Soapstar Superstar

Host

Fern Britton and Ben Shephard (2006)

Zoe Ball (2007)

Co-hosts

Judges:
Chris Cowey and Billy Sammeth (all series)
Cilla Black (2006)
Martine McCutcheon, Michael Ball, and David Gest (2007)

Voiceover: Peter Dickson

ITV2 coverage (Soapstar Superstar Extra/Bonus Tracks):
Jayne Middlemiss and Duncan James (2006)
Mark Durden-Smith, Sheree Murphy and Rob Deering (2007)

Broadcast

Granada for ITV1/2, 6 January 2006 to 13 January 2007 (18 episodes in 2 series)

Synopsis

The inevitable (if somewhat belated) celebrity equivalent of Pop Idol. A bunch of soap actors sing and the public vote to kick them off. This show's particular gimmick (apart from it all being soap actors) is that if you vote by SMS, you can also vote for the song that your favoured contestant will sing the following day (assuming they survive). That's about it, really.

Participants

2006

Richard Fleeshman (Craig Harris, Coronation Street)
Nicholas Bailey (Dr Antony Trueman, EastEnders)
Michael Greco (Beppe di Marco, EastEnders)
Shobna Gulati (Sunita Alahan, Coronation Street)
Lee Otway (Bombhead, Hollyoaks)
Roxanne Pallett (Jo Stiles, Emmerdale)
Lucy Pargeter (Chastity Dingle, Emmerdale)
Wendi Peters (Cilla Battersby-Brown, Coronation Street)
Andy Whyment (Kirk Sutherland, Coronation Street)
Sammy Winward (Katie Sugden, Emmerdale)

2007

Antony Cotton (Sean Tully, Coronation Street)
Gemma Atkinson (Lisa Hunter, Hollyoaks in the City)
Mark Furze (Ric Dalby, Hollyoaks in the City)
Jane Danson (Leanne Battersby, Coronation Street)
Tupele Dorgu (Kelly Crabtree, Coronation Street)
Alan Fletcher (Karl Kennedy, Neighbours)
Mark Furze (Eric ‘Ric' Dalby, Home and Away)
Elaine Lordan (Lynne Hobbs, EastEnders)
Verity Rushworth (Donna Windsor-Dingle, Emmerdale)
Hayley Tamaddon (Delilah Dingle, Emmerdale)
Matthew Wolfenden (David Metcalfe, Emmerdale)

Ben Freeman (Scott Windsor, Emmerdale) was due to take part but withdrew due to rape allegations brought against him in Barbados. He was later cleared by a unanimous jury verdict.

Champions

2006 Richard Fleeshman
2007 Antony Cotton

Trivia

For reasons best known to themselves, the series required the use of 13 editors, 13 assistant producers, 21 producers and directors, and a baffling five script supervisors. How hard is it to organise some photocopying?

In 2008, ITV were fined £1.2m by Ofcom for ignoring the viewers' vote in one programme, finalising the results before the lines had actually closed. This resulted in the wrong participants being put forward for eviction. On a number of other occasions, the production team overrode the song choices voted for by viewers.

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