ITV programme Popstars is looking for “the new Steps”, according to Worldpop:.

The winners of ITV’s forthcoming talent search show Popstars will be given a one album deal by record label Polydor, Worldpop has learned.

The UK show, which begins on 10 January, will follow the fortunes of 3,000 hopefuls as they are whittled down to just five people to create a ready-made pop band. Each episode will follow a different aspect of the band’s progress – from auditions to media training and right up to the moment the band discover how well their first single has fared in the charts. The show’s formula has already proved a success in Australia and spawned the all-girl group Bardot whose debut single Poison went straight to the top of the charts.

By the time the first show airs next week, the final line-up will have been decided although ITV have refused to release their names. LWT’s controller of entertainment Nigel Lythgoe insists that the chosen band must be able to sing. ‘We don’t want to put them in the studio and tweak their voices,’ says Lythgoe who says that many who auditioned just felt they had to ‘stand there and look good’ rather than be able to sing. ‘We were looking for people with a great voice, personality, a great look and charisma,’ says Lythgoe. ‘Robbie Williams has got it. You want to talk to him, to find out about him. You enjoy being in his presence but you don’t know what it is.’

Polydor’s A&R director Paul Adam has contacted songwriter Elliott Kennedy (Spice Girls) with a view to writing a song for the chosen group. “For me, this is an album project,” says Adam. “We’re involved because we think we can get an act out of it.” Adam says he wants the group – who will choose their own name – to have a broad rather than just a teenage appeal. “I don’t want the first single to be another bland pop song,” he says.

You can find out more about Popstars on their official website and even catch a glimpse behind the scenes at the auditions plus find out how not to become a popstar.