Battle of the talent shows

The contestants will live in a £35m mansion

By Finlo Rohrer BBC News Online entertainment staff

The BBC's Fame Academy faces a battle to displace Popstars: The Rivals as the top television topic in workplace conversations.

Fame Academy will see 12 young hopefuls, selected from over 10,000 18-35 year olds, ensconced in a £35m mansion and honing their showbiz skills while trying to remain on the show.

With its own specialist tutors, including visiting "experts" from the music world like Anastacia, Shania Twain, and Enrique Iglesias, the educational aspect is a major difference from other reality shows.

When you are under that sort of pressure emotions are high

Richard Hopkins
Fame Academy

But the emphasis is far from serious and the demographic the BBC is aiming for is a "typical Friday family entertainment show" audience.

Although it goes out three times a week, the main show will air at 2030 after the Friday instalment of EastEnders, and hoping to inherit much of the soap's 10 million plus audience.

Friday's show will see the eviction of one housemates out of three forced to "sing for survival" after being picked out by the staff at the academy.

Although there will be no head-to-head with ITV's established favourite Popstars: The Rivals, which goes out at 1900 on Saturdays, the rival show has set the standard against which Fame Academy will be judged.

Younger demographic

But despite the obvious comparisons, the BBC believes its show is not necessarily competing for the attention of the Popstars audience.

With its earlier broadcast time, Popstars is said to be aimed at a younger demographic, with large numbers of children, teenagers and young adults tuning in to see contestants from roughly their own age group.

Fame Academy executive producer Richard Hopkins told BBC News Online much of the excitement would be in seeing a group of performers preparing for a nerve-wracking live performance.

Popstars has a massive following

"It is quite a different show from any other reality or entertainment show," he said.

"Being aged between 18-35 is already something quite different from other talent shows that tend to look at 16-24 year olds. They might have quite a lot of life experience."

Mr Hopkins said the musical styles would differ greatly from other talent shows with singers taking on genres as diverse as R&B and rock, as well as writing their own songs.

He added: "It happens now. It's not recorded a while ago. When this starts, they are in there training.

"When you are under that sort of pressure emotions are high."

There are also clear comparisons with Channel 4's Big Brother, a format masterminded by Endemol, the Dutch television company which has also made the Fame Academy format a success in France, Spain and Italy.

Endemol also made Big Brother

Like Big Brother, Fame Academy will have other shows during the week - at 1900 on a Tuesday and Thursday - and a presence on a digital channel.

Currently Watchdog and Vets in Practice occupy the Tuesday and Thursday slots and get an audience of around 4.5 million.

But Fame Academy will find its ratings compared to Popstars, which has managed to score 7.5 million viewers in a Saturday slot in which others, notably the Premiership, have failed.

More importantly Popstars' impact has stretched much further than its raw ratings.

But Fame Academy's producers are confident the format will be a ratings success, even in challenging slots and in a crowded light entertainment schedule on a Friday night.