iambic productions limited

The Truth About Boybands
A 2 part special for ITV that covers the highs and trawls the depths of this remarkable music genre with a genuine sense of wonder, humour and celebration.
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A bumper December for Iambic
December 2006 saw the transmission of five of Iambic’s recent British television commissions, and they typify the kinds of programme the company habitually produces.
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The Truth About Boybands
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A 2 part special for ITV that covers the highs and trawls the depths of this remarkable music genre with a genuine sense of wonder, humour and celebration

The Boyband has been the major phenomenon of the last 20 years, but not necessarily a musical one! Boybands were always at least as much about the clothes they wore, the way they looked and the choreography, as they were about their singing. Today we see a living testament to the nostalgia and affection for the greatest of British boybands in the resurrection and astounding success of Take That – 10 years after they broke up, and that from a band described by Tony Mortimer of East 17 as ‘a Village People tribute band who covered Barry Manilow.’ The Truth About Boybands looks at why boybands emerged in the first place, why it all ended and why it has made a triumphant return. Boybands have, in effect, become their own tribute acts. 
The Truth About Boybands delivers all the big names of the boyband phenomenon. From Boyzone, Westlife, East 17, Blue, and 911, in the UK to The Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and New Kids On The Block in the USA.  Not to mention the bands that started it all - The Monkees, The Jackson Five and The Osmonds.  
We’ll also take a humorous look at the bands that weren’t quite so successful, whose careers were shorter than their crew cuts. We reveal which ex- pop heartthrobs have returned to the reality of making a living in the harsh world outside Boybandland.

This is a big, bold and fun documentary that doesn’t shy away from the seedier side of life in entertainment’s spotlight - the gay rumours: “If it was going to come out it was going to come out and there was nothing that we could do – ‘Gately, I’m gay and in love” (Stephen Gately); the bad behaviour: “They screwed as many girls as they could and they took copious amounts of drugs” (Tom Watkins); the groupies “911 were groupie lovers, and they know it!” (Dane Bowers); and the heavy handed management, “I always remember Tom turning round and saying ‘I’ll make sure you never work again” (East 17).  Speaking of managers, The Truth About Boybands includes revelatory interviews with the industry’s most powerful moguls including Nigel Martin Smith, Louis Walsh, Tom Watkins and Pete Waterman who share their views on the bands – and each other:  “The East 17 fans were scary.  Cos they were a bit like East 17 – rough and ugly!” (Nigel Martin Smith), “[Take That] were probably living out the fantasies of their manager” (Tom Watkins on Nigel Martin Smith), “He’s never had a successful boyband, how would he know?!” (Louis Walsh on Pete Waterman). We hear the real stories about the rivalries, alleged bullying, infighting and tantrums from those who were there.

The Truth About Boybands charts the evolution of this pop phenomenon from its innocent beginnings in the 1960s through to the world domination of Take That, and the wave of cheap imitations that followed, right through to the present and the boyband as pop nostalgia that is Back For Good... or bad, depending on your point of view!