Mamma Mia! I Have a Dream is a British reality talent competition that began airing on 22 October 2023 on ITV. The show documented the search for two new, unknown musical theatre performers to play the roles of Sophie Sheridan and Sky Ramand in the West End production of the musical Mamma Mia!. The series was presented by Zoe Ball, and features Samantha Barks, Alan Carr, Amber Riley and Jessie Ware as judges. The series was won by Stevie Doc and Tobias Turley to play Sophie and Sky respectively.

Format The series documented the search to find two unknown musical theatre stars to play the central roles of Sophie Sheridan and Sky Ramand in the 2024 West End production of the musical Mamma Mia! for the musical's 25th anniversary. The format was similar to that of the BBC competitions How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?, Any Dream Will Do, I'd Do Anything and Over the Rainbow which aired on BBC One in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010 respectively. ITV later aired a similar programme in 2012, Superstar. The series featured fourteen contestants, seven men and seven women, who took part in masterclasses, challenges and workshops focused on singing, dancing and acting which led to a finale set which took place in a West End theatre where a public vote decided the winners.

Production In September 2022, it was reported that ITV were planning to revive the musical theatre talent search format with a new series based on Mamma Mia. In December 2022, ITV confirmed the commissioning of Mamma Mia! I Have a Dream. The series was produced by Thames, the production company behind the reality television formats Britain's Got Talent and I Can See Your Voice. The series is filmed in Corfu, Greece and is presented by Zoe Ball. The judges included Samantha Barks, who was a finalist on I'd Do Anything in 2008, comedian Alan Carr, Glee actress Amber Riley and singer Jessie Ware.

Contestants The fourteen contestants competing for the roles of Sophie and Sky were announced on the day of the show's broadcast.

Sophie NameAgeHometownResult Maddy Erzan-Essien 20 BoltonEliminated 1ston 29 October 2023 Maisie Waller 22 MargateEliminated 3rd Leah Rutherford 20 RedcarEliminated 5thon 19 November 2023 Desmonda Cathabel 27 JakartaEliminated 7thon 26 November 2023 Stephanie Costi 22 St Albanson 3 December 2023 Esme Bowdler 22 Chester Runner-Upon 10 December 2023 Stevie Doc 22 Glasgow Winneron 10 December 2023

Sky NameAgeHometownResult Darcy James 23 HampshireEliminated 2ndon 5 November 2023 Callum Ravden 22 OxfordshireEliminated 4th Zackhiel Smith 22 LondonEliminated 6thon 19 November 2023 Marcellus Whyte 36 High WycombeEliminated 8thon 26 November 2023 Craig Watson 26 Perthshireon 3 December 2023 Owen Johnston 25 Belfast Runner-Upon 10 December 2023 Tobias Turley 23 Somerset Winneron 10 December 2023

Weekly summary Results summary Colour key  –Contestant was eliminated –Contestant was in the bottom two –the Sophie who received the most public votes –the Sky who received the most public votes

+Weekly results per contestant Contestant Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Final Stevie Doc SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SOPHIE Tobias Turley SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SKY Esme Bowdler SAFE SAFE BTM 2 SAFE SAFE SAFE RUNNER UP Owen Johnston SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE RUNNER UP Craig Watson SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE ELIM Stephanie Costi SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE ELIM Marcellus Whyte SAFE SAFE SAFE BTM 2 ELIM Desmonda Cathabel SAFE SAFE SAFE BTM 2 ELIM Zachkiel Smith SAFE SAFE BTM 2 ELIM Leah Rutherford SAFE SAFE SAFE ELIM Callum Ravden SAFE SAFE ELIM Maisie Waller SAFE SAFE ELIM Darcy James SAFE ELIM SAFE ELIM

Week 1 (22 October) For the show's the first episode, the fourteen contestants were placed in either duos or trios and performed a song by ABBA.

Group performances: "Mamma Mia" "I Have a Dream"

+ Contestants' performances on the first episode Order Act Song Result 1 Maddy Erzan-Essien "Money, Money, Money" Safe Stephanie Costi 2 Craig Watson "SOS" Safe Marcellus Whyte Tobias Turley 3 Callum Ravden "Knowing Me, Knowing You" Safe Darcy James 4 Esme Bowdler "Fernando" Safe Leah Rutherford 5 Owen Johnston "Waterloo" Safe Zachkiel Smith 6 Desmonda Cathabel "Chiquitita" Safe Maisie Waller Stevie Doc

Week 2 (29 October) In the show's second episode, the Sophies had to demonstrate their acting skills by recreating a scene from the film, before having to perform solo for the first time.

Group performance: "Dancing Queen"

+ Contestants' performances on the second episode Order Act Song Result 1 Desmonda Cathabel "I'll Never Love Again" Safe 2 Stephanie Costi "Flashdance... What a Feeling" Safe 3 Leah Rutherford "Somebody to Love" Safe 4 Esme Bowdler "Just a Girl" Safe 5 Stevie Doc "Trustfall" Safe 6 Maddy Erzan-Essien "I Say a Little Prayer" Eliminated 7 Maisie Waller "I Dreamed a Dream" Safe

Week 3 (5 November) In the show's third episode, the Skys had to demonstrate their acting skills by recreating a scene from the film, before having to perform solo for the first time.

Group performance: "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"

+ Contestants' performances on the third episode Order Act Song Result 1 Owen Johnston "Luck Be a Lady" Safe 2 Darcy James "Kiss Me" Eliminated 3 Zachkiel Smith "Footloose" Safe 4 Craig Watson "Your Song" Safe 5 Callum Ravden "Shivers" Safe 6 Marcellus Whyte "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" Safe 7 Tobias Turley "Pointless" Safe

Week 4 (12 November) For the show's the fourth episode, the Sophies and Skys were paired up and had to recreate a scene between the characters and sing "Lay All Your Love on Me, before performing a duet together.

Group performance: "Take a Chance on Me"

+ Contestants' performances on the first episode Order Act Song Result 1 Esme Bowdler "The Power of Love" Bottom two Marcellus Whyte Safe 2 Craig Watson "You're the One That I Want" Safe Maisie Waller Eliminated 3 Desmonda Cathabel "Love Is an Open Door" Safe Tobias Turley Safe 4 Leah Rutherford "All for You" Safe Zachkiel Smith Bottom two 5 Callum Ravden "Rewrite the Stars" Eliminated Stephanie Costi Safe 6 Owen Johnston "Shallow" Safe Stevie Doc Safe

Week 5 (19 November) For the show's the fifth episode, the Sophies and Skys were sorted into new pairs and had take part in a choreography work shop before performing a dance style in a duet together.

Group performance: "Voulez-Vous"

+ Contestants' performances on the first episode Order Act Song Dance Result 1 Stevie Doc "All That Jazz" Fosse Safe Tobias Turley Safe 2 Owen Johnston "Made You Look" Commercial Safe Stephanie Costi Safe 3 Desmonda Cathabel "You Are the Reason" Waltz Bottom two Zachkiel Smith Eliminated 4 Leah Rutherford "Night Fever" Disco Eliminated Marcellus Whyte Bottom two 5 Craig Watson "True Colors" Contemporary Safe Esme Bowdler Safe

Week 6 (26 November) For the show's sixth episode, the Sophies had to embark on an acting workshop in which they had to recreate a scene from the film between Sophie and her mother Donna Sheridan, played Mazz Murray, who played the role of Donna in West End production of Mamma Mia!. The Sophies and Skys were again sorted into new pairings and had to perform a new duet. Guest performance: Mazz Murray—"The Winner Takes It All"

+ Contestants' performances on the sixth episode Order Act Song Result 1 Desmonda Cathabel "Say Something" Eliminated Owen Johnston Safe 2 Stevie Doc "The Best" Safe Craig Watson Safe 3 Stephanie Costi "Falling" Safe Marcellus Whyte Eliminated 4 Esme Bowdler "Who Wants to Live Forever" Safe Tobias Turley Safe

Week 7: Semi-final (3 December) In the semi-finals episode, the Sophies and Skys were sorted into new pairings; (Esme & Owen, Craig & Stephanie and Stevie & Tobias) for their final acting workshop in which each pair had to recreate the wedding scene between Sophie and Sky. Each contestant then performed an ABBA song solo, before the finalists were announced.

Group performance: "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do"

+ Contestants' performances on the seventh episode Order Act Song Result 1 Craig Watson "Take a Chance on Me" Eliminated 2 Owen Johnston "When All Is Said and Done" Safe 3 Tobias Turley "Does Your Mother Know" Safe 4 Stephanie Costi "Angeleyes" Eliminated 5 Stevie Doc "The Name of the Game" Safe 6 Esme Bowdler "Dancing Queen" Safe

Week 8: Final (10 December) For the final episode, the show was broadcast live from the Novello Theatre (home of Mamma Mia in the West End) and the Sophies and Skys had to perform one last time in a bid to impress the public, who would vote for who they wanted to win and ultimately play the roles of Sophie and Sky in the West End production of Mamma Mia!. Group performance: "Mamma Mia"

+ Contestants' performances on the eighth and final episode Order Act Song Result 1 Stevie Doc "Thank You for the Music" Sophie 2 Esme Bowdler "My Love, My Life" Runner-up 3 Owen Johnston "Our Last Summer" Runner-up 4 Tobias Turley "I've Been Waiting for You" Sky 5 Stevie, Esme, Owen, and Tobias "The Winner Takes it All"N/A

The Final Vote The final vote was then announced and it was revealed that the winners were Stevie and Tobias with Judy Craymer saying "It's a joyous result and I'm delighted to welcome Stevie and Tobias to join the West End cast in this very special year celebrating Mamma Mia!'s 25th anniversary. All our contestants are so talented and worked so hard, they went through the most intensive musical theatre boot camp with such energy, flair and commitment. They were all such a joy to work with and are all winners in my eyes." Stevie and Tobias then concluded the series with a performance of "Mamma Mia".

Reception

The series was described by Lucy Mangan of The Guardian as a "wildly rushed, tension-free series that is never less than shrill". She ranked the series 2 out of 5 stars and noted that [the programme] showed "virtually nothing of the workshops and even less of the rehearsals" [...] adding that although the show featured full-length renditions of ABBA's greatest hits and great fun, there was "no tension, no investment, no context for any of [the programme]."

Anita Singh of The Daily Telegraph was more positive in her review of the show's format, describing it as a "talent show with actual talent" and an "all-singing, all-dancing delight, perfect to distract from Britain's gloomy skies". The Independent ranked the series 4 stars, a noted that the show "wonderfully captured [Mamma Mia's] unhinged party atmosphere, whilst Digital Spy observed that viewers had compared the series' contestants to that of Love Island.

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