''Heat'' is an English entertainment magazine published by
Bauer Media Group. Its mix of celebrity news, gossip, beauty advice and fashion is primarily aimed at women, although not as directly as in other women's magazines. It also features movie and music reviews, TV listings and major celebrity interviews.
History
''Heat'' was launched in February 1999
as a general interest entertainment magazine, at a cost of more than £4m. However, unlike other Emap (now Bauer) magazine launches before and after, it was not an immediate success, with a circulation below 100,000. A series of revamps quickly repositioned the magazine as a less serious, more gossip-oriented magazine aimed at women, and circulation quickly grew. A series of high-profile celebrity relationships, such as
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress and film producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Since her career ...
and
Brad Pitt
William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...
provided ample material, while reality shows such as ''
Big Brother
Big Brother may refer to:
* Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''
** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control
** Big Brother Awards, a sat ...
'' and ''
Pop Idol'' grew popular at just the right time to help fill pages. Heat achieved record sale figures when
Jade Goody
Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody (5 June 1981 – 22 March 2009) was an English television personality. She came to public prominence in 2002 when she appeared on the third series of the Channel 4 reality show '' Big Brother''. She went on to s ...
had a make-over and was first on the front cover after her stint in ''
Big Brother 3'' (2002) and later when
Nikki Grahame
Nicola Rachele-Beth Grahame (28 April 1982 – 9 April 2021) was an English television personality, model and author. She was a contestant on the seventh series of ''Big Brother UK'' in 2006, in which she finished in fifth place, and later st ...
and
Pete Bennett
Peter Alexander Bennett (born 22 March 1982) is an English television personality, actor and musician, who rose to fame after winning the seventh series of the Channel 4 reality series '' Big Brother'' in 2006. He has Tourette syndrome.
Caree ...
from ''
Big Brother 7'' split and Grahame was interviewed for ''Heat'' in 2006.
In 2009–10, ''Heat'' spearheaded a campaign alongside
Girls Aloud's
Nicola Roberts
Nicola Maria Roberts (born 5 October 1985) is a British pop singer. She rose to prominence in late 2002 upon winning a place in Girls Aloud, a girl group created through ITV's '' Popstars: The Rivals''. The group's success helped them win the c ...
advocating the banning of sunbed use in the UK for under-18s. The campaign was a success and a bill was passed by Parliament shortly before the 2010 General Election.
The site crashed after the magazine was mentioned on
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
's ''
The Million Pound Drop
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''; it took up to eight days to restore the site.
Editors
*
Barry McIlheney
Barry McIlheney (born 1960) is a British journalist, editor, broadcaster and publisher. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, McIlheney is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, Republic of Ireland, and London's City University.
Journalism and mana ...
(1999–2000)
*
Mark Frith (2000–08)
* Julian Linley (2008–09)
*
Sam Delaney
Sam, SAM or variants may refer to:
Places
* Sam, Benin
* Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Iran
* Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place
People and fictional ...
(2009–2010)
* Lucie Cave (2011–2012); Editor-in-Chief across the heat brand (2012-)
* Jeremy Mark (2012–15)
* Suzy Cox (2015-)
An edition of the magazine is also published in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
.
Heatworld.com
Heatworld.com launched on 22 May 2007 and was edited by Julian Linley, who had been deputy editor of ''Heat'' magazine for five years. The site is an online interpretation of the magazine, emulating the mix of
celebrity
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
news, gossip and fashion. However, heatworld.com does not replicate magazine content and bases itself more on
video
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...
and
audio
Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to:
Sound
*Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound
*Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum
*Digital audio, representation of sound ...
content and breaking news. The site is
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
funded.
Heat Radio
On 25 September 2007,
Heat Radio launched. The station is owned by Bauer Radio, a division of the company, Bauer, which owns ''Heat'' magazine. The station can be listened to through
Freeview Freeview may refer to:
*Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia
*Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand
*Freeview (UK), a ...
on channel number 716, across the UK on DAB Digital Radio, on their app or at heatradio.com.
Television channel
On 3 July 2012, Heat launched, featuring celebrity news and music. The channel comes from
Box Television, a joint venture between Bauer and
Channel Four
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service i ...
. It replaced
Q on
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
,
Smallworld Cable
Smallworld Fibre (previously Smallworld Cable, Wightcable North and OMNE) was a British telecommunications company based in Irvine, North Ayrshire. The coverage area was Irvine, Dreghorn, Troon, and Kilmarnock in the west of Scotland, and Carl ...
and
Virgin Media
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...
in the UK, in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
on Sky and
UPC Ireland and in
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
on
Síminn.
In May 2016, the channel was rebranded as
Box Upfront
Box Upfront was a British music video television channel owned by The Box Plus Network. It launched on 3 July 2012 as Heat and was originally based on the Heat (magazine), magazine of the same name. The channel replaced Q TV, Q.
The channel f ...
.
Heat merchandise
As ''Heat'' magazine grew in popularity, spin off merchandise was released to cash in on its success. Current items carrying the ''Heat'' brand name are an exercise DVD titled ''Heat: Get That Celeb Look'' which was released in 2003, an
interactive DVD game featuring celebrity questions, an
annual for the year 2007 and in 2003 a set of mini books titled ''Say What'' were released containing quotes from celebrities such as
Gareth Gates
Gareth Paul Gates (born 12 July 1984) is an English singer-songwriter and actor. He was the runner-up in the first series of the ITV talent show ''Pop Idol'' in 2002. As of 2008, Gates had sold over 3.5 million records in the UK. He is ...
.
Controversy
In an issue which was released on 27 November 2007, ''Heat'' used a photograph of
Katie Price's disabled son, who suffers from
septo-optic dysplasia, a rare condition which means he is visually impaired and suffers from hormonal deficiencies, causing him to easily gain weight and means he is partially blind, on a sticker which was included with the magazine, with the slogan "Harvey wants to eat me!" The magazine's editor
Mark Frith made an apology for the offence caused by the sticker, and an apology was also posted on the magazine's website. A spokesperson for the
Press Complaints Commission
The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC closed on Monday 8 September 2014, and was replaced by the Indep ...
confirmed that Katie Price was planning to make a complaint about the matter. The magazine was also criticized in the press over the incident, with one editorial describing it as "the lowest point in British journalism".
In another issue released on 6–12 September 2014, ''Heat'' published a photograph of
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...
, husband to
Jessica Biel
Jessica Claire Timberlake (née Biel ; born March 3, 1982) is an American actress and model. She has received various accolades, including a Young Artist Award, and nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
Biel be ...
, at a nightclub in Paris on the night after his performance. The star was photographed partying with women at the club as the title named it "Justin Timberlake gets flirty with another woman, "It is not his wife!". Once the article, as well as the pictures surfaced it caused his marriage with Jessica to be manipulated. The singer and actor lodged a defamation claim in the courts in Ireland against the publishers of the celebrity title over an article, photographs and quotes attributed to Biel. In the agreed statement read in the high court, a lawyer for the ''Heat'' publisher Bauer group admitted the article headlined "The flirty photos that rocked Justin and Jessica’s marriage" was based on an unfounded report. The article also included purported statements improperly attributed to Biel which the publishers said ''Heat'' now understands the actor never made. The Bauer media group later apologized on ''Heat'' magazine's behalf over these allegations, and a settlement was made in a hearing before the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns.
Heat's Twitter Awards
''Heat'' launched heat's Twitter Awards in 2013 that it says will celebrate “the joyful collision of celebrities and social media”. Heat promoted its celebrity Twitter awards via Heat's TV, radio, magazine and social media platforms as well as a marketing campaign, which will include press, radio, digital, PR and retail activity.
Specially created videos for each category were released as the campaign progressed and designed to bring each category to life. The winners will announced via Heatworld.com and also its YouTube Channel.
Heat's Weird crush poll
Every year since 2006 (except for 2012), ''Heat'' opens a poll to find the nation's oddest celebrity crush. The winners of each year are:
* 2006:
Richard Hammond
Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, mechanic, and writer. He is best known for co-hosting the BBC Two motoring programme ''Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and Jame ...
(''
Top Gear'' co-host)
* 2007:
James May (''
Top Gear'' co-host)
* 2008:
Jeremy Clarkson (''
Top Gear'' co-host)
* 2009:
Derren Brown (mind magician)
* 2010:
Karl Pilkington
Karl Pilkington (born 23 September 1972) is an English presenter, comedian, actor, voice-artist, producer and author.
After working with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as producer on their XFM radio show, Pilkington became a co-host of '' ...
(''
An Idiot Abroad
''An Idiot Abroad'' is a British travel documentary comedy television series broadcast on Sky One, as well as a series of companion books published by Canongate Books, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and starring Karl Pilkington. T ...
'' star)
* 2011:
Richard Osman (''
Pointless'' co-host)
* 2013:
Russell Howard (comedian)
* 2014:
Matt Richardson (comedian)
* 2015:
Jake Wood
Jake Dylan Wood (born 12 July 1972) is an English actor and podcaster, known for his role as Max Branning in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. He has also made guest appearances in series including ''Only Fools and Horses'' and ''Red Dwarf''. ...
(''
EastEnders
''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...
'' actor)
* 2016: Jake Wood
* 2017: Jake Wood
* 2018: Jake Wood
* 2019:
Piers Morgan (journalist and television personality)
* 2020: Piers Morgan
* 2021:
Perri Kiely
Perri Luc Kiely (born 15 December 1995) is a British street dancer, TV and radio presenter. He is a member of the dance troupe Diversity, which won the third series of ''Britain's Got Talent'' in 2009. He finished as runner-up in the 12th se ...
(radio presenter for ''
KISS Breakfast'')
References
External links
*
{{Bauer Verlagsgruppe
1999 establishments in the United Kingdom
Bauer Group (UK)
Celebrity magazines published in the United Kingdom
Entertainment magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines published in London
Magazines established in 1999
Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom