Well fuck me absolutely sideways, here’s one from deep in the “didn’t see that coming” files. Channel Seven has just announced that they will be reviving the deeply iconic Australian Idol for a brand new series in 2022, marking the first time the show has graced Australian screens in 12 years.
Seven unveiled its new slate of programming this afternoon as part of its annual Upfronts presentation. Chief among that lot was the out of the blue Idol revival, which will now take a cornerstone slot in Seven’s primetime lineup in a little over a year’s time.
Australian Idol‘s initial run came from the hands of Channel Ten, who premiered the series way back in 2003. That season gave us the likes of Guy Sebastian and Shannon Noll, the latter of whom was robbed stone cold blind in the show’s finale.
That run on Ten lasted a total of seven seasons, wrapping up in 2009. Throughout that time, names such as Rob Mills, Ricki-Lee Coulter, Matt Corby, Casey Donovan, Wes Carr, Anthony Callea, Em Rusciano, Jessica Mauboy, Dean Geyer, and Lee Harding were elevated to national spotlights.
In a statement accompanying today’s announcement, Seven’s director of programming Angus Ross stated “Idol is the granddaddy of them all. The biggest show in the world comes to Seven in 2022, and we know Australians are going to love it. We can’t wait to bring Idol back to Australian audiences in 2022, putting our prime time content line-up even further ahead of the competition.”
ANNOUNCING: The world’s biggest show is back. 🎤 Australian Idol is coming to Seven. #7upfront pic.twitter.com/hRuc4n40iF
— Channel 7 (@Channel7) October 21, 2020
No further information about the series has been made available by Seven, and there’s no indication as to who will make up the show’s hosting and judging cast.
Famously, the Ten version of the series sported both Osher Günsberg (then known as Andrew G) and James Matheson as hosts; both of which were plucked fresh from the Channel [V] roster for their first big commercial TV break. The original judging panel consisted of Mark Holden, Marcia Hines, and Ian “Dicko” Dickson. Kyle Sandilands joined the panel from season four of the show onwards, with Holden departing prior to season five.
I swear to god, if Seven doesn’t include the classic Mark Holden Touchdown in this.
