The Big Reunion


The Big Reunion is a British reality-documentary series that began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013. The show featured chart-topping bands who were big in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme followed them as they reunited for the first time in a decade and went through their two weeks of intensive rehearsals before finally stepping back on stage for a comeback performance.
The first series featured Five, 911, Atomic Kitten, B*Witched, Blue, Honeyz and Liberty X. Another mini-series, entitled The Big Reunion: On Tour, aired from 5–19 September 2013. It followed the groups embarking on their arena tour, and other behind-the-scenes action. The Big Christmas Reunion, a Christmas special, also aired on 12 December 2013. It saw the bands recording a Christmas charity single for Text Santa and looked at how Text Santa helped vulnerable people.
The Big Reunion proved to be an unexpected hit for ITV2; the first episode brought in 1.2 million viewers, becoming the channel's highest-rated premiere in five years, and the show went on to achieve over 1 million viewers every week, making it one of the channel's most popular shows. Due to the huge success, a second series was commissioned. The second series, which premiered on 6 February 2014, featured 3T, A1, Damage, Eternal, Girl Thing, and a supergroup called 5th Story, which consisted of Kenzie from Blazin' Squad, Dane Bowers from Another Level, and former soloists Adam Rickitt, Kavana and Gareth Gates.

Production

Conception

On 18 October 2012, it was announced that pop groups Five, 911, Atomic Kitten, B*Witched, Honeyz and Liberty X—who were big names in the UK pop music scene in the 1990s and early 2000s—would be reuniting for an ITV2 documentary series entitled The Big Reunion, followed by a comeback performance at some point in 2013.

Personnel

Angela Jain, ITV's Director of Digital Channels, and Katy Thorogood, ITV's factual and daytime commissioner, ordered The Big Reunion. ITV Studios' Kevin Lane acted as series producer, while creative director Michael Kelpie and Phil Mount acted as executive producers. Kelpie said: "To reunite these bands, tell the stories of what has happened to them since their heyday and follow them as they prepare to step back on the stage for the first time in a decade is a dream come true." Jain added, "We are thrilled to bring the stories of these pop groups up to date...A lot has happened in the time these bands have been apart - marriages, divorces and changes in careers - and who knows quite what will happen when they reunite!"
The show was narrated by former Live & Kicking presenter Andi Peters. During rehearsals for the comeback performance and arena tour, Paul Domaine acted as the bands' choreographer, while Yvie Burnett, who formerly worked on The X Factor and currently works on The Voice UK, acted as their vocal coach.

Series overview

Series 1 (2013)

Filming for the show began in October 2012, featuring the members of each band telling their individual stories about their bandmates and displaying their own personal lives nowadays, and later meeting together again for the first time in several years. Whilst all the other bands reunited several weeks before rehearsals began, Liberty X did not reunite until the night before, due to Michelle Heaton undergoing a double mastectomy. The rehearsals for the comeback performance took place at the Lilian Baylis Studio in London, beginning on 7 January 2013 and continuing for two weeks. Atomic Kitten's Kerry Katona was the last to arrive for rehearsals due to her being on This Morning talking about Dancing on Ice. The comeback performance took place at the Hammersmith Apollo on 26 February, and was broadcast on ITV2 on 28 March.
Atomic Kitten's three founding members, Katona, Liz McClarnon and Natasha Hamilton, took part in the show. Honeyz's reformation came in the form of a third different line-up that consisted of founding members Célena Cherry and Heavenli Denton, and Mariama Goodman, who replaced Denton when she initially left the group in 1999, and vice versa when Goodman herself departed in 2000. Original member Naima Belkhiati decided not to take part in the reunion, so Cherry called up Goodman as her replacement. Additionally, Five only reunited as a four-piece as founding member and lead singer Jason "J" Brown backed out at the last minute, claiming that he no longer wants to be in the public eye, having initially attended previous meetings for the show. During filming for the show, the remaining four members, Abz Love, Sean Conlon, Ritchie Neville and Scott Robinson, discussed the possibility of auditioning a new fifth member. After they put out a notice, three people auditioned to join the band – ex-Northern Line member Dan Corsi, model and singer Luke Boyden, and Nathan Rawlings, who made it to judges' houses on The X Factor in 2010 as part of boy band The Reason. All auditionees were unsuccessful, however; Five continued on with just the four of them.
The first three episodes featured Five, Liberty X, Atomic Kitten, 911, Honeyz and B*Witched telling their backstories of their time in their respective groups and about their lives since splitting up. The next two episodes featured the groups reuniting for the first time in a decade and discussing how they felt about performing again. The next three episodes were concerned with rehearsals for the comeback gig, midway through which Blue joined the show and told their stories as well. The final episode featured the sold-out comeback gig and backstage action.
When asked why they chose to join the comeback gig, Blue said: "Phil Mount, The Big Reunions producer, has always been a long-time supporter of the band, giving us our first TV break, he really wanted us to be surprise special guests announced halfway through the series and to perform on the Hammersmith Apollo show. This sounded like a lot of fun, giving us the perfect chance to perform together again in the UK for our fans and reconnect with the other acts, many of whom friends of ours and started out around the same time as us. For us the 'Big Reunion' is a great chance for all of us bands to come together for one BIG party on Tuesday night!" Reaction to Blue joining The Big Reunion was initially negative among the other groups, as well as fans of the show, due to the fact that, unlike them, Blue were not reuniting, having already been back together since 2011 and represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.
A three-week mini-series called The Big Reunion: On Tour aired in September 2013, featuring the bands as they embarked on their arena tour. Founding Five member Jason "J" Brown also returned to hit back at accusations made by his bandmates. On 12 December, a Christmas special called The Big Christmas Reunion aired. It features the bands uniting to recording a cover of "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" for Text Santa. It also gives an insight into the work undertaken by Text Santa charities Age UK, Barnardo's, BeatBullying, the British Heart Foundation, CLIC Sargent and Help the Hospices.

Series 2 (2014)

Due to massive ratings success, a second series was commissioned. Groups rumoured to be reuniting for series 2 included Big Brovaz, Hear'Say, S Club 7, S Club Juniors, Busted, Mis-Teeq, East 17, All Saints, Eternal, A1, Cleopatra and Another Level. S Club 7 were also reportedly in talks to reform for their own rival show to The Big Reunion. During an interview on ITV Breakfast programme Lorraine in February 2013, Myleene Klass said in regards to Hear'Say reuniting, "I just can't imagine it. What are we going to do - sing 'Pure and Simple' on loop? It was nice and it was a great time in our lives, and where it was at that time is just perfect." It was also reported that Eternal could reform without Louise Redknapp, who initially walked away from the group in 1995.
On 27 December 2013, ITV announced that the six bands taking part in the show's second series would be A1, Eternal, Damage, 3T, Girl Thing and a supergroup called 5th Story, comprising Blazin' Squad's Kenzie, Another Level's Dane Bowers, and former soloists Gareth Gates, Adam Rickitt, and Kavana. As previously reported, Eternal reunited for the show as a three-piece as Redknapp chose not to take part in their reunion. Additionally, Damage's lead singer Coreé Richards and A1's Paul Marazzi chose not to take part either, although Richards did appear on the show to talk about the band and meet with his bandmates one last time.
Another Level were on the verge of signing up for the show, but Bowers' ex-bandmate Wayne Williams chose not to take part. In an interview with MTV UK, Williams said: "I decided not to participate in The Big Reunion because it wouldn't feel right to me...I'm in a totally different space in my life and I don't feel any need to look back." Another ex-bandmate Mark Baron, who now works for Alan Sugar's company Amsprop, had been forced to pull out due to Sugar not allowing him time off work. Bowers told the Daily Mirror: "Another Level were supposed to do it but then Mark said he couldn't because of work. He's married to Alan Sugar's daughter and works for him. You don't say no to Alan Sugar. I was a bit annoyed because he pulled out right at the end. Surely he would have known earlier. But his loss is my gain."
S Club Juniors were also reportedly set to appear on the show according to members Stacey Franks and Aaron Renfree, however ended up getting dropped from the lineup after fellow member Calvin Goldspink later decided not to take part.
On 26 January 2014, it was announced that series 2 would begin airing on ITV2 on 6 February 2014.

Bands

Series 1

  • Five
  • 911
  • Atomic Kitten
  • B*Witched
  • Honeyz
  • Liberty X
  • Blue