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Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice is a British television comedy special co-created, co-written, directe…
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Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice
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Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice is a British television comedy special co-created, co-written, directed, produced by and starring comedian Peter Kay.
Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice is a British television comedy special co-created, co-written, directed, produced by and starring comedian Peter Kay. It premiered on Channel 4 on 12 October 2008 in two parts.
The special is a satire of reality television, and particularly, talent competitions such as Britain's Got Talent, Pop Idol, and The X Factor. It is presented as the grand final of the in-universe programme Britain's Got the Pop Factor, using recaps to chronicle the three finalists—Geraldine McQueen (Kay), 2 Up 2 Down (Jo Enright, Karl Lucas, David Hulston and Sian Foulkes), and R Wayne (Marc Pickering). The special satirizes clichés associated with the genre, such as the use of emotional backstories intended to influence viewers' perceptions of contestants.
It was the first show Kay had produced on the channel for four years, and was described by Channel 4 as the 'comedy forefront of the autumn schedule"'. The broadcast of the special also mimicked those of reality shows, with the two parts (the latter being the "results show") being hammocked by a Peter Kay documentary. The two halves of the special were seen by a total of 7.16 and 4.01 million viewers respectively, while Kay released several singles in-character as McQueen, including "The Winner's Song", and a cover of "I Know Him So Well" with Susan Boyle as a charity single for Red Nose Day 2011.
The special depicts the grand final of the talent competition series Britain's Got the Pop Factor (whose winner qualifies to appear on Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice), hosted by Cat Deeley and judged by Nicki Chapman, Pete Waterman and Neil Fox.
The final included recaps of the series, including the acts who did not make it to the final, and the three finalists—revealing that their emotional "sob stories" were the driving force behind which contestants advanced to the finals. Geraldine McQueen (Kay) had gone through gender reassignment surgery after being a male piano player on a Northern Irish ferry. 2 Up 2 Down (Jo Enright, Karl Lucas, David Hulston and Sian Foulkes) was a pop group where two of its members used wheelchairs, while R Wayne (Marc Pickering) had been originally eliminated during boot camp for not having a good sob story. However, R Wayne was brought back onto the show after his grandmother, R Gran, died from a heart attack upon hearing news of his elimination.
The three finalists each performed a live medley (performed in a serious manner, with the insensitivity of the song selections providing the humour). At this point, R Wayne was eliminated and the final two acts then performed their own rendition of "The Winner's Song".
The winner of the show was Geraldine. She collapsed on stage during the last lines of her version of "The Winner's Song" from choking on a piece of glitter confetti. R Wayne, not noticing, ended up being the only person actually singing these last lines. After somebody asked for a doctor, Neil Fox jumped on stage and attempted to revive her.
The following day Kay, in character as Geraldine, was a guest on The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 and revealed that Neil Fox revived her, and she was recovering in an unknown (to her) hospital. She also appeared on Danny Baker's afternoon radio show on BBC London 94.9 three days later where she was still in hospital recovering and she was hoping to get a visit from Pete Waterman. She was also interviewed on Wave 105's breakfast show the following Friday, where she revealed that she was staying at Guy Ritchie's flat. Notably, no TV interviews were done with Kay in character as Geraldine.
R Wayne sang a medley of "Return to Innocence" by Enigma, "Love Train" by The O'Jays, "Earth Song" by Michael Jackson, "Y.M.C.A." by The Village People and "There's No-one Quite Like Grandma" by St Winifred's School Choir.
2 Up 2 Down sang a medley of "We Built This City" by Starship, "Bootylicious" by Destiny's Child, "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton, "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler and "Hero" by Mariah Carey.
Geraldine sang a medley of "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen, the theme from "Born Free" by Matt Monro, "Free Nelson Mandela" by The Special AKA, "Umbrella" by Rihanna, "C'est la Vie" by B*Witched and "Milkshake" by Kelis.
Both 2 Up 2 Down and Geraldine sang versions of "The Winner's Song", which was co-written by the show's creator Peter Kay and Take That frontman Gary Barlow.
The music was produced and arranged by Mike Stevens, Take That's musical director.
Source: Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice (CC BY-SA)
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After the end credits, the show advertised its "sequel", due to be shown the next year: Celebrity Fiddler on the Roof in the Jungle, an amalgam of British reality show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here and the musical Fiddler on the Roof.
An epilogue, Peter Kay's Britain's Got an Extra Pop Factor and Then Some 2 + 1, aired on 19 December 2008; this special parodied companion shows such as The Xtra Factor (and in particular its "The Winner's Story" edition), focusing on the aftermath of the competition and Geraldine's victory. The programme was hosted in-universe by Ben Shephard, who, like Cat Deeley, was closely associated with this type of programme.
