''Cheryl Cole's Night In'' was a one-off

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

, starring English recording artist

Cheryl Cole Cheryl Ann Tweedy (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and television personality. Born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, she rose to fame in late 2002 upon winning a place in Girls Aloud, a girl group created through ITV's '' Popstars: ...

, produced for

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 ...

, that aired on 12 December 2009 at 6:30 pm. The programme was hosted by

Holly Willoughby Holly Marie Willoughby ( ; born 10 February 1981) is an English television presenter, author and model. She is currently the co-presenter of ITV's '' This Morning'' (2009–present) and '' Dancing on Ice'' (2006–2011, 2018–present) alongsid ...

, featured a host of other performers and acted as a lead-in to the final of the sixth series of ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'', in which Cole is a judge. Cole performed songs from her debut solo album, ''

3 Words ''3 Words'' is the debut studio album by English singer Cheryl Cole released on 23 October 2009 by Fascination Records. Cole's first solo performance was on American rapper will.i.am's "Heartbreaker" (2008), on which she sang additional vocals ...

'', and the programme also featured performances from other musical acts as well as interviews conducted by Willoughby. The programme received mixed reviews from critics and was watched by 5 million people; this is substantially less than the viewing figures of other programmes airing at the same time.

Production

Tabloid newspaper '' The Sun'' published a report on 21 November 2009 claiming that Cole would receive £100,000 for appearing in a programme entitled ''Cheryl Cole's Night In''; ITV confirmed the programme two days later, with Cole saying that she would be "working with some of erfavourite artists". The programme was recorded through the week beginning 7 December at the

BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC) is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, that was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for ...

and images of Cole performing the song "

Fight for This Love "Fight for This Love" is the debut solo single by English singer and Girls Aloud member Cheryl (singer), Cheryl Cole, recorded for her debut studio album, ''3 Words'' (2009). It was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland as the lead single on ...

", whilst dressed as a

ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

, were released. Cole also debuted a song from her album, ''3 Words'', titled "

Parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

", where she danced with

Derek Hough Derek Bruce Hough (; born May 17, 1985) is an American professional Latin and ballroom dancer, choreographer, actor and singer. From 2007 to 2016, Hough was a professional dancer on the ABC dance competition series ''Dancing with the Stars'', wi ...

, a professional champion of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''.

Setlist

Reception

Anna Pickard of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described the programme as "an hour of commissioning genius", despite Stuart Heritage of the same publication arguing that "just the title is enough to put you off". In a separate article, Heritage voiced his belief that the programme saw Cole "discussing her life in the blandest possible terms while wearing a variety of impractical dresses". Rick Fulton of the '' Daily Record'' was complimentary of the programme as he compared the dance routine that accompanied "

" to a routine from the programme ''

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 ...

''.

Alexandra Burke Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke (born 25 August 1988) is a British singer, songwriter and actress. She won the fifth series of the British television series ''The X Factor'' in 2008, and has been signed to Epic Records, RCA Records and Syc ...

, who featured in the programme, praised Cole by complimenting her hairstyle and by stating that her performance had "gone up another level". Sian Brewis of the ''

Leicester Mercury The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its pre ...

'' was critical of the programme; she claimed that it was an "hour-long

plug Plug, PLUG, plugs, or plugged may refer to: * Plug (accounting), an unsupported adjustment to an accounting record * Plug (fishing), a family of fishing lures * Plug (horticulture), a planting technique * Plug (jewellery), a type of jewellery wor ...

for Chezza's ole’s nicknamealbum", branded Willoughby's questions "vacuous" and compared Cole's costumes to that worn by characters of ''

Street Fighter II is a fighting game developed by Capcom and originally released for arcades in 1991. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter''. It is Capcom's fourteenth game to use the CP Syst ...

''. Rachel Holmes, writing in ''The Guardian'', was also critical of Cole's choice of attire and argued that the programme was uninformative. Holmes also claimed that viewers "were suffering from Chezza overload" due to her appearances on ''

'' the same weekend. The programme attracted 5 million viewers, a 22% share of the viewing audience, on its first airing. However, an episode of ''

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

'' and an installment of the seventh series of ''

'', which aired at the same time on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

, attracted 5.2 million (25% of the audience) and 8.1 million (33%) respectively.

References

{{Cheryl Cole 2009 television specials British music television shows British television specials ITV (TV network) original programming Music television specials Television series by ITV Studios