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- This article is about the ITV TV Show. For the Just Jack Song see Starz in Their Eyes
Stars in Their Eyes was a British television talent show from 21 July 1990 to 7 January 2006 in which contestants impersonate showbiz stars. It is made by Granada Television for ITV, based on Joop van den Ende's Dutch format, The Soundmixshow.
It remains one of the UK's most successful shows 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 (presenter name) I'm going to be...' and was named most popular entertainment show at the National Television Awards in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000.
The most impersonated stars are Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, Cher, George Michael and Madonna.
[edit] Overview
Stars in Their Eyes is a talent show where contestants get the chance to appear and sing, as a famous singer. The show is most importantly a 'soundalike' show, but they are also dressed up to look as close as possible to the singer they are impersonating, often with wigs and heavy makeup.
The contestants appear firstly as themselves, talking briefly to the host about their lives and 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 (The word 'singer' could be used loosely as in 1997 Julian Clary who is not known for his vocal skills was impersonated on the show by Steve Edward)
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 series finale, the live grand final.
In the live grand final, the winners of each show return and perform once more. At the end of the performances, the phone lines open and the viewing public get the chance to phone in and vote for their favourite. The winner is announced later the same evening in a separate broadcast.
Over the years the show has seen a lot of changes: changes from the 1990 set; new set in 1998 and the newest set in 2002; the logo has also changed over the years. There have been four hosts: Leslie Crowther, Russ Abbot (one-off emergency host after Leslie's car accident), Matthew Kelly,and now Cat Deeley. There have been several spin-off versions of the show as well, including:
- Stars in Their Eyes Elvis Special
- Stars in Their Eyes Kids
- Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes
- Christmas Stars in Their Eyes
- Coronation Street Stars in Their Eyes and
- Stars In Euro Eyes.
[edit] Previous winners
[edit] Original format
| Year |
Name of contestant |
Appeared on the show as... |
Votes polled in the final |
| 1990 |
Maxine Barry |
Shirley Bassey |
27,119 |
| 1991 |
Bernie Wenton |
Nat King Cole |
35,585 |
| 1992 |
Amanda Normansell |
Patsy Cline |
44,602 |
| 1993 |
Jacqui Cann |
Alison Moyet |
40,657 |
| 1994 |
John Finch |
Marti Pellow |
150,255 |
| 1995 |
Lee Griffiths |
Bobby Darin |
177,757 |
| 1996 |
Paul Doody |
Marti Pellow |
178,212 |
| 1997 |
Faye Dempsey |
Olivia Newton-John |
287,436 |
| 1998 |
Jason Searle |
Neil Diamond |
205,333 |
| 1999 |
Ian Moor |
Chris de Burgh |
501,868 |
| 2000 |
Gary Mullen |
Freddie Mercury |
864,838 |
| 2000 |
Nicola Kirsch |
Maria Callas |
474,146 |
| 2001 |
Emma Wilkinson |
Dusty Springfield |
204,970 |
| 2002 |
Stewart Duff |
Elvis Presley |
240,731 |
| 2004 |
Charles Ngandwe |
Paul Robeson |
144,468 |
| 2005 |
Gordon Hendricks |
Elvis Presley |
84,895 |
[edit] Stars in Their Eyes Champion of Champions
In October 1999, the first 10 series winners were brought together for a 10-year anniversary special, called the Champion of Champions.
This show was won by the 10th series winner, Ian Moor as Chris de Burgh with a total of 481,525 votes.
[edit] Stars in Their Eyes Kids
Stars in Their Eyes Kids shows debuted as a one-off show in 2001. This was followed in 2002 by a seven-part series. which was won by Charlotte Gethin as Eva Cassidy, who beat kids mimicking Donny Osmond, Irene Cara, Millie Small, Nelly Furtado and Robbie Williams in the final.
Stars in Their Eyes Kids 2003 was won by Laura Jenkins, as Connie Francis, with a total of 156,455 votes.
Stars in Their Eyes Kids 2004, was won by Paul Cowperthwaite as Michael Jackson singing ABC, with a total of 61,877 votes.
Stars in Their Eyes Kids 2006, was won by Christopher Napier as George Formby
[edit] Stars In Euro Eyes
Stars in Euro Eyes 2001 was won by Belgium's Sunny O'Brien as Celine Dion.
The Stars in Their Eyes European Championships 2002 was won by Ireland's Rebecca O'Connor as Tina Turner.
[edit] Celebrity specials
Celebrity editions of the show have been aired occasionally since 1998, and although a winner was announced for each show, unlike the original format each has so far been just a one-off special. Usually a handful of episodes is taped early in the year and then broadcast evenly throughout the months,unlike other shows. These episodes are not broadcast in a series format,but rather they are shown as specials every so often. It is not uncommon to see certain episodes months after they were taped.
This is a list detailing each broadcast episode that has aired so far. The winners are listed first in bold type, except for a few episodes between 2000 and 2001 where participants are known but not which particular episodes they were a part of.
[edit] 2000-2001
Celebrities who performed during episodes during this period. The first one is a complete episode. The second one is a list of celebrities who appeared on the show during the period. There are at least two episodes featured in the list as Tracie Bennett and Claire Sweeney have won their show.
Note: This episode was filmed in 2006 but has not yet aired, although there are many reports that Roxanne Pallett was the winner of this particular show.
[edit] Miscellaneous
- The finals during Leslie Crowther's era were pre-recorded.
- Matthew Kelly was inititally hired as caretaker host following Leslie's car accident in 1992, but became permanent when Leslie was unable to return.
- For the first two series (1990-1991) the shows were 30 minutes each. From 1992, the shows were 45 minutes each and also filmed profiles of the star guests were added.
- In the 1995 series, Kev Moore from Christie impersonated the late Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy, who just happened to be Leslie Crowther's son-in-law.
- Matthew Kelly made his announcement on GMTV saying that The Stars in Their Eyes Live Final 2004 would be his last as he was quitting the show to take up acting full time.
- For the first series grand final of Stars in Their Eyes they had a celebrity panel of record producer Pete Waterman, Actress Sally Whittaker better known as Sally Webster in Coronation Street and impressionist Joe Longthorne.
- In one episode of Little Britain, Anne appears on Stars in Their Eyes, where she impersonates the singer of "My Heart Will Go On", Céline Dion. She manages to sing her catchphrase; "Eh-eh-eh!" to the tune of the song and then knocks over some of the scenery before licking the camera.
[edit] Taking a Break
The programme is currently 'taking a break', but has not yet been cancelled. There are currently no plans for another series. It has been noted by ITV, that Cat Deeley may not be hosting the next series, if there is one, due to her US commitments.
[edit] Overseas Format
New Zealand: In 2008 a New Zealand version of Stars in Their Eyes began screening on TVNZ, TVOne The show, hosted by former children's television presenter and game show host Simon Barnett, is filmed in Auckland and produced by 'Imagination' TV. Applications are currently open for a second series.
[edit] External links
United Kingdom
