Major blow to Louis Theroux's girlband project as another huge group decline invite following Spice Girls' snub

The Sun

4 days ago

GIRLS ALOUD have turned down an offer to appear in Louis ­Theroux's girlband documentary – following a similar knock-back from the Spice Girls.
Girlbands Forever, set to air on BBC Two, is being filmed now and tells the story of the rise of this distinctly Nineties and Noughties phenomenon.
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The show was given the green light following the huge success of three-parter Boybands Forever which aired last November on BBC Two.
Last month I revealed the Say You'll Be There singers had rejected a personal approach from Louis to talk on the show. Now Cheryl Tweedy and her bandmates have followed suit.
A TV insider said: 'This documentary has huge potential to be controversial — that's what viewers saw happen with Boybands Forever, which was made by the same team.
'It picked apart the many negative points associated with being in these pop groups, exposing divisions, bust-ups, resentments and recriminations.
'The concern for those groups taking part in the girlbands version is that it might end up doing similar.
'It now raises the question of how you can make a documentary about girl bands without two of the prime examples being a part of it.'
Although the two biggest female groups of the era aren't contributing as talking heads, it's understood others still will be. They include members of Eternal, All Saints, Atomic Kitten and ­Sugababes.
As with music mogul Simon ­Cowell's chat for last year's ­programme, some of the interviews will likely be face to face with Louis, whose production company Mindhouse is currently making the new show.
In Boybands Forever, ­Robbie Williams discussed his turbulent time in Take That, and members of East 17, 911, Damage and 5ive all outlined the many issues that came with fame.
But even a personal invite from Louis couldn't bag the Spice Girls or Girls Aloud, which is pretty tricky given that Mindhouse is hoping to have the project in the can and ready to air by this October.
Nineties boyband star unrecognisable as he reveals horrific treatment in chart-topping band
The production company was approached but declined to comment.
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ROBIN WRIGHT OR WRONG?
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HOUSE of Cards star Robin Wright is monster-in-law, Laura, who has a weird obsession with her own son, Daniel, in The Girlfriend.
At least that's one way of looking at the story at the heart of Prime Video's new thriller which drops on September 10.
But as the newly released trailer for the drama shows, it's not clear whether she's the baddie, or if it's actually her son's seriously suspicious new lover, Cherry, played by Olivia Cooke.
Based on Michelle Frances' novel of the same name, this is another one of those offerings from the streamers with a distinctly trans-Atlantic feel since it stars both American and US actors.
Set in London, the mind-bending six-parter will have you constantly questioning your perception.
Which of the two single-minded women is the real villain, or are they equally bad and just bring out the worst in one another?
A LAUR GOING ON AT HOME
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HE is back on the box with Channel 4's Outrageous Homes, but Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen could soon be inviting you into his own gaff.
The star has been filming a fly-on-the-wall TV show at the six-bed Gloucestershire pile he shares with his wife Jackie, plus daughter Hermione, her husband and two children.
Not to mention their eldest daughter Cecile, her hubby and two kids, who also live there in a converted annexe.
Laurence told Women's Weekly: 'It's an artificial affectation, this idea that children have to leave the nest, the old are left to decline in remote, beige spaces, while the young find they have no childcare or time for themselves.
'Why don't more people pool their resources? I like the idea of it being very inspirational.'
I don't see it working in my two-bed in Southwark.
2.4m SEE ISLE DUO CACH IN
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THIS year's Love Island is proof that sex sells.
New statistics show that following a raunchy run, the dating show's final was its most watched since Ekin-Su Culculoglu's record-breaking year in 2022.
An average 2.4million viewers saw Toni Laites and Cach Mercer bag the £50,000 prize after being crowned winners by host Maya Jama last week.
ITV says series 12 also delivered its highest 16 to 34-year-old audience of the year, averaging 1.1 million in the demographic.
The show's streams have hit 173 million – up eight per cent year on year.
It's solid stuff amid a testing time for ITV.
No wonder the channel has locked in another All Stars series for January.
BEAR GIG A PICNIC FOR LIZ
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LIZ HURLEY has a wacky project on the horizon – about drug-dealing Bears.
The actress, who is just about to star in Channel 4's The Inheritance, told the Travel Secrets podcast: 'I also have an animated show which is actually really good fun.
'I did it with my old friend Brendan Fraser.
'We did a movie together back in the day called Bedazzled. Even though we sort of love each other, I hadn't seen him for so long.
'It's called Breaking Bear and is all about some bears who cook up meth to sell. I mean, it's outrageous.
'I play the wolf queen who tries to kill them all. It's really good fun.'
Not an animation for the kids, then.
JILL SCOTT and Lionesses including Alessia Russo, Chloe Kelly and Fran Kirby have cameo roles in new CBeebies show Football Fantastics.
The comedy series follows six friends at a local footy group and is on CBeebies and iPlayer now.