Britain's Got the Pop Factor... (Channel 4)
Peter Kay’s satire of the Saturday night TV talent show phenomenon
Oct 12, 2008
As one of the leads in Channel 4’s autumn schedule, Peter Kay’s wonderfully named Britain's Got the Pop Factor and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice (try saying that in one breath) was always going to be met with high expectations. Especially as it’s the first original thing he has written and directed for TV since 2004.
So once the hype had ended and the show began, was it worth the wait? Well yes, because it was good to see Kay in his element and taking a subject that has been ridiculed many times before and take a different spin on it. But, like any talent show final, it was also a bit overlong and dull at times.
“She’s No Son of Mine”
Britain's Got The Pop Factor ... was a real time final chronicling the acts who had made it to the last three, including the usual build up videos and tedious interviews. There were no backstage shots of the acts or show producers; we saw exactly what the people at home would normally see on the likes of X Factor.
Kay stared as show-singer Geraldine McQueen, a Northern Irish singer who turns out to be a post-op transsexual, thus making the already strange drag act even more bizarre. But it did bring out one of the best lines, courtesy of Geraldine’s mum: “She’s no son of mine”.
Neil Fox and co. Play it Straight
There was also a four-piece called '2 Up, 2 Down', who had two members in wheelchairs, and northern lad R Wayne (as in “our Wayne”, geddit?) who was only allowed into the final after his gran died, hence creating a sympathetic sob story for him.
Much like That Peter Kay Thing the acting was completely straight; anything else wouldn’t have worked and could have slipped into Bo’ Selecta territory. Former Popstars and Pop Idol judges, Nicki Chapman, Pete Waterman and Dr “Neil” Fox played versions of themselves, with Cat Deeley as host. Again, they could have mugged up and overshot their performances but they actually held their own.
Just like an Episode of X Factor
The presentation also gave it Brasseye levels of authenticity, the unknowing eye would think they had accidently switched over to an episode of X Factor on ITV. It had the same titles, music and heavily edited video packages. It even had ridiculous phone lines, constant ad breaks and was broken into two parts set an hour apart. The same can’t be said for the Alan Carr’s Celebrity Ding Dong promo, unfortunately that was real.
The winning song was even touted as being next week’s number one single, a nod to the instant fame these programme’s promise.
But therein lies the problem, it was too much like an episode of X Factor. The musical performances were played out in their entirety each time, to the point of annoyance, and the ending, where the winner Geraldine appeared to have choked to death on reams of falling confetti, was just a little too melodramatic.
Peter Kay’s Next Hit Single?
Whilst not Kay’s best work this was certainly better than his last venture on TV, the lack lustre Phoenix Nights spin-off Max and Paddy’s Road To Nowhere. It also contained more than a few laughs and was a very good satire of Britain's Got Talent, Pop Idol, Strictly Come Dancing and others.
For years it seemed that the myth of Peter Kay had dissolved into a one-man merchandise machine as his website offers heaps of tat with his face or name on it and annual DVD releases which are just re-hashes of original performances or clips of his work. So it wouldn’t be a shock to see him release the winner’s song (penned with Gary Barlow) as a single within a few weeks. Watch this space.
