''The Club'' was a British

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show, broadcast weekly on

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 ...

. It ran for six weeks, beginning on Thursday 6 March 2003. Presented by

Donna Air Donna Marie Theresa Air (born 2 August 1979) is an English actress, television presenter and media personality. Early life and education Donna Marie Theresa Air was born on 2 August 1979, in Wallsend, North Tyneside, to receptionist Marie (née ...

and Matt Brown, three celebrities were given control of their own individual bar in a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

club, named Nylon. Each celebrity was given their own changeable team of staff and viewers were given the chance to vote the celebrities' staff off the show. At the end of the series, viewers were asked to vote for their favourite celebrity bar manager. Actor

Dean Gaffney Dean Martin Gaffney (born 14 February 1978) is an English actor, known for his role as Robbie Jackson on the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' from 1993 to 2003 and 2017 to 2019; he also made guest appearances in 2004, 2010 and 2015. In 2006, he co ...

was the eventual winner, beating presenter/singer

Richard Blackwood Richard Clifford Blackwood (born 15 May 1972) is a British actor, presenter and rapper. Between 2015 and 2018, he played Vincent Hubbard in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. In 2020, he began portraying the role of Felix Westwood in the Channel ...

and former ''

Page 3 Page 3, or Page Three, was a British newspaper convention of publishing a large image of a topless female glamour model (known as a Page 3 girl) on the third page of mainstream red-top tabloids. '' The Sun'' introduced the feature, publishing ...

'' model,

Samantha Fox Samantha Karen Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English pop singer and former glamour model from East London. She rose to public attention aged 16, when her mother entered her photographs in an amateur modelling contest run by ''The Sunday Peopl ...

. 49 percent of the audience voted him the best manager and he won the £15,000 prize. An

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...

spin-off show also aired for the duration, and a highlights show aired on Saturday nights on ITV.

Dooley's Dooley's is a German cream liqueur combining toffee and vodka, made by BEHN in Eckernförde. It is marketed in a red and blue opaque bottle. The liqueur itself is a creamy colour. Ingredients * Vodka * Cream * Sugar * Milk * Flavoring Alcohol ...

Vodka Toffee sponsored the show.

Format

The show was based around three celebrities and their various bar staff. Each celebrity was given a separate bar to manage in a two floored club named Nylon, a retro-themed nightspot in London's square mile. The celebrities included: *

, former ''Page 3'' model and singer *

, actor most famous for playing

Robbie Jackson Robbie Jackson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Dean Gaffney. The character was introduced in 1993, but axed in 2003 by executive producer Louise Berridge. He made brief returns in 2004 and 2010 for two ...

in ''

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 ...

'' *

, comedian, MTV presenter and singer Each celebrity had to recruit their own bar staff, known on the show as "bar mates". Three bar mates were chosen by each celebrity, from auditioning members of the public. They helped each celebrity to run their bar and lived in a communal residence, the events of which were sometimes filmed and broadcast on the show; however, the celebrities did not live with their bar mates. ''The Club'' was open to the public, who could visit every night of the week including the televised nights. The celebrities and their bar mates battled with each other to have the most popular and successful bar. The bar managers used various tactics to do this, such as inviting their celebrity friends to appear at their bar, or putting on themed nights and entertainment for the public. Each week, one bar mate was fired and then replaced by a new auditionee. The three celebrities were required to nominate which one of their three bar mates would go up for eviction. Viewers were witness to the nomination and the celebrity's appraisal of their staff and were then given the chance to vote off their least favourite out of the three. After the sacking, a new bar mate would join the team, and the same process continued the following week. The sackings took place live on ITV. The show ran for six weeks. On the live final, viewers were asked to vote for the most successful celebrity bar manager. Dean Gaffney won with 49% of the vote. The prize he won was £15,000.

Scheduling

A live show was broadcast each week for 6 weeks on ITV, and was presented by

and Matt Brown. During the show, highlights were shown and the celebrities were interviewed along with the sacked bar mate. In addition to the live show, ''The Club'' was also broadcast five nights a week on ITV2, and a highlights show aired on Saturday nights.

Promotion and sponsorship

The club was aimed at young adult viewers.

Galaxy Network Galaxy was a radio network owned by Global Radio and broadcast across the British Isles on FM in regional areas of England and Scotland, through the digital platform with Sky and DAB and online respectively. Stations included stations: Galaxy ...

radio teamed up with

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Televi ...

to promote the show. ''The Club's'' presenters, celebrity bar managers, and bar staff, all featured on the network's dance music stations when the show started, and Galaxy radio DJs managed the music decks at Nylon.

Vodka Toffee was signed up to sponsor the programme, which included a 15-second opening credit, six five-second break bumpers and a 10-second closing credit across ITV and ITV2. Off-air sponsorship activity, such as online and

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

promotion, also took place. The sponsorship deal was negotiated on behalf of ITV by Joe Blake-Turner at Carlton Sponsorship, with Mediacom. A Mediacom official said, "Alcohol; bars; nightclubs -- the environmental fit between Dooley's and ''The Club'' is ideal. The reality TV aspect plus the celebrities will be core to delivering significant numbers of young adult viewers -- our key consumers. The timing of the campaign is important as it will drive sales during the post-Christmas sales dip".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Club, The 2000s British reality television series 2003 British television series debuts 2003 British television series endings ITV reality television shows Television series by ITV Studios