Purely Joyful Movie!

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

It started in 2001, and since then its been one of the biggest and the best talent shows for those who want to become singers. Every time the show starts BAFTA nominated Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly begin with their good jokes and then we get to the contestants auditions. Every audition is cringe-worth, tearful, hilarious, and successful. To be honest I didn't watch the entire show, I just loved the auditions. The judges that had to watch these star seeking hopefuls were Pete Waterman, Nicki Chapman, Neil "Foxxy" Fox and of course, the mean but (sometimes) fair and truthful Simon Cowell. The best audition for me was either the guy in the banana costume singing "I've Got You Under My Skin", the creaking singer of "Eye of the Tiger" or The Cheeky Girls. The good stars that Pop Idol have made since the show have been Will Young, Garteh Gates, Darius, and Michelle McManus. It won the BAFTA for Best Entertainment (Programme or Series), and it was nominated twice for the Lew Grade Award, and it won (also nominated for) the National Television for Most Popular Entertainment Programme. Will Young was number 92, Pete Waterman was number 45, Simon Cowell number 33, and Gareth Gates number 6 on The 100 Worst Britons, Cowell was also number 67 on The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols, and he was number 28 on TV's 50 Greatest Stars, the programme was number 9 on ITV: 50 Greatest Shows, it was number 4 on The 100 Greatest TV Treats 2002, and number 39 on TV Treats 2003. Very good!

Hosted by two guys Ant and Dec who could not present a show to save their lives, a group of people with very little singing ability attempt to win a recording contract. I accidently caught the end of the last show and the woman said it is for people who the record companies would normally not notice. Need i say more.

Okay, I just read the other person's comments on Pop Idol, and how it should only have one winner etc etc etc, but the thing with a show like Pop Idol is that having just one winner is virtually impossible. When you get down to the ten finalists, you can't just say "Oh well, we can only have one winner so even though you're all great at singing we're just gonna tell you to sod off now." Just look at Gareth Gates for instance; how could they just ignore his talent? I know he didn't win but to just let him go and fade into the background would be a loss to the music industry and a stupid mistake on Simon Cowell's part. Yes, so Will Young won, and he deserved too- He has a unique voice and is destined for great things, but then so is Gareth. They both have star quality, and I know a lot of people were like, "Oh, but Gareth knocked Will off number one and he never even won the show!" or "Whinge whinge Gareth's getting more publicity," etc etc, but the fact of the matter is, although Will technically DID win, both are Pop idols so it's about time people stopped whinging and moaning about the so called 'injustice' of the thing. I mean, if you were Simon Cowell, would you really want to pass up the opportunity to get as much money out of them as possible? Sounds callous I know, but he'd have been a complete moron to pass up signing Gareth Gates to BMG, just look at his four week stint at Number one if you don't believe me. The votes in the final were so close- How can we possibly say one is better than the other? It was just the luck of the draw on the nite and I'm talking a load of bollocks and I know it..........Ah well.On another note, I love both Gareth and Will now, and am completely obsessed and consumed by both of them- so basically I got the best of both worlds, eh? Lucky old me.

Well my favourite Will Young won! Hoorah! This programme has been tension filled and joyfully entertaining all the way through. But it was the mesmerising finale which was true and utter brilliance. From the hilarious ''Ant & Dec'' with their imitations of the judges and great one-liners. Then there were the judges Simon Cowell, Neil ''DR'' Foxy, Nicki Chapman & Pete Waterman. The real standout was in the final show Simon & Neil imitating Ant & Dec. In my opinion the best singer won a great competition. I had no interest whatsoever in Popstars but this was great. I hope Will and the runner-up Garreth have great careers.