of Champions)
• Series 11 (Spring 2000) – Gary Mullen as Freddie Mercury[18][19]
• Series 12 (Winter 2000) – Nicola Kirsch as Maria Callas[20]
• Series 13 (2001) – Emma Wilkinson as Dusty Springfield[21]
• Series 14 (2002) – Stewart Duff as Elvis Presley[22]
• Series 15 (2004) – Charles Ngandwe as Paul Robeson[4]
• Series 16 (2005) – Gordon Hendricks as Elvis Presley[23]
• Series 17 (2015) – Peter Sarsfield as Frankie Valli

• Series 1 (2002) – Charlotte Gethin as Eva Cassidy[24]
• Series 2 (2003) – Laura Jenkins as Connie Francis[25]
• Series 3 (2004) – Paul Cowperthwaite as Michael Jackson[26]
• Series 4 (2006) – Christopher Napier as George Formby[27]

A number of different specials were aired during the course of the show's original run, the majority of which featured celebrities as the contestants.

It is still one of Britain's most successful shows of all time, attracting around 13 million viewers for the live grand final at the end of each series. It has one of the most memorable catchphrases in TV history: 'Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be...’ and was named Most Popular Entertainment Programme at the National Television Awards in 1996, 1998,[28] 1999[29] and 2000.[30] The show was nominated for the same award again in 1997, 2001[31] and 2002[32] but lost out to other ITV shows (An Evening With Lily Savage in 1997, My Kind of Music in 2001 and Pop Idol in 2002).