The Stage

Any Dream Will Do triumphs over Grease rival

Published Wednesday 11 April 2007 at 17:50 by Alistair Smith

BBC1 musical theatre talent search Any Dream Will Do has come out victorious in its first week up against rival Saturday night ITV show Grease is the Word.

The two series, which follow similar formats and are looking for stars to front new West End productions, are both being screened on Saturday nights, although in different time slots.

Any Dream Will Do, now in its second week, attracted 5.9 million viewers on April 7 - representing a 29.8% audience share at 7.45pm, while Grease is the Word recorded 4 million, or a 26.2% share, at its earlier time of 6.05pm.

Both programmes were clear favourites in their time slots, however, unlike Any Dream Will Do, the Grease talent hunt does not have a strong preceding programme to help boost figures. The BBC1 series is screened immediately after Doctor Who. Any Dream Will Do, in its first week, recorded figures of 6.7 million viewers - a 30.8% audience share.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? - the BBC1 show which was the first of this kind of musical theatre talent search - attracted 5 million viewers in its first outing last July on BBC1, which represented a 32% audience share.

• The Stage’s TV blog, TV Today, will be reviewing each episode of Any Dream Will Do and Grease is the Word every week. Go to www.thestage.co.uk/tvtoday to add your comments.