The Voice UK is a British singing reality competition television series. Created by John de Mol Jr. and Roel van Velzen, it premiered on BBC One on 24 March 2012. Based on the original Dutch singing competition The Voice of Holland, and part of The Voice franchise, it has aired thirteen series and aims to find currently unsigned singing talent (solo, duets, trios or professional and amateur) contested by aspiring singers, drawn from public auditions.
Presented by Emma Willis from 2014 to 2026, it was previously presented by Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates from 2012 to 2013 and Marvin Humes who joined Willis from 2014 to 2016. Stacey Solomon and Alesha Dixon will join the presenting team from 2027 onwards. The winners receive a recording contract with Universal Music Group. Winners of each series have been: Leanne Mitchell, Andrea Begley, Jermain Jackman, Stevie McCrorie, Kevin Simm, Mo Adeniran, Ruti Olajugbagbe, Molly Hocking, Blessing Chitapa, Craig Eddie, Anthonia Edwards, Jen & Liv and AVA.
The series employs a panel of four coaches who critique the artists' performances and guide their teams of selected artists through the remainder of the series. They also compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, thus making them the winning coach. The original panel featured will.i.am, Jessie J, Sir Tom Jones and Danny O'Donoghue; the panel for the current fourteenth series features will.i.am, Jones, Tom Fletcher & Danny Jones, and Kelly Rowland. Other coaches from previous series include: Kylie Minogue, Rita Ora, Ricky Wilson, Paloma Faith, Boy George, Jennifer Hudson, Gavin Rossdale, Olly Murs, Meghan Trainor, Anne-Marie, and LeAnn Rimes.
In November 2015, the BBC announced that the fifth series of The Voice UK would be their last. That same month, ITV announced they had acquired the rights to air The Voice UK for three additional series, as well as plans for a Kids spin-off edition, which was aired from 2017 to 2023. The fourteenth series began airing on 22 August 2026. Filming for the fifteenth series commenced in September 2026. It will broadcast in 2027.
History
The Voice first came to the public eye when the BBC revealed that it was exploring the possibility of acquiring the rights. However, ITV was also interested as it was concerned that The X Factor could lose ratings after Simon Cowell, Cheryl and Dannii Minogue left the panel. ITV were said to be afraid that the show with would "upstage" theirs.
On 18 June 2011, it was reported that the BBC had won the rights to The Voice UK. In mid-2011 it was revealed that BBC would be broadcasting The Voice after paying £22 million. Danny Cohen, the controller of BBC One, said he wants the programme to emulate the success of The Apprentice and defended his decision to invest in it. Cohen said, "I thought it was really good. Every so often the BBC occasionally buys something from abroad that is peerlessly good, like The Apprentice. We adapted that for Britain with Alan Sugar and made the British version the best in the world. We hope The Voice will do similarly. We shouldn't shut the door on anything."
It was later revealed that The Voice would not be going head-to-head with The X Factor as Strictly Come Dancing is broadcast at the end of the year. Channel 4 had entered the bidding war with the BBC and ITV, but later pulled out after the channel's director called the show "derivative" and "a rip-off".Channel 4 calls The Voice a ripoff and pulls out of the bidding war. Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 8 April 2012. It was said that the BBC was keen to sign up a new singing-talent show after it dropped Fame Academy in 2004 and had not revisited the genre. It was also eager to schedule a replacement for So You Think You Can Dance, which was dropped in 2011. Presenter Holly Willoughby also stated that The Voice UK is a "feel good show" saying, "The difference [with The Voice] is it's a blind audition, the coaches can't see the contestants when they come on stage so they judge them purely on their voice and their voice alone. It's really feel-good and the coaches are incredible."
Devised by John de Mol, the creator of Big Brother, The Voice is based on the Dutch TV programme The Voice of Holland and is part of The Voice franchise, being based on the similar American format.
According to Anita Singh from The Daily Telegraph, the BBC have spent £22 million on buying the rights to the show, which will last two years. Of the amount of money spent on it, a BBC spokesperson said, "There is an awful lot of pressure, given the money spent on the format, for the ratings to be good. But at the moment all signs are that it will be cash well spent." Singh stated however, that this contradicted a "pledge" made by Mark Thompson, the director-general. He said, "The BBC needs to make a further significant shift towards distinctiveness, spending more of the licence fee on output which, without the BBC, wouldn't get made at all." The ITV reportedly "offered more for the format but were turned down". After comparisons to the X Factor were made, Cohen defended the decision to gain the rights to the show saying, "We feel that there's enough difference in this format that it will stand out. The fact that ITV tried very hard to get it—even though they've got The X Factor—suggests that they feel this show is different enough [from that one]."
In October 2011, it was announced that Moira Ross, executive producer of Strictly Come Dancing, quit the show to join production company Wall to Wall, so that she could take the position of executive producer of The Voice UK.
The BBC were planning to make each performance on the show available for download each week, with the proceeds going to charity or the downloads being free, before it is then released commercially. The winner will receive £100,000, as well as a record deal with Universal Republic.
On 24 May 2013, it was reported that BBC One was close to recommissioning the show for a third series in 2014. The next day, it was confirmed that it would return for a third series. In July 2013, Jessie J and Danny O'Donoghue confirmed they would not be able to return as coaches for series 3 due to their music careers and touring. In September, Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates announced they would not be returning as co-presenters for series 3. It was confirmed the same month that Kylie Minogue and Ricky Wilson would replace Jessie J and O'Donoghue. It was announced that Emma Willis and Marvin Humes would replace Willoughby and Yates as co-presenters for the third series. On 29 March 2014, the BBC confirmed the series would be returning for another two series. In April, Minogue confirmed that she would not return for the fourth series, due to clashes with her Kiss Me Once Tour. On 22 September, it was confirmed that Rita Ora would replace Minogue.
In June 2015, it was announced Ora would be joining the twelfth series of The X Factor. In August 2015, it was announced that Paloma Faith would replace Ora, with Boy George replacing original coach Jones, who was let go and would not be involved in the fifth series' production.
On 7 November 2015, it was announced that the fifth series of The Voice UK would be the last to air on BBC. On 23 November 2015, ITV announced they had acquired the rights to air The Voice UK for three additional series, set to begin airing in 2017. They also announced their plans to produce two additional series, The Voice Kids and an untitled ITV2 spin-off, both also set to air in 2017. The last episode aired on the BBC on 9 April 2016. The ITV2 spin-off show was axed on 8 August 2016, but it could return in the future.
On 10 December 2020, ITV announced the tenth series of The Voice UK would premiere on 2 January 2021.
In November 2021, only the new series of The Voice Kids was included by ITV as part of its Highlights brochure (for Christmas 2021), with the 2022 series of The Voice UK losing its Saturday night slot in January, to the Olly Murs hosted Starstruck format with Sheridan Smith, Adam Lambert, Jason Manford and Beverley Knight.
Scheduling After speculation in February, the show's air date was confirmed on 10 March 2012. Of this announcement, the show's Twitter account said, "Two weeks from now, something new will be on your television, something so great you'll want to run up and kiss the screen. Just FYI." Britain's Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon confirmed the launch date for the Britain's Got Talent, with it being the same day as The Voice UKs. Britain's Got Talent was brought forward by ITV, so it could clash with the show. For the past four years however, Britain's Got Talent had launched in mid-April. The BBC and ITV were reportedly in a "scheduling war". BBC moved the show from its supposed 7:15 slot to 7:00, to avoid "significant overlap". ITV then responded by moving Britain's Got Talent from its original slot at 7:45 to 7:30. A BBC source said, "It is disappointing they chose to launch Britain's Got Talent on the same day as us. To not even meet us halfway on avoiding any sort of overlap is incredibly competitive."
As The Voice progressed, it became clear that audiences were staying loyal during the period when it clashed with Britain's Got Talent. After the third Blind Auditions round, when the BBC programme enjoyed a viewership margin of some four million, Simon Cowell and ITV executives moved their show to a later start time.
In an exclusive interview with Digital Spy, Cowell stated that the show is "competition" for Britain's Got Talent. He said, "I recognise [The Voice] as a challenge. The BBC must be confident because they have put it up against this show. They want to make a competition out of it. So we've got to make [Britain's Got Talent] better. Everyone benefits because of that." However, presenter Reggie Yates denied this: "I don't know if this is about toppling anyone. This is a very different animal altogether. I think when you see what this show is all about, you'll see exactly where we are coming from."
In 2013, the shows clashed again, this time with BGT starting in its usual mid-April Slot. Both shows went directly head to head with The Voice from 6.45-8.15 and BGT from 7-8.35. With BGT winning the war, The Voice moved to a later slot and for the rest of the run, only clashed with BGT for 10-15 minutes each week.
In 2016, the shows clashed again. The Voices BBC finale was moved back a week due to a Six Nations game which meant it clashed with the BGT launch. The Voice aired from 7-9 with BGT from 7-8.25. Whilst original schedules had The Voice from 6-8 and BGT from 8-9.20, the shows both changed to a 7.00 start time.
Promotion The first promotional item the BBC released was a video on the official website. It read, "Four of the biggest names in music are looking for incredible singing talent to compete for the title of The Voice UK. Only the most unique and distinctive voices will make it to the filmed auditions and get to sing for our celebrity coaches". To promote the show, all four coaches went to Central London launch event, which took place at Soho Hotel on 24 February 2012. Daily Mirror Jo Usmar commented on the promotion of the show, stating that the trailer will "get you juices flowing". A further trailer was released on 9 March, featuring footage from the show, "including interviews with the panel, a first look at some contestants and bickering between the coaches".
Social media According to Digital Spy, the BBC was trying to "boost audience participation with a wealth of social media and online activity, as viewers often watch programmes while also commenting and engaging via Twitter and Facebook on a smartphone, laptop or tablet". Telegraph Hill, having previously worked on BBC Three dramas Being Human and The Fades, put in place a full-time team of "social media creatives" who will generate online videos around the show, and on the show's Facebook and Twitter pages.
Auditions and filming