The Voice: Saturday, Sunday and Monday, bbc1
“It’s all about the voice.” This is the bold claim put forward by the new BBC talent show, The Voice UK. It would be nice to think that this was solely the case, but as we know, these shows can rarely avoid showing the irksome sob stories often attached to this genre. However, the blind auditions and duet battles did add a refreshing dimension to what could be regarded as a tired formula. If one criticism could be offered, it is that the Christina Aguilera-like warbling could be used more selectively, but in general the singing has been of an impressive quality. The judges, Tom Jones, Will.i.am, Jessie J and Danny O’Donoghue, also provide some entertainment as they fight over singers using some rather bitchy tactics. The first live shows, hosted by Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates, opened with amazing performances from Tom and Will.i.am’s teams. The results, shown the following day, forced two of the judges to send home a talent after the public vote. Last weekend came the turn of Jessie J and Danny. With its interesting format and credible talent, The Voice UK looks set to become compulsive viewing.
Hidden Talents: Tuesdays, ch4
I have to admit, I was quite excited to watch Hidden Talent. From the promos I was envisioning a Derren Brown-esque show where people were hypnotised to achieve their hidden talents. I was very, very wrong. While I find the concept of discovering a completely random talent very intriguing, it just didn’t live up to the hype. Maybe I would have been hooked a bit more if we’d actually seen the ‘auditions’ that the 900 people had to go through. With 891 people cut, we were left with the talented nine. The first episode focused around two talents, one rock-climbing and the other lie-detecting. The rock-climbing segment, with all the ‘discover your real-self malarkey’, was a tired concept. But when I found out that lie-detecting was a talent, I immediately did the test, just to prove that I too had a penchant for spotting a liar (I scored an average 3/6). The talented chosen one, Brenda, spent years watching mothers lie to their daughters in her wedding dress boutique. It seems to have worked out for her, as she is supposedly as good as an FBI trained lie detector. While it seems that this show has potential, it’s a shame the first episode was such a letdown.