Pop Idol

''
Pop Idol'' is a British
music competition television series created by
Simon Fuller which ran on
ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young
pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast, one in 2001–2002 and a second in 2003. An immense success when it launched in 2001, Maggie Brown in ''
The Guardian'' wrote, "the show became a seminal reality/entertainment format once on air that autumn". Series judge
Simon Cowell became a major public figure in entertainment, and the show produced instant No. 1 chart hits, including for the first series winner
Will Young, whose single "
Evergreen" was the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history and the best-selling song of 2002. ''Pop Idol'' was subsequently put on an indefinite hiatus after Simon Cowell announced the launch of ''
The X Factor'' in the UK in April 2004.
The show has become an international TV franchise since, spawning multiple
''Idol'' series worldwide. In the meantime, a legal dispute arose with the makers of ''
Popstars'', which eventually led to the word "pop" being excluded from the titles of all the spin-offs, such as ''
American Idol'', ''
Australian Idol'', ''
Arab Idol'', ''
Canadian Idol'', ''
Indonesian Idol'', ''
Indian Idol,'' ''
New Zealand Idol'', ''
Latin American Idol'', ''
Maldivian Idol'', ''
Idol'' (Norway), ''
Idol'' (Poland), ''
Idol'' (Sweden), ''
Singapore Idol'',
''Idols'' (
South Africa), ''
Pakistan Idol'', ''
Bangladeshi Idol'' and (same name for the
Portuguese and
Brazilian series).
The show's theme music was written by Gingell/Stone and
Cathy Dennis.
Provided by Wikipedia