Superstar (British TV series)

Superstar is a UK talent search, looking for the lead role in a production of the 1971 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. The series started on 7 July 2012 on ITV and was presented by Amanda Holden.

Superstar
GenreReality
Created byAndrew Lloyd Webber
Presented byAmanda Holden
JudgesAndrew Lloyd Webber
Melanie C
Jason Donovan
Dawn French
David Grindrod
ComposerAndrew Lloyd Webber
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes12
Production
Executive producerPeter Davey
Production locationsVarious cities (auditions)
Osea Island (Superstar Island)
The Fountain Studios (live shows)
Running time60–90 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production companyITV Studios
Release
Original networkITV
Original release7 July (2012-07-07) 
25 July 2012 (2012-07-25)
Related
How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria? (2006)
Any Dream Will Do (2007)
I'd Do Anything (2008)
Over the Rainbow (2010)

In the final, on 25 July 2012, 31-year-old Ben Forster was chosen as Jesus to perform the role in the UK arena tour starting in September 2012.[1] 24-year-old Rory Taylor came in second place.

The Team

The series was presented by Amanda Holden. The Panel consisted of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jason Donovan, Dawn French and Melanie C. David Grindrod and Will Burton led the casting team, with Yvie Burnett serving as the vocal coach.

Format

Nationwide auditions

Cities where auditions were held.

The Nationwide auditions began in March 2012 visiting London, Dublin, Belfast, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff. The judges are Andrew Lloyd Webber, Melanie C, Jason Donovan and David Grindrod. Host Amanda Holden was on hand for the auditionees.[2]

Grindrod judged the nationwide auditions and was joined by Donovan and Melanie C at the 'Callback' round held at the O2 Academy in Brixton, London. Over 100 contestants were invited to the 'Callback' round in London. Lloyd Webber watched all the performances from a balcony at the side of the stage.

Superstar Island

The final 41 contestants are invited to 'Superstar Island' (Osea Island in Essex) for a week of training. Jonathan Ansell is a notable contestant who failed to pass this stage of the show.[3]

Final rounds

The final 30 contestants were invited to Lloyd Webber's villa in Majorca. After 10 were eliminated on arrival, the remaining contestants performed again in front of Lloyd Webber.

The next day, the contestants travelled back to Great Britain via coach (with the journey taking 25 hours) and performed a final time in front of the panel, with an accompanying band onstage, for a place in the live shows.

Live shows

The Live show stages of the search were judged by Melanie C, Jason Donovan, Dawn French and Andrew Lloyd Webber. The live shows were broadcast live from Fountain Studios in Wembley and took place over nine nights (excluding Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 July). The final was held on 25 July 2012.

The contestants perform on the first live show with the results of the public vote announced during the following night's show. The two contestants with the lowest votes competed in the Sing-Off to stay in the competition. After the performance, Lloyd Webber then decided which potential Jesus to keep in the contest. The saved Jesuses could be seen on the "Stairway to Heaven". The eliminated Jesus(es) then "walks into the light" and leaves the stage.

Finalists

Finalist Age* From Status
Afnan Iftikhar 23 North Shields Eliminated 1st on Night 1
Dirk Johnson 24 Scotland Eliminated 2nd on Night 2
Tim Prottey-Jones 32 Birmingham Eliminated 3rd on Night 4
Niall Sheehy 31 County Wicklow Eliminated 4th on Night 5
Jon Moses 37 York Eliminated 5th on Night 6
Jeff Anderson 21 Belfast Eliminated 6th on Night 6
Nathan James 23 Reading Eliminated 7th on Night 7
David Hunter 27 Warrington Eliminated 8th on Night 8
Roger Wright 41 London Eliminated 9th on Night 9
Rory Taylor 24 Wirral Runner-up
Ben Forster 31 Sunderland Winner

* at time of competition

Results summary

Colour key
  Contestant was in the bottom two and who was saved after the sing off
  Contestant was eliminated after the sing off
  Contestant who received the most public votes
Weekly results per contestant
Contestant Night 1 Night 2 Night 3 Night 5 Night 6 Night 7 Night 8 Final
Night 3 Night 4
Ben Forster Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Winner
(night 9)
Rory Taylor Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom two Safe Safe Bottom two Runner-up
(night 9)
Roger Wright Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom three Bottom two Safe Eliminated
(night 9)
David Hunter Safe Safe Bottom two Bottom two Safe Safe Safe EliminatedEliminated
(night 8)
Nathan James Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe EliminatedEliminated
(night 7)
Jeff Anderson Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe EliminatedEliminated
(night 6)
Jon Moses Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe EliminatedEliminated
(night 6)
Niall Sheehy Safe Safe Safe Safe EliminatedEliminated
(night 5)
Tim Prottey-Jones Safe Bottom two Bottom two EliminatedEliminated
(night 4)
Dirk Johnson Bottom two EliminatedEliminated
(night 2)
Afnan Iftikhar EliminatedEliminated
(night 1)

Live show details

Night 1 (15 July 2012)

Contestants' performances on the first live show
Contestant Order Song (artist) Result (Night 2)
David Hunter 1 "Forget You" (Cee Lo Green) Safe
Dirk Johnson 2 "Make You Feel My Love" (Bob Dylan) Bottom two
Nathan James 3 "Sign Your Name" " (Terence Trent D'Arby) Safe
Ben Forster 4 "Somebody That I Used to Know" (Gotye) Safe
Niall Sheehy 5 "Stay" (Hurts) Safe
Tim Prottey-Jones 6 "Stone Cold Sober" " (Paloma Faith) Safe
Roger Wright 7 "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (Procol Harum) Safe
Jon Moses 8 "Since U Been Gone" (Kelly Clarkson) Safe
Afnan Iftikhar 9 "Next to Me" (Emeli Sande) Bottom two
Jeff Anderson 10 "Red" (Daniel Merriweather) Safe
Rory Taylor 11 "Are You Gonna Go My Way" (Lenny Kravitz) Safe
  • Sing-Off (Night 2)
Act Sing Off Song Results
Afnan Iftikhar "Memory" from Cats Eliminated
Dirk Johnson Saved by Lloyd Webber

Night 2 (16 July 2012)

Contestants' performances on the second live show
Contestant Order Song (artist) Result (Night 3)
Ben Forster 1 "She Said" (Plan B) Safe
Tim Prottey-Jones 2 "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (Cat Stevens) Bottom two
Rory Taylor 3 "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" (Kelly Clarkson) Safe
Nathan James 4 "Dedication to My Ex" (Lloyd ft. André 3000 & Lil Wayne) Safe
Roger Wright 5 "Part of Me" (Katy Perry) Safe
Dirk Johnson 6 "Titanium" (Sia) Bottom two
Jeff Anderson 7 "Mr Brightside" (The Killers) Safe
Niall Sheehy 8 "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" (The Script) Safe
Jon Moses 9 "I Can't Make You Love Me" (Bonnie Raitt) Safe
David Hunter 10 "Nothing's Real But Love" (Rebecca Ferguson) Safe
  • Sing-Off (Night 3)
Act Sing Off Song Results
Dirk Johnson "Hurt" Eliminated
Tim Prottey-Jones Saved by Lloyd Webber

Night 3 (17 July 2012)

Contestants' performances on the third live show
Contestant Order Song (artist) Result (Night 4)
Roger Wright 1 "More Than Words"( Extreme) Safe
Nathan James 2 "To Be With You"( Mr. Big) Safe
Rory Taylor 3 "Dakota"(Stereophonics) Safe
Jon Moses 4 "I Want To Know What Love Is"( Foreigner) Safe
David Hunter 5 "You've Got The Love" ( The Source feat Candi Staton) Bottom two
Ben Forster 6 "Everybody Hurts"(R.E.M.) Safe
Tim Prottey-Jones 7 "Time Is Running Out"(Muse) Bottom two
Jeff Anderson 8 "How You Remind Me"(Nickelback) Safe
Niall Sheehy 9 "Dirty Diana" (Michael Jackson) Safe
  • Sing-Off (Night 4)
Act Sing Off Song Results
David Hunter "The Long and Winding Road" Saved by Lloyd Webber (Night 5) 1
Tim Prottey-Jones Eliminated (Night 5) 1

^1 Before the performance, Lloyd Webber decided not to eliminate either of them until he had seen the solo performances they had prepared for the night. They both performed on Night 4 with the elimination at the end of the show.[4]

Night 4 (18 July 2012)

Contestants' performances on the fourth live show
Contestant Order Song (artist) Result (Night 5)
Niall Sheehy 1 "One" (U2) Safe
Rory Taylor 2 "Roxanne" (The Police) Safe
David Hunter 3 "One Day Like This" (Elbow) Bottom two (Night 4)
Ben Forster 4 "This Love" (Maroon 5) Safe
Jon Moses 5 "I Won't Let You Go" (James Morrison) Safe
Nathan James 6 "How to Save a Life" (The Fray) Safe
Roger Wright 7 "Here I Go Again" (Whitesnake) Safe
Tim Prottey-Jones 8 "Dream On" (Aerosmith) Eliminated (Night 4)
Jeff Anderson 9 "Kiss from a Rose" (Seal) Safe

Night 5 (19 July 2012)

Contestants' performances on the fifth live show
Contestant Order Song (artist) Result
Jeff Anderson 1 "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (The Rolling Stones) Safe
David Hunter 2 "Nothing Compares 2 U" (Sinéad O'Connor) Safe
Rory Taylor 3 "Fix You" (Coldplay) Bottom two
Nathan James 4 "Ain't No Sunshine" (Bill Withers) Safe
Ben Forster 5 "Fast Car" (Tracy Chapman) Safe
Niall Sheehy 6 "Wherever You Will Go" (The Calling) Bottom two
Jon Moses 7 "Feel" (Robbie Williams) Safe
Roger Wright 8 "Rolling in the Deep" (Adele) Safe
  • Sing-Off:
Act Sing Off Song Results
Rory Taylor "Alone" Saved by Lloyd Webber
Niall Sheehy Eliminated

Night 6 (20 July 2012)

Contestants' performances on the sixth live show
Contestant Order Song (artist) Result
Jon Moses 1 "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (U2) Bottom three
Jeff Anderson 2 "Whole Lotta Love" (Led Zeppelin) Bottom three
Roger Wright 3 "Feeling Good" (Nina Simone) Bottom three
Ben Forster 4 "Cold As Ice"(Foreigner) Safe
Rory Taylor 5 "Silenced by the Night" (Keane) Safe
David Hunter 6 "Apologize"(OneRepublic) Safe
Nathan James 7 "Sweet Child o' Mine"(Guns N' Roses) Safe
  • Sing-Off:
Act Sing Off Song Results
Jon Moses "Could We Start Again Please?" from Jesus Christ Superstar Eliminated
Jeff Anderson Eliminated
Roger Wright Saved by Lloyd Webber

Night 7 (23 July 2012)

Contestants' performances on the seventh live show
Contestant Order Song (artist) Result
Nathan James 1 "Born This Way" (Lady Gaga) Bottom two
Roger Wright 2 "Handbags and Gladrags" (Rod Stewart) Bottom two
David Hunter 3 "Too Close" (Alex Clare) Safe
Rory Taylor 4 "Under Pressure" (Queen feat David Bowie) Safe
Ben Forster 5 "It Must Have Been Love" (Roxette) Safe
  • Sing-Off
Act Sing Off Song Results
Nathan James "Love Changes Everything" from Aspects of Love Eliminated
Roger Wright Saved by Lloyd Webber

Night 8: Semi-final (24 July 2012)

Contestants' performances on the eighth live show
Contestant Order Song (artist) Result
Rory Taylor 1 "In the Air Tonight" (Phil Collins) Bottom two
Ben Forster 2 "Run"(Snow Patrol) Safe
Roger Wright 3 "Hard to Handle"(Otis Redding) Safe
David Hunter 4 "I Try"(Macy Gray) Bottom two

Sing-Off

Act Sing Off Song Results
David Hunter "No Matter What" from Whistle Down the Wind Eliminated
Rory Taylor Saved by Lloyd Webber

Night 9: Final (25 July 2012)

Contestants' performances on the ninth live show
Contestant Order Song (artist) Result
Ben Forster 1 "Who Wants to Live Forever" (Queen) Winner
Rory Taylor 2 "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (Aerosmith) Runner-up
Roger Wright 3 "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (George Michael feat Elton John) Eliminated

The Arena Tour

The tour travelled across the country from 21 September until 21 October 2012 and toured in the following venues: London O2 Arena, Glasgow SECC, Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, Manchester Arena, Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, National Indoor Arena Birmingham, Belfast Odyssey, The O2 Dublin, Echo Arena Liverpool, Nottingham Capital FM and Motorpoint Arena Sheffield.[5] Joining Forster was comedian Tim Minchin as Judas Iscariot, Melanie C as Mary Magdalene, BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles as King Herod Antipas, Alexander Hanson as Pontius Pilate, Pete Gallagher as Caiaphas, Gerard Bentall as Annas, Michael Pickering as Peter, and Giovanni Spano as Simon Zealotes.

The tour resumed in March 2013 in Australia with Forster, Minchin, and Melanie C reprising their respective roles. Australian TV personality Andrew O'Keefe played the role of King Herod for the Australian leg of the tour, with New Zealand born Jon Stevens (who played Judas in the 1992 Australian arena tour and the 1994 theatre production) playing Pilate.[6] Superstar runner-up Rory Taylor appeared as Simon Zealotes.

The North American tour was to commence on 9 June starting in New Orleans, with stops including Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and more before ending in Philadelphia on 17 August. This leg of the tour was to feature Forster reprising his role as Jesus, Brandon Boyd of rock band Incubus as Judas, Destiny's Child singer Michelle Williams as Mary Magdalene, former 'N Sync singer JC Chasez as Pilate, and former Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd lead singer John Lydon as King Herod.[7] On 30 May 2014, the tour was cancelled, mostly due to poor ticket sales.[8]

Reception

Official ratings are supplied by the UK Programme Ratings website, BARB.[9]

Ratings

Episode Air date Timeslot Overnight ratings
(millions)
Official ratings
(millions)
Weekly rank
Auditions 7 July 19:25 3.04[10] 3.03 #18
Superstar Island 8 July 20:00 3.11[11] 3.16 #16
The Final 30 14 July 20:00 2.89[12] 2.95 #29
Live show 1 15 July 20:00 3.08[13] 2.99 #27
Live show 2 16 July 21:00 2.83[14] 2.81 #26
Live show 3 17 July 21:00 2.37[15] Under 2.66 Outside Top 30
Live show 4 18 July 21:00 2.69[16] 2.67 #29
Live show 5 19 July 21:00 2.90[17] 2.83 #25
Live show 6 20 July 21:00 2.64[18] 2.66 #30
Live show 7 23 July 21:00 2.59[19] 2.49 #22
Semi-final 24 July 21:00 2.54[20] 2.54 #21
Final 25 July 21:00 3.17[21] 3.11 #13
Series average2012N/A2.822.82N/A

References

  1. "Ben Forster crowned as Jesus in ITV's 'Superstar'". Digital Spy. 25 July 2012.
  2. "The panel and host announced". itv.com. May 2012. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  3. "X Factor singer auditions for Superstar". Digital Spy. 6 July 2012.
  4. "Andrew decreed that Tim should leave the competition". Superstar. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012.
  5. "Jesus Christ Superstar Tickets".
  6. DEBORAH JONES (1 June 2013). "Jesus Christ Superstar songs shine with Tim Minchin, Melanie C". The Australian. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  7. "Stars align for the biggest US arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar - Jesus Christ Superstar US Tour". Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  8. Itzkoff, Dave (31 May 2014). "Anger for 'Jesus Christ Superstar' Cast, and a Black Eye for Its Promoter". The New York Times via NYTimes.com.
  9. "Weekly Viewing Summary (see relevant week)". BARB.
  10. "Andrew Lloyd Webber's Superstar launches with 3.2m on ITV1". Digital Spy. 9 July 2012.
  11. "Andy Murray's tearful Wimbledon final defeat serves up 16.9m peak". Digital Spy. 9 July 2012.
  12. "Big Brother slumps to 870,000 on Saturday night". Digital Spy. 15 July 2012.
  13. "'Family Guy' rockets to 1.2m on BBC Three after 'Shrek' boost". Digital Spy. 16 July 2012.
  14. "'Superstar' first live show stumbles along with 2.9m". Digital Spy. 17 July 2012.
  15. "BBC Two's 'Line of Duty' beats ITV's struggling 'Superstar'". Digital Spy. 18 July 2012.
  16. "'24 Hours in A and E' tops 9pm slot for Channel 4". Digital Spy. 22 July 2012.
  17. "Dynamo continues to perform strongly for Watch". Digital Spy. 22 July 2012.
  18. "Olympics fever boosts BBC Three ratings". Digital Spy. 22 July 2012.
  19. "'Absolutely Fabulous' Olympics special grabs 5.6 million". Digital Spy. 24 July 2012.
  20. "'Superstar' latest episode attracts more than 2.5 million". Digital Spy. 25 July 2012.
  21. "'Superstar' soars to series high for Ben Forster's finale win". Digital Spy. 26 July 2012.
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