The X Factor
ITV, Saturdays & Sundays, 8pm
Igot to ask Simon Cowell a few questions last week at the launch of this new series of The X Factor. Or – to be completely accurate – I emailed a list of questions to his people, and one of them put them to him on my behalf while he chillaxed on a sofa in LA. Anyway, there was one particularly revealing moment, when he was answering why he decided to stick with the same judging panel this year, and he suddenly paused, and said, “I can’t even remember why we made changes in the past… We just thought we should.” Which pretty much sums up the eternal dilemma of long-running shows like The X Factor. Is it better to constantly tinker with the onscreen talent, to keep things fresh, or to stick with a line-up once the chemistry is clearly working? Well, after the new series opener, it feels right that the gang of Simon, Sharon, Louis and Scherzy are all back and as delightfully eccentric as ever. We get Louis kind-of singing, Nicole making up an especially contrived new word, Simon doing weird finger dancing, and Sharon welling up at the drop of a hat, while Dermot – also still there, thank heavens – comments wryly upon all he surveys. More importantly, I’m fairly sure Shaz changed auditionee Kayleigh’s life by pointing out that she should stop fretting about her body and focus on what a great voice she has. And when Grace, at the end, reduced the judges to tears by singing her own song in public for the first time (I just hope it doesn’t turn out that she’s got a record contract in Peru or something), even the most cynical of critics couldn’t deny this show still has the power to surprise, delight and move us.