I Can See Your Voice (ICSYV) (UK version) first launched on April 15th 2021. For anyone that doesn’t know the show’s format – there is an About page, here on the BBC website. The Host was paddy McGuinness and the 3 Celebrity Investigators:
- Jimmy Carr
- Amanda Holden
- Alison Hammond
The 4th spot was taken by a different singer each week, see further down this post.
Series 2 started on October 19th 2022 and ran until December 27th 2022. Around February 2023 several media websites ran the story that it had been “axed” – see below.
Jimmy was the big surprise, for many people, as his love of music shone through (often with tears in his eyes, singing enthusiastically or getting up and dancing). And his comments to the singers were often funny – but also constructive. The Sun’s critic called him “pure gold” (after the Tony Hadley show) – highlighting a joke at the expense of “Amanda’s plastic surgery”.
When Amanda told Tony “When I was 14 I used to have a picture of you on my door” Jimmy’s response was “In 1957?” (they have worked together for many years, just for anyone that may think he was picking on her age / looks etc.).
The conclusion was that Jimmy carried the show with his ability to think fast on his feet. As an example, see this blooper reel.
Or this video…
The guest singers are listed below and the Episode number link is to the BBC page, which has some further details and short clips. Your best clips source would be the BBC YouTube channel where there are 2 playlists of videos:
Series 1, 2021
- Ep 1 – Danny Jones of McFly – see here
- Ep 2 – Nadine Coyle
- Ep 3 – Ronan Keating
- Ep 4 – Fleur East
- Ep 5 – Louise Redknapp
- Ep 6 – Heather Small
- Ep 7 – Alexandra Burke
- Ep 8 – Ricky Wilson
2021, Boxing Day, Christmas Special
Instead of having 2 members of the public this episode had “Dev from Manchester” with Gabby Logan trying to help him win
- Xmas – Leona Lewis
Series 2, 2022
- Ep 1 – Tony Hadley
- Ep 2 – Alexandra Burke
- Ep 3 – Becky Hill
- Ep 4 – Lulu
- Ep 5 – Claire Richards (Steps)
- Ep 6 – Andy Bell (Erasure)
- Ep 7 – Simon Webbe (Blue)
- Ep 8 – Layton Williams
Viewing figures
Series 1 averaged viewing figures of between 3.8 m and 5.1m (22% audience share) which saw it get a commission for series 2. For the UK those are pretty good numbers.
Axed, Cancelled or Rested?
The Sun had broken the story that the show was to be axed and this was repeated by The Daily Mail, Radio Times, local newspapers etc. during February 2023.
Using the word “axed” doesn’t tell us whether it’s a permanent move. A show that is “cancelled” would be available for another Production Company to make a bid to pick it up. But a show that is “rested” is often mothballed for a year or two and then resurrected.
Having said that – linear TV is in all kinds of trouble and the dawn of 2023 saw BBC / ITV drop a number of long running (or expensive) shows.
BBC
- Catchpoint (4 series)
- I Can See Your Voice (2 years)
- Still Open All Hours (6 series)
- Autumnwatch (17 years)
ITV
- You’ve Been Framed (33 years) – rested
- Alan Carr’s Epic Gameshow (3 years) – rested
- The Larkins (2 series)
- The Masked Dancer (2 series)
Excuse the flip between “years” and “series” – that was how the information was reported.
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