Premieres on Sunday December 28 at 5.30pm:

New series. It's the start of a new year at Britannia High, the performing arts school where the super-talented students strive to achieve their dreams of musical, theatrical and dance success.

About the show

Britannia High Behind the Scenes follows the journey from the start of the making of this ground breaking drama, when co-creators, Arlene Philips and David Ian started a nationwide search for six of the very best young talent in the UK, who were to become the stars of the show.

Tonight's episode follows the grueling audition process, with tough talking Arlene Phillips demanding only exceptionally talented young performers. The search was not without arguments amongst the casting team as tensions rose, and the pressure piled on to find six people they could agree on.

After months of searching, they cast, Jez, Lauren, Claudine and Lola - who head to the recording studios to work with Gary Barlow, who is writing the soundtrack to Britannia High.

With exclusive access to Gary Barlow and the team of song writers, including Guy Chambers and Mark Owen, as they create the songs for the series from scratch at a song writing boot camp that Gary likens to recreating 'Motown'.

With the songs written, the pressure is now on the team to find the last two cast, two boys, without them the series could be in jeopardy.
http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2429355

It centred around the lives and dreams of kids at a drama school.

ITV1 hoped it would be as big as Disney money-spinner High School Musical. It wasn’t.

The eight-parter starred Skins hunk Mitch Hewer, who ITV bosses thought would become the next Zach Efron — the hero of High School Musical.

Robson Green’s pal Mark Benton played school principal Mr Nugent.

The rest of the cast were made up of a bunch of unknowns who Arlene had plucked from obscurity through nationwide auditions and BBC show Dance X.
They sang tunes written by 37-year-old Gary, Take That bandmate Mark Owen and Robbie Williams’ former musical partner Guy Chambers.

The show also featured high- profile celebrity appearances from guest stars including Boyzone and Girls Aloud’s Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh.

TV bosses had high hopes for the show.

There were plans to release a single and Arlene, 65, even wanted to create an arena tour.

She said of the cast: “I’m not letting this lot get away — they’re mine!

“I’d like to do a live tour with them and demonstrate what they can do. There are no tricks in their performances anywhere.”

But Arlene’s dreams — like those of the cast — aren’t going to happen.

An ITV insider said: “We thought Britannia High would be an all-singing, all-dancing success — especially having the top names in dance and music on board.

“Sadly the stories of these youngsters vying for their dreams didn’t seem to capture viewers’ imagination.

“The credit crunch is affecting everything, not least TV. A second series of Britannia High was just not viable.”
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article2145418.ece

The television programme is a musical drama, with music written by Take That's Gary Barlow.

"I think there's life in Britannia High yet and obviously Gary's just had a baby girl and so we're getting together.

"I think we'll wait and see what happens. I don't think it's done and dusted."

In response to rumours surrounding the Strictly judges, including Phillips, getting the axe from Britannia High, she said: "The advice I took from Bruno Tonioli when he said to me 'Don't read a newspaper, carry on,' and that's what I do.

"Because if you open every newspaper and you see dramatic headlines, not because of what it is but because of what you've done, then it's best not to read it."

© Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved.
http://itn.co.uk/news/900640fdbd4680f82c4e54057799d448.html
Тут ещё есть интервью видео с хореографом, она про Гари говорит)

The television programme is a musical drama, with music written by Take That's Gary Barlow.

"I think there's life in Britannia High yet and obviously Gary's just had a baby girl and so we're getting together.

"I think we'll wait and see what happens. I don't think it's done and dusted."

In response to rumours surrounding the Strictly judges, including Phillips, getting the axe from Britannia High, she said: "The advice I took from Bruno Tonioli when he said to me 'Don't read a newspaper, carry on,' and that's what I do.

"Because if you open every newspaper and you see dramatic headlines, not because of what it is but because of what you've done, then it's best not to read it."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4....6c.html