Stars in Their Eyes: Information from Answers.com

This article is about ITV television show. For the New Zealand version, see Stars in Their Eyes (New Zealand). For the Just Jack Song, see Starz in Their Eyes.

Stars in Their Eyes
Format	Talent show
Created by	Joop van den Ende
Developed by	Granada Television (1990 - 2006) ITV Productions (2006)
Presented by	Leslie Crowther (1990 - 1992) Russ Abbot (Elvis Special) Matthew Kelly (1993 - 2004) Davina McCall (Celebrity Specials) Cat Deeley (2004 - 2006)
Narrated by	Andrew Brittain
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of series	16 (Main Series) 4 (Junior Series)
No. of episodes	166 (Main Series) 33 (Junior Series) (including 40 specials)
Production
Running time	30mins (inc. comms) (1990 - 1991) 45mins (inc. comms) (1992 - 2006)
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Picture format	4:3 (1990 - 2000) 16:9 (2001 - 2006)
Original run	21 July 1990 – 23 December 2006
External links
Official website

Stars in Their Eyes was a British television talent show that ran from 1990 to 2006 in which contestants impersonate showbiz stars. It is made by Granada Television for ITV, based on Joop van den Ende's Dutch format, 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.

1 Overview
2 Overseas Format
3 Transmissions
4 External links

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 saw a lot of changes: changes from the 1990 set designed by Nick King; a new set in 1998, also designed by Nick King and the newest set in 2002; the logo also changed over the years. There have been five hosts: Leslie Crowther, Russ Abbot (one-off emergency host after Leslie's car accident), Matthew Kelly, Davina McCall and 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
Stars In Euro Eyes

Series 2000 winner Gary Mullen received the most ever votes in the history of Stars In Their Eyes when he received 864,838 votes. Gary now performs at theatres and arenas around the world as Freddie Mercury with his One Night of Queen show.

Overseas Format

New Zealand: In 2008 a New Zealand version of Stars in Their Eyes began screening on TVNZ, TV ONE The show, hosted by former children's television presenter and game show host Simon Barnett, is filmed in Auckland and produced by 'Imagination' TV. Season One winner was Deryn Trainer singing Billy Joel's Piano Man. A second series began screening on TV ONE on April 28, 2009

Transmissions

Original series

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	21 July 1990	25 August 1990	6
2	8 June 1991	13 July 1991	6
3	22 February 1992	28 March 1992	6
4	22 May 1993	24 July 1993	10
5	14 May 1994	16 July 1994	10
6	6 May 1995	8 July 1995	10
7	2 March 1996	25 May 1996	13
8	15 March 1997	7 June 1997	13
9	21 March 1998	13 June 1998	13
10	13 March 1999	5 June 1999	13
11	11 March 2000	20 May 2000	11
12	23 September 2000	2 December 2000	11
13	5 May 2001	14 July 2001	11
14	16 February 2002	27 April 2002	11
15	3 January 2004	13 March 2004	11
16	15 January 2005	26 March 2005	11

Junior series

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	31 August 2002	5 October 2002	6
2	5 April 2003	31 May 2003	9
3	20 March 2004	15 May 2004	9
4	21 January 2006	18 March 2006	9

Specials

Date	Entitle
2 January 1993	Elvis Special
1 January 1994	New Year's Special
7 May 1994	Stars in Their Eyes Special
24 December 1994	Winners' Special
23 December 1995	Christmas Special
2 December 1998	Celebrity Special
9 October 1999	Celebrity Special
30 October 1999	Champion of Champions Special
1 July 2000	Celebrity Special
16 September 2000	Celebrity Special
14 April 2001	Stars in Euro Eyes
6 October 2001	Popstars in Their Eyes
24 November 2001	Coronation Street Special
4 May 2002	Celebrity Divas
11 May 2002	Coronation Street Special
17 August 2002	Popstars Special
26 October 2002	European Championship Part 1
2 November 2002	European Championship Part 2
28 December 2002	Celebrity Christmas Special
1 February 2003	Legends Special
8 February 2003	Coronation Street Special
22 February 2003	Soapstars Special
16 August 2003	I'm a Celebrity Special
23 August 2003	Soapstars Special
27 December 2003	Celebrity Christmas Special
24 April 2004	Celebrity Special
1 May 2004	Soapstars Special
8 May 2004	Celebrity Special
26 June 2004	Celebrity Special
2 April 2005	Celebrity Special
23 July 2005	Celebrity Special
30 July 2005	Soapstars Special
6 August 2005	Reality TV Stars Special
13 August 2005	Celebrity Special
24 December 2005	Celebrity Duets
7 January 2006	Family Special
25 March 2006	Celebrity Special
1 April 2006	Celebrity Special
8 April 2006	Celebrity Special
23 December 2006	Celebrity Special

External links

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Stars in Their Eyes