When two became five
C4, 9pm MARKING 25 years since Wannabe catapulted The Spice Girls on to the world’s stage, this nostalgic series charts the complete story – warts and all.
Arriving at a time when British culture was incredibly blokey – with laddish humour and Britpop at the forefront – this all-female band stirred up a girl power movement.
Scary, Sporty, Ginger, Posh and Baby Spice didn’t just have chart-topping success, they defined the culture at the time, becoming an international phenomenon.
This nostalgic series, with archive footage, interviews and celeb talking heads, begins at a hotel in London in 1994 where Geri Halliwell and Victoria Adams were auditioning for the movie Tank Girl.
They met again three months later at an open casting for girls aged 18-23 who could sing, dance and were ambitious and dedicated.
It was here that talent manager Chris Herbert put Geri, Victoria, Melanie Brown and Melanie Chisholm together. Singer Lianne Morgan was also in the original line-up but was later replaced with stage-school student Emma Bunton.
They were to be the girl Take That – but “a bit more street”. What followed was unprecedented success as they became the best-selling girl group of all time by 1997.
There were highs and lows as they were later slammed for selling out to endless marketing before ditching manager Simon Fuller.
But their belief in themselves was their super power and Spice Mania was not to be stopped.
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