The Voice UK

The Voice UK is a British singing competition television series. It premiered on Channel 5 during the summer television cycle on 23 June 2017. Based on the original The Voice of Holland, and part of The Voice franchise, it has aired one series and aims to find currently unsigned singing talent (solo or duets, professional and amateur) contested by aspiring singers, drawn from public auditions. The winners receive a recording contract with Polydor Records. Winners of the first series have been: not added yet.

The series employs a panel of four coaches who critique the artists' performances and guide their teams of selected artists through the remainder of the series. They also compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, thus making them the winning coach. The original panel featured will.i.am, Dua Lipa, Sir Tom Jones and Delta Goodrem.

Format
The Voice is a reality television series that features four coaches looking for a talented new artist, who could become a global superstar. The show's concept is indicated by its title: the coaches do not judge the artists by their looks, personalities, stage presence or dance routines—only their vocal ability. It is this aspect that differentiates The Voice from other reality television series such as The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent or even Pop Idol. The competitors are split into four teams, which are mentored by the coaches who in turn choose songs for their artists to perform. There is no specific age range and anyone can audition; if a coach likes what they hear, a button-press allows their chair to spin around and face the performer, signifying that they would like to mentor them. If more than one does so, then the artist selects a coach. However, if no coach turns around then the artist is sent home. The Voice has been referred to as a "big, exciting and warm-hearted series"and a "new generation in its genre". The discomfort caused by the poor design of the chair, which weighs 19-stone, has drawn criticism from will.i.am, who claims that it makes him hunch his shoulders.

There are five different stages: producers' auditions, Blind auditions, Battle phase, Showdown stage and live shows.

Producers' auditions and blind auditions
The Voice UK 's first stage is the producers' auditions, which are not shown on television. The first shown stage is the blind auditions, where they sing in front of the coaches. The coaches have their backs to the singer, and if they like what they hear, they can press their button to turn around and recruit them to their team. If more than one coach turns, the power shifts to the singer, who then decides which team they would like to be part of. Each coach must recruit a number of singers (12 in series 1, 10 since series 2 onwards) to their team in the blind auditions to progress on to the battle phase.

Since its inital season, artists that are not selected by any of the coaches leave the stage after their song and do not talk with the coaches. Equally, the chairs do not turn and hence the coaches do not see any of the artists that are not picked.

Battle phase
The second stage, 'Battle phase', is where two artists are mentored and then developed by their respective coach. The coaches of the team will "dedicate themselves to developing their artists, giving them advice, and sharing the secrets of their success in the music industry". Members of teams perform duets and the coach chooses who advances to the next stage.

In Series 2 (2018), Channel 5 introduced a new 'save' twist to the Battle phase. The 'save' gives a chance to the losers of the head-to-head battles to give one last pitch to the coaches, excluding their own coach (which whom can steal optionally), on why they should remain in the process. The coaches then have an amount of time to push their button on their spinning chairs if they want the contestant on their team. As with the blind auditions, if more than one coach presses their button, the contestant chooses which coach to join.

Showdowns round
The third stage of the competition is the 'Showdowns rounds'. It was first introduced in the second series (2018). The four coaches will enter this stage with seven team members each; six winners of the battle phase, and one stolen (or saved) member. Artists perform a 'killer song' of their choosing and the coaches each pick three members of their team to go through to the live shows, creating a final 12 for the public vote.

Live shows
In the 'Live shows' artists perform in front of the coaches and audience, broadcast live.

In the first series (2017), each coach had six artists in their team to begin with and the artists went head-to-head to win public votes. The votes determined which artists advanced to the final six.

The final six artists competed in a live broadcast. However, the coaches had a 50/50 say with the audience and the public in deciding which artists moved on to the 'final four' phase. In the first series, each coach had one member who continued. However, from the second series in 2018, the semi-final format changes; only public votes decide which artists move on to the final, regardless of their team. Therefore, a coach may have two of his/her artists in the final. The final (the winner round) was decided upon by the public vote. Throughout the final the coaches frequently performed with their artists. The winner was crowned The Voice.

From the second series (2018), after the introduction of the 'steal&save' in the battle phase and the new 'showdowns round', each coach will have three artists on their team a total of 12 artists in the live shows to fight for the public vote and to be crowned 'The Voice', subsequently receiving a record deal with Universal Music.

Series Overview
To date, one serie have been broadcast, as shown below.

Team Dua Team Delta Team Tom Team Will

Presenters
The Voice UK was presented by Stacey Dooley and Marvin Humes during the first series.

Key

 * Main presenter
 * Backstage presenter
 * Contestant