''Britannia High'' is a British musical drama television series co-produced by

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

and Globe Productions for the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

network. The series focused on the lives of a group of teenagers and their mentors at a fictional London theatre school. It aired on

and TV3 Ireland, premiering on 26 October 2008. The show starred

Sapphire Elia Sapphire Chrystalla Elia (born 15 April 1987) is an English actress, model and singer best known for her roles in musical drama ''Britannia High'' and the soap opera ''Emmerdale''. Early and personal life Sapphire Chrystalla Elia was born on 15 ...

, Georgina Hagen,

Mitch Hewer Mitchell Scott Hewer (born 1 July 1989) is an English actor, best known for the role of Maxxie Oliver in the E4 teen drama '' Skins''. He has also starred in'' Britannia High'' as the all-round talent Danny Miller. Career In 2007, Hewer was ca ...

, Rana Roy, Matthew James Thomas and Marcquelle Ward, as well as

Adam Garcia Adam Gabriel Garcia (born 1 June 1973) is an Australian stage, television, and film actor who is best known for lead roles in musicals such as '' Saturday Night Fever'' and ''Kiss Me, Kate''. He is also a trained tap dancer and singer. Garcia ha ...

as the dance mentor, Lorraine Pilkington as the music mentor and Mark Benton as the school principal and acting mentor. In addition to the main cast, the series featured cameo performances from Girls Aloud, Boyzone, Matt Willis and Gemma Bissix. Also,

Aston Merrygold Aston Iain Merrygold (born 13 February 1988) is an English singer, dancer, television personality and actor. He is known for being a member of the British boy band JLS, who were the runners-up to Alexandra Burke in the fifth series of ''The X ...

, lead singer of boy band

JLS JLS (an initialism of Jack the Lad Swing) are an English boyband, which consists of members Aston Merrygold, Oritsé Williams, Marvin Humes, and JB Gill, originally formed by Williams. They initially signed to Tracklacers production company Ne ...

, auditioned for the role before his success in the group - but only made it to the final 16. George Ure, who attended Mountview Academy, also auditioned before his success in the musical '' Wicked'' where he played Boq. Pixie Lott also auditioned, as did Ed Sheeran and Danielle Peazer. The show featured an original soundtrack which was created by a team of pop producers and writers in the UK, led by Take That member Gary Barlow.

Production

''Britannia High'' was based on an idea by ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

'' choreography judge

Arlene Phillips Dame Arlene Phillips (born 22 May 1943) is an English choreographer, talent scout, television judge and presenter, theatre director, and former dancer, who has worked in many fields of entertainment. For many years, she was most noted as the c ...

and theatre impresario

David Ian David Ian (born David Ian LaneFebruary 1961 is a British theatre producer and former actor. Biography Ian started out as an actor and appeared in a number of UK theatre productions, including the musicals ''The Pirates of Penzance'', '' Josep ...

, who were both executive producers for the show. It was developed by producer Gareth Philips for ITV Productions in Manchester. Alongside Philips, the production team consisted of series producer and lead director Brian Grant, executive producers Kieran Roberts and Mark Wells, and Anna Land for Globe Productions. It was written by Jonathan Harvey, Damon Rochefort, Julie Jones, Kirstie Falkous, and John Regier. In addition to Arlene Phillips managing the choreography, Gary Barlow was heavily involved in providing the score of ''Britannia High''. Guy Chambers,

Steve Mac Steve McCutcheon (born 15 January 1972), known professionally as Steve Mac, is a British record producer, songwriter and musician. A multi-award-winning producer, he is one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers in modern British ...

, Andy Hill, Mark Owen, James Bourne and Eliot Kennedy also contributed to the musical component of the show. ''Britannia High'' was commissioned by

from its in-house production division. After low ratings, ITV did not commission a second series.

Episode list

''Britannia High'' began broadcasting in a primetime Sunday night slot starting on 26 October 2008. The first episode was made available on ITV Player as a "sneak peek" on 17 October.

Release

Weekly ratings

:Episode 2 was delayed by 15 minutes due to overrunning ITV Sport coverage of the

Brazilian Grand Prix The Brazilian Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prêmio do Brasil), currently held under the name São Paulo Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prêmio de São Paulo), is a Formula One championship race which is currently held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace ...

Interactive elements

''Britannia High'' featured a wide range of online content, including on itv.com, ITV Mobile, ITV Interactive and the social networking site, Bebo. The ''Britannia High'' website was the virtual home of the performing arts school, and featured interactive elements such as blogs, photographs, e-newsletters and music from Universal Artists. Additionally, two characters, BB and Jez, hosted a podcast featuring songs from the series and also world songs. ITV's red button service, ITV Interactive, featured preview and catch-up videos, character profiles, photo galleries and dance tutorials.

Soundtrack

The '' Britannia High Soundtrack'' was released on 24 November 2008. It included 18 songs from the show.

Track listing

#Cast - "Start Of Something" #Danny - "Missing Person" #Lauren - "Best Of Me" #Lauren and Claudine - "Watch This Space" #Claudine and Danny - "Growing Pains" #Lauren and Jezz - "What Good Is Love" #Lauren - "So High" #Jez - "Wake Up" #Lola and Stefan - "Body To Body" #BB - "The Things That We Don't Say" #Jez - "

Proud Proud may refer to: Music * ''Proud'' (Heather Small album), the debut album by Heather Small ** "Proud" (Heather Small song), a song by Heather Small that was the official song for the London 2012 Olympic bid * ''Proud'' (compilation album), ...

" #BB and Jez - "Fight Song" #Claudine - "Do It All Over Again" #Lola, Lauren and Claudine - "Picking Up The Pieces" #BB - "Confessions" #Cast - "Without You" #Jez - "Weight Of The World" #Danny and Lauren - "Changing Man" The CD also features a weblink which allows the owner to download a "Britannia High Megamix" (ft. "Start Of Something", "Wake Up", "Missing Person", "Best of Me" and "Watch This Space"), "Start of Something" video, "Start of Something" (behind the scenes) and a remix of "Watch This Space".

Additional broadcast

CITV

The hour-long episodes of ''Britannia High'' were reconfigured into two-part 30-minute episodes, and broadcast on ITV's children's strand CITV from 20 April 2009. In accordance with CITV's target audience, words such as "bitch" and "sex" have been edited out of dialogue and songs.

On Demand

All nine 45-minute episodes were made available to Virgin Media's customers through ITV Player, which is carried on Virgin's On Demand service.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2000s British drama television series 2000s British music television series 2008 British television series debuts 2008 British television series endings 2000s British television miniseries ITV television dramas Television series about teenagers Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Granada Television English-language television shows