The first series of British reality television show Pop Idol was broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom during the winter months of 2001 and 2002. The show was a singing competition open to people aged between 16 and 26 years old, with the winner receiving a £1 million recording contract to release their debut album. Pop Idol received ratings of as high as 10 million viewers for shows before the live final.^[1] The footage of the programme's opening titles, as well as the live final of this series, was used in the first season of American Idol, which began over four months after the airing of the live final, in which Kelly Clarkson won the season.

Auditions were held during the early months and summer of 2001 in various locations across the United Kingdom. Selected acts were broadcast on a series of audition programmes in October 2001. The first live show was broadcast on 15 December 2001 and the live final was held on 9 February 2002. The competition was won by Will Young,^[2] with Gareth Gates finishing as the runner-up after a public vote. Both of the finalists went on to have chart successes with both their debut releases and subsequent material. Third-placed Darius Danesh also gained a record deal and achieved a string of top-40 hits in the United Kingdom, including a number-one single.^[3]

The live shows were broadcast in two parts on Saturday evenings. Each of the contestants sang in an early show at around 19:00 GMT and the results were given in a show broadcast later in the evening.

Judges and presenters

The show had four judges, Simon Cowell, Pete Waterman, Nicki Chapman and Neil Fox, who gave comments on both the auditions and live performances of the singers. Chapman had also been a judge on the first series of Popstars, a previous ITV talent show with a similar format. Waterman was later a judge on Popstars: The Rivals, the second and final series of Popstars.

Presenting duo Ant & Dec hosted the main shows on ITV, with Kate Thornton presenting the spin-off programme Pop Idol Extra on ITV2.

Finals

Finalists

* as of the start of the series

Heats and live shows

The heats began airing on 3 November 2001, and consisted of five heats of ten singers. The performance shows were prerecorded on the previous Wednesday, and were shown on the Saturday, with the live results shows following after. Contestants dressed the same to create the illusion that the earlier performances were live. The two contestants from each heat with the most votes progressed to the top 10, where all shows were live. The live shows began on 15 December 2001, and continued through to the live final on 9 February 2002.

Results summary

Colour key