Gary Barlow prepares for ratings battle as new talent show Let it Shine goes up against The Voice UK
The judge and Take That frontman says he’ll "be checking" the viewing figures the morning after as BBC show Let it Shine launches on the same day as The Voice UK.
Gary Barlow has said that he will be checking the viewing figures with interest when his new BBC1 talent show Let it Shine goes head to head with The Voice UK on ITV.
After ITV picked up the rights to The Voice UK, the BBC broadcaster worked with Barlow on a new talent show rival. The two shows will go up against each other this Saturday 7th January.
When asked at a press conference how important it was to get a bigger number of viewers than The Voice UK, Barlow told RadioTimes.com and other media: “That’s someone else’s job to think of that stuff. Everyone’s going to be talking about that, I’m aware of it.
“But I think The Voice will be the same as us – you put your head down and you concentrate on your TV show and making it as good as you can. It’s the same with records. If you’re looking left to see what Coldplay and One Direction are doing, you’re not focusing on your own project. You have to be head and shoulders in this.
“But,” he added. “I might be checking the day after.”
Meanwhile, his fellow judge on the panel Dannii Minogue said: “I know at the moment it’s hard for everyone – compare it to this show, to that show. It’s going to be the number one question. We get asked that every time.
“But it is a completely different show with a completely different outcome for the boys who win it.”
The prize on offer for the five men who win the competition is to be the lead stars in a touring musical called The Band. Written by Barlow, the stage production will feature the music of Take That. However, the similarities to the Back for Good singers will reportedly stop there.
“It is a brand new story, but within this show is the music of Take That and within this show is a boyband,” said Barlow.
“And the one thing we were trying to reflect and the one thing we were asking people to bring in the auditions is the 1992 version of us. And what I mean by that is it’s not looking like us or having the same names as us, but having that energy.
“At the heart of everything I do I’m most proud of the 25 years I’ve been in Take That and the music we’ve made,” added Barlow. “And it’s how I get that onto a stage and in a musical in a great way – not a predictable way. I feel like the jukebox musicals have got predictable and people have stopped thinking outside the box.”
Let it Shine starts on Saturday January 7 at 7pm on BBC One
