The next great pop nostalgia project is incoming, and it’s got All Saints swagger, Eternal harmonies, Sugababes reinventions, and Atomic Kitten chaos written all over it.
Following the success of Boybands Forever, Louis Theroux is back in the producer’s chair for Girlbands Forever, a three-part BBC Two series that promises not only the bangers and the glossy videos, but also the grit, the pressure, and the contradictions of being young women catapulted into pop superstardom in the 1990s and 2000s.
The lineup is impressive. Melanie Blatt (All Saints), Kelle Bryan (Eternal), Heidi Range (Sugababes), Kerry Katona (Atomic Kitten), Perrie Edwards (Little Mix), and Su-Elise Nash (Mis-Teeq) are all among those sitting down to revisit the years when chart dominance was an expectation, not a dream. Joining them are the industry voices who helped shape the scene, Scott Mills, Pete Waterman, Tulisa, and more.
Theroux, typically self-deprecating but clearly invested, calls the project “a celebration of a time of very special music and talent.” He remembers vividly the shockwave when Spice Girls, Eternal, and All Saints arrived, remaking British culture in their own image. But he also acknowledges “the price to be paid for that level of young fame”, the part of the story that lurks behind every montage of hits and sold-out arenas.
Jonathan Rothery, BBC Head of Popular Music TV, frames it as both nostalgia and revelation: “a trip through that time in pop history, but also an exploration into the truth of being a young woman thrust into the spotlight.”
The promise here is candour. The jokes, the hits, the excess , yes. But also the bruises, the doubts, and the reckonings that make this era so endlessly fascinating.
Girlbands Forever airs later this year on BBC Two.
