Recently, the BBC re-aired the 90s series Showstoppers - a musical extravaganza hosted by Gary Wilmott. I remember having this recorded from its original airing and rewatched it over and over. I know the first episode pretty much word for word… for a musicals fan, it’s a must-watch.

The show came about because the BBC Concert Orchestra were basically at a loose end and producers suggested a one off show featuring songs from a variety of musicals. It went down really well, so they followed it up with a six part series, featuring lots of different musical guests, heaps of new and old musical numbers, and lots of dodgy jokes but great charisma from host Gary Wilmott.

Along with briefly making the episodes available, the BBC aired a 15 minute retrospective where Gary talked about how the show came together and his fondest memories of it. The striking thing in that episode was this quote:

“More people go to musical theatre live every week in this country, and yet when you look at that as far as the television coverage is concerned, it’s non-existent and yet football’s on for hour after hour after hour.”

He raised this, not as a criticism of football, but to highlight a gap in the market. As I was rewatching Showstoppers I couldn’t help thinking every few minutes how this would work so well now. Musicals have only grown more and more popular in recent years, there’s so much more history and material to work with, and I’m confident you could get lots of guest stars just as in the original series.

We do have the Big Night of Musicals which is a brilliant exhibition of musical talent, but what you want with a series like Showstoppers is the small links between shows, facts and figures, and a bit of context. You learn and you listen and you fall in love with musicals just that little bit more.

There are lots of ways of getting access to musicals these days - websites, podcasts, radio, YouTube, West End Live, many UK tours - so it’s not like there’s nothing out there. But I do think there’s a small gap in the market for a dedicated TV show bringing the well known and the forgotten gems to the screen with a bit of knowledge from a passionate presenter. Getting the right person to front it is key, Gary Wilmott was the driving force behind Showstoppers and made it what it is… but ultimately the songs are the stars, and I want to hear more of them!