Its not X-Factor, but does Britain have the Pop Factor? (Britain's Got the Pop Factor)

Member Name: dbarcl10

Product:	Britain's Got the Pop Factor
Date:	15/12/08 (545 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well presented, entertaining, well thought out idea

Disadvantages: Its a one off

The final of Britain's Got The Pop Factor (or to give it its full title Britain's Got The Pop Factor and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice) was shown on Channel 4 on 12th October 2008, being the culmination of 15 weeks of live shows. Sounds similar to X-Factor? Well, yes, but with a twist I shall explain later.

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THE JUDGES
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The show has three judges being Dr Neil Fox, Nicki Chapman and Pete Waterman.

Dr Fox - best known as the presenter of the network chart show on a Sunday afternoon (i.e. Pepsi Network Chart, Pepsi Chart and hit40uk as it was called at various stages) and latterly as a judge on Pop Idol.

Nicki Chapman became a household name in the UK after appearing as a judge on Popstars and Pop Idol, Nicki has fronted a number of TV series.

Lastly Pete Waterman has previously appeared as a judge on Pop Idol and Popstars: The Rivals. Following the second series of Pop Idol where Michelle McManus won, Pete was publicly unhappy with the result and vowed never to appear in such a show again - luckily he changed his mind to appear in Britain's Got the Pop Factor....

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THE PRESENTER
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The show is presented by Cat Deeley, whose has presented similar programmes such as Fame Academy and has previously hosted segments of American Idol.

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THE FINAL THREE
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R Wayne

R Wayne originally didn't make it to the live shows as, despite performing very well during the bootcamp stage, the judges felt that he didn't have enough of a sob story to justify a place in the final. Dejected, R Wayne returned to his family to break the news, at which point his Gran (R Gran) collapses clutching her heart, and it is later revealed that she dies of a heart attack.

Upon hearing this, Pete Waterman goes to the church where the funeral is being held to offer R Wayne a place in the live shows!

Two Up, Two Down

This four piece consist of two sisters and their husbands and are called 'Two Up, Two Down' as the two sisters are in wheelchairs (therefore two are standing up, two are sitting down) following a tragic accident when joint waterski-ing on their honeymoon at Niagara Falls, the waterski went over the waterfall.

Geraldine McQueen

Geraldine is a dinner lady from Ireland, who the media reveal used to be called Gerald, a piano player on the Irish ferries. Despite this, Geraldine goes from strength to strength on the show, and on returning home, everyone wants her autograph and to shake her hand, whereas before the show she says that 'people wouldn't have p***** on me if I was on fire'.

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THE MENTORS
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To remove any bias by the judges, the acts were not assigned a judge as a mentor; instead various acts came in each week to help the finalists. These included Sir Paul McCartney, Lionel Blair and The Cheeky Girls.

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THE SHOW
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During the first show of the live final, each of the three acts sign a medley of songs, along with the usual film of their story throughout the competition and highlights of the best (and worst) of the unsuccessful auditions.

R Wayne sang 'Return to Innocence' (Enigma), 'Love Train' (The O'Jays), 'Earth Song' (Michael Jackson), 'YMCA' (The Village People) and 'There's No-One Quite Like Grandma' (St Winifred's School Choir).

Two Up, Two Down sang a medley of 'We Built this City' (Starship), 'Bootylicious' (Destiny's Child) '9 to 5' (Dolly Parton), 'Holding Out for a Hero' (Bonnie Tyler) and 'Hero' (Mariah Carey).

Finally Geraldine sang 'Born to Run' (Bruce Springsteen), theme to Born Free, 'Free Nelson Mandela (Special AKA), 'Umbrella' (Rihanna), 'C'est La Vie' (B*Witched) and 'Milkshake' by Kelis.

After the phone lines were suspended, R Wayne had the lowest vote so far and was evicted from the competition, leaving Two Up, Two Down and Geraldine to sing the winners song (entitled 'The Winners Song') which was written by Gary Barlow especially for the competition.

In the final segment of the show, Cat Deeley announces the winner to be....Geraldine McQueen!

The screen cuts to Andi Peters at a CD pressing plant where he gives the green light to start production of 'The Winners Song' CD by Geraldine McQueen.

Back on stage, Geraldine composes herself and starts to sign 'The Winners Song' at which stage glitter confetti starts falling from the roof, and towards the end of the song, Geraldine chokes on a piece of confetti and collapses. Roll the credits!

Luckily over the next few days, Geraldine appeared on various radio shows (including the Chris Moyles show on BBC Radio 1 and Danny Baker's BBC London show) to say the Dr Fox had revived her and she was recovering in hospital.

The single 'The Winners Song' was released on iTunes and as a physical CD and reached number 2 in the UK Singles Charts.

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THE TWIST
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If you think this sounds like a spoof, then full marks to you!

The show was a parody of the various reality talents shows, particularly the X-Factor, but also Britain's Got Talent, Soapstar Superstar, Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing On Ice.

I found it quite clever that the show was quite serious, most of the jokes where from visual gags and the way people spoke, particularly Dr Neil Fox, rather than actual jokes. If you tuned in during the show you would believe it was a real talent contest.

R Wayne and Two Up, Two Down are both fictional acts, whereas Geraldine McQueen is a new alter-ego of Peter Kay, who wrote this show for Channel 4, and co-wrote the Winners Song with Gary Barlow.

Oh, and the 15 weeks of live shows were not shown, just hinted at during the final with clips of various songs.

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THE CAST
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Pete Waterman appears as himself
Dr Neil Fox appears as himself
Nicki Chapman appears as herself
Cat Deeley appears as herself
R Wayne is played by Marc Pickering
Two Up, Two Down are played by Jo Enright, Karl Lucas, Sian Foulkes and David Hulston.
Geraldine McQueen is played by Peter Kay!

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SUMMARY
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I found this to be a highly entertaining programme; it works so well because it is acted so seriously. If would have been easy to have over acted in such a show, but I believe that doing so would have ruined what turned out to be a great show.

The similarities to certain shows are easily seen, for example the set is very similar to the X-Factor, the judges have all previously been judges on such shows and Cat Deeley has presented similar shows. Even Andi Peters was at the printing press getting the CD's printed - I noted that this was missing from this years X-Factor final, I wonder if this is why?

Simon Cowell was unhappy with this programme as he said it made fun of the people who audition for these programmes and stops people from taking the eventual winner of X-Factor seriously. I'd contest this by saying that the majority of people I know watch X-Factor for the entertainment value rather than to find a great new singing sensation. Indeed the auditions process is without doubt the best part of the X-Factor or any similar show.

The show was repeated on Channel 4 on 14 December 2008. A new episode entitled Britain's Got an Extra Pop Factor and Then Some 2 + 1 is to be aired on Channel 4 on 19 December presented by Ben Shephard, as a documentary style programme showing the winners story.

Geraldine has also released a Christmas single, titled 'Once upon a Christmas Song', which was available to download from 14 December and available in shops on 15 December. Unlike the 'Winners Song' this is a charity single with all proceeds going to NSPCC.

Summary: Geraldine for Christmas Number 1!