Pop Idol (series 2)
The second and final series of British reality television show Pop Idol began airing on ITV on 13 September 2003 and ended on 20 December 2003. Michelle McManus was announced as the winner and received a £1 million recording contract to release her debut album. Ant & Dec returned to present the show on ITV, whilst Simon Cowell, Neil Fox, Nicki Chapman and Pete Waterman all returned as judges.
The second series was not as successful as the first series, and the viewing figures for the finale were much lower. Waterman considered McManus an unworthy winner. In 2004, Pop Idol was axed and ITV announced a new show created by Cowell, with no involvement from Pop Idol creator Simon Fuller—The X Factor. The perceived similarity between the two shows later became the subject of a legal dispute.
Live shows
The live shows began on 25 October 2003, and continued through to the live final on 20 December 2003.Finalists
- as of the start of the series
Heats and live shows
Results summary
;Colour key- In week 1 of the finals, Chris and Marc received the same vote percentage as did Roxanne and Brian. In week 2, Mark and Chris received the same vote percentage.
Live show details
Heat 1 (13 September 2003)
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Emma Dane | 1 | "Hero" | Eliminated |
| Jade Hewitt | 2 | "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" | Eliminated |
| Eddie Parry | 3 | "Still" | Eliminated – |
| Helen O'Brien | 4 | "Promise Me" | Eliminated |
| Tim Mvula | 5 | "Just the Way You Are" | Eliminated |
| Michelle McManus | 6 | "Don't Be a Stranger" | Advanced – |
| Darja Schabad | 7 | "Underneath Your Clothes" | Eliminated |
| Chris Hide | 8 | "End of the Road" | Advanced – |
| Jason Brock | 9 | " I Do It for You" | Eliminated – |
| Rebecca Hayes | 10 | "Stop!" | Eliminated – |
;Notes;
- The hosts revealed the contestants who received the top five numbers of votes in reverse order. Michelle McManus and Chris Hide advanced to the top 12 of the competition. The other eight contestants were eliminated.
- Jason Brock and Rebecca Hayes returned for a second chance at the top 12 in the Wildcard Round.
Heat 2 (20 September 2003)
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Samantha Jones | 1 | "The Power of Love" | Eliminated |
| Maxwell Roche | 2 | "Your Song" | Eliminated |
| Bianca Lindgreen | 3 | "Think Twice" | Eliminated |
| Wesu Wallace | 4 | "Overjoyed" | Eliminated |
| Kelly-Marie Smith | 5 | "Endless Love" | Eliminated |
| Susanne Manning | 6 | "Piece of My Heart" | Eliminated – |
| Brian Ormond | 7 | "Amazed" | Advanced – |
| Kirsty Crawford | 8 | " A Natural Woman" | Advanced – |
| Adam Garner | 9 | "Knocks Me Off My Feet" | Eliminated – |
| Jodie Connor | 10 | "One Day I'll Fly Away" | Eliminated – |
;Notes
- The hosts revealed the contestants who received the top five numbers of votes in reverse order. Kirsty Crawford and Brian Ormond advanced to the top 12 of the competition. The other 8 contestants were eliminated.
- Jodie Connor and Susanne Manning returned for a second chance at the top 12 in the Wildcard Round.
Heat 3 (27 September 2003)
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Kate Ainscough | 1 | "Show Me Heaven" | Eliminated |
| Amy Kellegher | 2 | "Get Here" | Eliminated |
| Kieran McDonald | 3 | "Goodnight Girl" | Eliminated – |
| Michael Morrison | 4 | "Always and Forever" | Eliminated |
| Rachel Ifon | 5 | " The Dock of the Bay" | Eliminated |
| Hayley Bamford | 6 | "That's What Friends Are For" | Eliminated |
| Roxanne Cooper | 7 | "Beautiful" | Advanced – |
| Sam Nixon | 8 | "Walking in Memphis" | Eliminated – |
| Suzanne Carley | 9 | "Run to You" | Eliminated – |
| Marc Dillon | 10 | "Easy" | Advanced – |
;Notes
- The hosts revealed the contestants who received the top five numbers of votes in reverse order. Marc Dillon and Roxanne Cooper advanced to the top 12 of the competition. The other 8 contestants were eliminated.
- Kieran McDonald and Sam Nixon returned for a second chance at the top 12 in the Wildcard Round.
Heat 4 (4 October 2003)
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Elizabeth Rogers | 1 | "You're Still the One" | Eliminated |
| Sarah Nowak | 2 | "Stuck in the Middle With You" | Eliminated |
| Jamie Tinkler | 3 | "Right Here Waiting" | Eliminated – |
| Kim Gee | 4 | "Son of a Preacher Man" | Advanced – |
| Laura Russ | 5 | "Killing Me Softly with His Song" | Eliminated |
| David Archer | 6 | "What Makes a Man" | Eliminated |
| Danielle Wooley | 7 | "When I Fall in Love" | Eliminated |
| Leon McPherson | 8 | "You Are Not Alone" | Advanced – |
| Becca Hossanney | 9 | "Without You" | Eliminated – |
| Tarek Jabre | 10 | "Let Me Entertain You" | Eliminated – |
;Notes
- The hosts revealed the contestants who received the top five numbers of votes in reverse order. Leon McPherson and Kim Gee advanced to the top 12 of the competition. The other 8 contestants were eliminated.
- None of the contestants from this round made it into the Wildcard Round, making it the only group to not be represented at that stage.
Heat 5 (11 October 2003)
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Tamsin Vaughn | 1 | "Holding Out for a Hero" | Eliminated |
| Mark Rhodes | 2 | "She's Like the Wind" | Advanced – |
| Katy Pullinger | 3 | "Desperado" | Eliminated |
| Becky Oakley | 4 | "You Might Need Somebody" | Eliminated |
| Tina Perry | 5 | "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" | Eliminated – |
| Craig Chalmers | 6 | "I Believe I Can Fly" | Eliminated |
| Danielle Tedford | 7 | "Fields of Gold" | Eliminated – |
| Andy Scott-Lee | 8 | "Careless Whisper" | Advanced – |
| Glen Harvey | 9 | "A Million Love Songs" | Eliminated – |
| Elizabeth Anastasiou | 10 | "When I Need You" | Eliminated |
;Notes
- The hosts revealed the contestants who received the top five numbers of votes in reverse order. Andy Scott-Lee and Mark Rhodes advanced to the top 12 of the competition. The other 8 contestants were eliminated.
- Glen Harvey and Danielle Tedford returned for a second chance at the top 12 in the Wildcard Round.
- Craig Chalmers later went on to make the live finals of Any Dream Will Do in 2007.
Wildcard round (18 October 2003)
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Kieran McDonald | 1 | "I'm Your Man" | Eliminated – |
| Jodie Connor | 2 | "Heaven" | Eliminated |
| Rebecca Hayes | 3 | "I'll Be There" | Eliminated |
| Jason Brock | 4 | "Lately" | Eliminated |
| Glen Harvey | 5 | "Yesterday" | Eliminated |
| Susanne Manning | 6 | "I Don't Want to Talk About It" | Advanced – |
| Danielle Tedford | 7 | "Thorn in My Side" | Eliminated – |
| Sam Nixon | 8 | "Over My Shoulder" | Advanced – |
;Notes
- The judges selected Sam to move on into the Top 12 of the competition, before the hosts revealed the Top 3 vote getters. Susanne received the most votes, and completed the top 12. It was not made clear whether or not Sam was actually in the top 3, as the hosts stated that it was the top 3 of the remaining 7 contestants. Danielle missed out on the finals by one place for the second time.
- In 2010, Jodie Connor's vocals were featured on the UK number-one single "Good Times" by London grime collective, Roll Deep, and she later went onto launch a solo career.
Live show 1 (26 October 2003)
Due to the addition of two extra contestants through the Wildcard Round, it was announced that for the first two weeks of the finals, two contestants would be eliminated instead of the standard one.
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Kirsty Crawford | 1 | "I'm Outta Love" | Eliminated |
| Leon McPherson | 2 | "I Just Called to Say I Love You" | Eliminated |
| Brian Ormond | 3 | "A Different Corner" | Safe |
| Kim Gee | 4 | Safe | |
| Mark Rhodes | 5 | "With or Without You" | Bottom three |
| Susanne Manning | 6 | "Ironic" | Safe |
| Andy Scott-Lee | 7 | "If You're Not the One" | Safe |
| Sam Nixon | 8 | "Handbags & Gladrags" | Safe |
| Michelle McManus | 9 | "All By Myself" | Safe |
| Marc Dillon | 10 | "To Love Somebody" | Safe |
| Roxanne Cooper | 11 | "You're Still the One" | Safe |
| Chris Hide | 12 | "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" | Safe |
- Judges Prediction of who will leave
- Neil Fox: Leon and Mark
- Nicky Chapman: Leon and Michelle
- Pete Waterman: Leon and Kirsty
- Simon Cowell: Leon and Kirsty
- Just 80 votes separated Chris Hide and Marc Dillon in week one.
Live show 2 (1 November 2003)
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Marc Dillon | 1 | "Celebration" | Eliminated |
| Susanne Manning | 2 | "Only You" | Safe |
| Sam Nixon | 3 | "True Colours" | Safe |
| Kim Gee | 4 | "Hot Stuff" | Bottom three |
| Chris Hide | 5 | "Heaven" | Safe |
| Mark Rhodes | 6 | "Imagine" | Safe |
| Roxanne Cooper | 7 | "Take My Breath Away" | Safe |
| Andy Scott-Lee | 8 | "She's Out of My Life" | Safe |
| Brian Ormond | 9 | "Honesty" | Eliminated |
| Michelle McManus | 10 | "On the Radio" | Safe |
Live show 3 (8 November 2003)
Theme: Elton John :Category:Elton John songs|songs| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Roxanne Cooper | 1 | "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" | Bottom two |
| Chris Hide | 2 | "Circle of Life" | Safe |
| Andy Scott Lee | 3 | "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" | Safe |
| Michelle McManus | 4 | "Your Song" | Bottom three |
| Sam Nixon | 5 | "I Want Love" | Safe |
| Kim Gee | 6 | "The One" | Eliminated |
| Mark Rhodes | 7 | "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" | Safe |
| Susanne Manning | 8 | "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" | Safe |
Live show 4 (15 November 2003)
Theme: Disco songs| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Susanne Manning | 1 | "Young Hearts Run Free" | Safe |
| Andy Scott-Lee | 2 | "Rock with You" | Eliminated |
| Michelle McManus | 3 | "If I Can't Have You" | Safe |
| Mark Rhodes | 4 | "More Than a Woman" | Bottom three |
| Sam Nixon | 5 | "Blame It on the Boogie" | Safe |
| Roxanne Cooper | 6 | "Can You Feel It" | Safe |
| Chris Hide | 7 | "Ain't Nobody" | Bottom two |
;Notes
- Just 697 votes separated Mark Rhodes and Chris Hide in week four.
- Although Hide was second from bottom, he was announced as safe, leading viewers to assume that Suzanne had come second from bottom.
Live show 5 (22 November 2003)
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Sam Nixon | 1 | "With a Little Help From My Friends" | Safe |
| Susanne Manning | 2 | "Ticket to Ride" | Bottom three |
| Chris Hide | 3 | "The Long and Winding Road" | Safe |
| Roxanne Cooper | 4 | "Let It Be" | Eliminated |
| Michelle McManus | 5 | "Hey Jude" | Safe |
| Mark Rhodes | 6 | "Help!" | Bottom two |
Live show 6 (29 November 2003)
Theme: Big band| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Michelle McManus | 1 | "Feeling Good" | Safe |
| Chris Hide | 2 | "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" | Bottom two |
| Susanne Manning | 3 | "Cry Me a River" | Eliminated |
| Mark Rhodes | 4 | "Have You Met Miss Jones?" | Safe |
| Sam Nixon | 5 | "Mr. Bojangles" | Safe |
Live show 7 (6 December 2003)
Theme: Christmas songs| Act | Order | Song | Order | Song | Result |
| Mark Rhodes | 1 | "Merry Xmas Everybody" | 5 | "Blue Christmas" | Bottom two |
| Sam Nixon | 2 | "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" | 6 | "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" | Safe |
| Chris Hide | 3 | "Winter Wonderland" | 7 | "White Christmas" | Eliminated |
| Michelle McManus | 4 | "Merry Christmas Everyone" | 8 | "Oh Holy Night" | Safe |
Live show 8 (13 December 2003)
Theme: Judges' song choice| Act | Order | Song | Order | Song | Result |
| Sam Nixon | 1 | "Maggie May" | 4 | "Always" | Eliminated |
| Michelle McManus | 2 | "I Say a Little Prayer" | 5 | "Without You" | Safe |
| Mark Rhodes | 3 | "Back for Good" | 6 | "If You Don't Know Me By Now" | Safe |
Final (20 December 2003)
| Act | Order | Song | Order | Song | Order | Song | Result |
| Mark Rhodes | 1 | "All This Time" | 3 | "She's Like the Wind" | 5 | "Measure of a Man" | Runner-up |
| Michelle McManus | 2 | "All This Time" | 4 | "On the Radio" | 6 | "The Meaning of Love" | Winner |