Radio 1 DJ Greg James will host new BBC music show which is billed as the natural successor to Top Of The Pops
WHEN I revealed the BBC was finally replacing Top Of The Pops with a new prime-time music show, speculation as to its host went into overdrive.
But bosses now have their man, and I’m pleased to say it’s GREG JAMES.
It’s the biggest TV role to date for the Radio 1 DJ, who has fronted the station’s drivetime slot for five years.
The gig will see Greg host the weekly show, alongside a different A-lister in each episode.
And the six-part series is no amateur job, as it’s being produced by Fulwell 73, the firm co-owned by JAMES CORDEN and behind his Late Late Show and Carpool Karaoke skit. A BBC source said: “Greg is the perfect host for the new music show. He’s great under pressure and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of music. He can’t wait to get going on it.
“The show is starting out as a six-parter, with bosses hopeful it will become a proper series if it takes off.
“There was huge interest in the regular hosting job, but Greg has beaten the competition.”
The as-yet-untitled series will have Fulwell 73’s Gabe Turner and Suzi Aplin as executive producers.
They previously had a hand in I Am Bolt, the documentary about Olympic sprinter USAIN BOLT, The Class Of ’92, which told of the all-conquering Manchester United youth team, and This Is Us, the ONE DIRECTION film.
The show is being billed as the natural successor to Top Of The Pops, which pulled in 19million viewers in its Seventies heyday.
ToTP ran for 42 years but was canned in 2006 due to poor ratings.
Bosses gave it several revamps in the early-Noughties, including moving it to Sunday nights on BBC2 to coincide with the weekly music charts update.
But audiences fell further to little more than a million viewers and the Beeb finally pulled the plug — though the show returns every December for a festive special.
It’s about time the corporation put music back on mainstream telly and if Greg does half the job James does in the US, the new series will be a hit.
It's the end of her Hols
SHE’S due back to work on Monday so HOLLY WILLOUGHBY is savouring the last moments of her summer holiday.
Before returning to co-host This Morning with PHILLIP SCHOFIELD, she posted this enviable snap on Instagram of herself lapping up the sun aboard a luxury yacht, with the caption: “Au revoir St Tropez.”
During her break in the south of France, Holly enjoyed a night out with pals at the glitzy Bagatelle Beach Club in St Tropez, posing for pictures with comedian JIMMY CARR and Made In Chelsea’s MARK-FRANCIS VANDELLI.
At least she has the weekend to get over any lingering hangovers.
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Tough love for isle pair
THEY could barely keep their hands off each other on Love Island, with many of their trysts deemed too raunchy to screen by producers.
But winning couple KEM CETINAY and AMBER DAVIES have been so busy with work recently, they are struggling to find bedroom time together.
Kem even reckons their sex life was better when they had to try to hide from the cameras in the ITV2 villa.
In an interview, he said: “We’re just so busy now with work. We had way more sex when we were doing Love Island compared to now because we haven’t got enough time.
“But Amber basically lives at mine, so when I work late I come home and get into bed with her.
“It’s nice just sleeping next to her, knowing she’s there.”
Despite Amber landing a lucrative underwear deal, Kem revealed she’s yet to model any for him.
He added: “I haven’t even seen her in any of her sexy underwear from the new range she’s promoting. I’ve only seen them in the store.
“Hopefully she’ll give me a private show soon.”
This week the couple are presenting together on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
Maybe they will be able to benefit from their schedules being in sync.
No cold feat for Jenny
THE Cold Feet scriptwriters have never shied away from romance in their storylines.
But any sex scenes involving Jenny or Karen will be kept to a minimum – because FAY RIPLEY and HERMIONE NORRIS, who play the two, negotiated a “no nudity” clause.
The savvy actresses also won a formal agreement from executive producer Mike Bullen that they would not have to film in their bikinis on a beach.
Hermione said: “I think he was a bit embarrassed about it because he was wondering why we were being a bit late about signing and we just wanted to handle the nudity clause.”
Fay whose character Jenny is trying to spice up her marriage in next month’s new ITV1 series, said of her bikini ban: “I don’t wear a bikini in real life – why would I do it on the telly? No beaches. Hiking, that’s fine. Full anorak.”
I’m guessing a summer holiday special is out of the question.
TELLY bosses have a new way of getting tearaway teens to toe the line.
Channel 5 is sending eight unruly youngsters to ballroom dancing camp for six gruelling weeks. A panel of dance experts will then judge them in a public contest.
Bad Teen To Ballroom Queen, from the makers of Baby Ballroom, will air on 5Star next year.
A source said: “They’ve started filming and there are some great moments as the youngsters get to grips with the difficult steps. Tears and tantrums are guaranteed.”
If the punishments were like this when I was at school, I’d have been naughtier.
Soapbox
JENNY’S wedding dress fitting ends in tears in CORONATION STREET when Rita accidentally spills coffee down the bridesmaids’ dresses.
Later Rita busies herself setting the table, but sets a place for her first husband Len, who died in 1983.
Gemma is concerned and tells Rosie how worried she is about Rita, wondering if she has dementia.
Meanwhile, Sally discovers the local mayor has stepped down and vows to run for the job herself.
In HOLLYOAKS Neeta takes a big risk to help Hunter, stealing money from The Dog to pay for the student’s ticket to Edinburgh. But Mac thinks Prince is the thief, blaming him for the theft.
— GEORDIE Shore star CHLOE FERRY says her latest nose surgery has left her unable to breathe properly.
Ahead of the latest MTV series, which launched last night, she said: “I hate my nose. It’s too small.”