The X Factor (British series 1)
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent; the winner of which receives a £1 million recording contract with the Syco Music record label. The first series was broadcast from 4 September to 11 December 2004. The competition was split into several stages: auditions, bootcamp, judges' homes and live shows, with Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Simon Cowell as judges. Kate Thornton presented the show on ITV, whilst Ben Shephard presented the spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2.
Auditions were held in Dublin, Newcastle, London, Leeds, Birmingham and Glasgow.
Steve Brookstein won the series, with Cowell as the winning mentor. Brookstein went on to have some chart success, with runner-up group G4 achieving two platinum albums before splitting up in 2007, but reuniting in 2014.
Selection process
Applications and auditions
Before the auditions, advertisements appeared on ITV, newspapers, and trade magazines, promising that the new show would encourage groups to join, and while the emphasis was on singing, would welcome those who played musical instruments and wrote their own songs. The show would differentiate itself from its predecessor, Pop Idol.For the first episode of auditions, which aired on 4 September 2004, the judges visited Leeds and London. The second episode aired on 11 September 2004 in which the judges visited Newcastle. The third aired on 18 September 2004, the fourth on 25 September 2004 and the fifth on 2 October 2004.
Bootcamp and judges' homes
After the auditions, each judge was allocated a category at random:- Simon Cowell: Over 25s
- Sharon Osbourne: 16-24s
- Louis Walsh: Groups
In judges' homes, the 15 acts went to the homes of their respective judges, where they were interviewed and performed again. Each judge then chose three acts to go through to the live shows, making a total of nine finalists.
| Judge | Category | Location | Assistants | Contestants eliminated |
| Cowell | Over 25s | London | Annie Skates, Sinitta | Odis Palmer, Lloyd Wade |
| Osbourne | 16-24s | Buckinghamshire | Mark Hudson, Terry Longden, Jack Osbourne | Megan Ramsay, Andy Steed |
| Walsh | Groups | Dublin | Linda Martin, Faye Sawyer, David Laudat | 4Tune, Advance |
Finalists
Key:Live shows
Format
Two live shows were broadcast each Saturday evening during the competition. Until week 5, each act performed once in the first show, then the public voted for the act that they wanted to remain in the show. In the other results show, the two acts with the fewest votes were revealed. These two acts then had to sing again before the three judges decided whom to eliminate.The format changed in the sixth week: each act performed twice in the first show and performed one of their songs in the results show. The act with the fewest votes was eliminated at the end of the second show.
The live shows started on 23 October 2004 and ended on 11 December 2004.
Results summary
;Colour keyCowell was not required to vote as there was already a majority.
Live show details
Week 1 (23 October)
| Act | Category | Order | Song | Result |
| Voices with Soul | Walsh | 1 | "Ain't No Mountain High Enough | Bottom two |
| Verity Keays | Cowell | 2 | "I Will Always Love You" | Safe |
| Roberta Howett | Osbourne | 3 | "Superstar" | Eliminated |
| 2 to Go | Walsh | 4 | "Don't Know Much" | Safe |
| Steve Brookstein | Cowell | 5 | "When a Man Loves a Woman" | Safe |
| Cassie Compton | Osbourne | 6 | "Alfie" | Safe |
| G4 | Walsh | 7 | "Everybody Hurts" | Safe |
| Rowetta Satchell | Cowell | 8 | "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" | Safe |
| Tabby Callaghan | Osbourne | 9 | "You Really Got Me" | Safe |
;Judges' votes to eliminate
- Walsh: Roberta Howett – backed his own act, Voices with Soul.
- Osbourne: Voices with Soul – backed her own act, Roberta Howett.
- Cowell: Roberta Howett – based on the final showdown performance, but felt that neither act deserved to be in the bottom two.
Week 2 (30 October)
- Walsh: Verity Keays – backed his own act, 2 to Go.
- Cowell: 2 to Go – backed his own act, Verity Keays.
- Osbourne: Verity Keays – gave no reason.
Week 3 (6 November)
- Osbourne: 2 to Go – gave no reason.
- Walsh: 2 to Go – said he did not want to send either of his acts home. He asked to vote last but Thornton pressed him for his decision.
- Cowell was not required to vote as there was already a majority.
Week 4 (13 November)
- Osbourne: Voices with Soul – based on the final showdown performance, and believed that G4 had a future in a recording career.
- Cowell: G4 – gave no reason.
- Walsh: Voices with Soul – said he did not want to send either of his acts home, saying the result was worse than last week; he tried to back out but Thornton forced him for his decision.
Week 5 (20 November)
- Walsh: Cassie Compton – believed Callaghan could win the competition.
- Osbourne abstained from voting as both acts were in her category. Thornton tried to remind her of her duty to vote between her acts as Walsh did in the previous two results shows, but Osbourne still refused to send home either of her acts, citing her loyalty to both of them. Following this, Thornton warned Cowell that if he chose to send home Callaghan, the result would immediately revert to the public vote to decide who would be eliminated.
- Cowell: Cassie Compton – wanted to win the competition and believed Callaghan was his biggest threat but after deliberating on whether to send home either Callaghan or Compton, who he felt was the weakest, opted to send Compton home.
Week 6: Quarter-Final (27 November)
Week 7: Semi-Final (4 December)
The semi-final did not feature a final showdown and instead the act with the fewest public votes, Tabby Callaghan, was automatically eliminated.Week 8: Final (11 December)
Reception
Ratings
This series achieved an average of 7.4 million viewers per episode.| Episode | Air date | Official ITV1 rating | Weekly rank |
| Auditions 1 | 4 September | 5.25 | 21 |
| Auditions 2 | 11 September | 6.53 | 17 |
| Auditions 3 | 18 September | 7.08 | 14 |
| Auditions 4 | 25 September | 7.24 | 16 |
| Auditions 5 | 2 October | 6.71 | 18 |
| Bootcamp 1 | 9 October | 6.69 | 21 |
| Bootcamp 2 | 9 October | 7.89 | 17 |
| Judges' houses | 16 October | 7.32 | 17 |
| Live show 1 | 23 October | 7.18 | 17 |
| Live results 1 | 23 October | 7.83 | 15 |
| Live show 2 | 30 October | 6.53 | 20 |
| Live results 2 | 30 October | 7.26 | 17 |
| Live show 3 | 6 November | 6.89 | 19 |
| Live results 3 | 6 November | 7.02 | 18 |
| Live show 4 | 13 November | 7.42 | 15 |
| Live results 4 | 13 November | 6.88 | 18 |
| Live show 5 | 20 November | 7.91 | 16 |
| Live results 5 | 20 November | 7.98 | 14 |
| Live show 6 | 27 November | 8.06 | 22 |
| Live results 6 | 27 November | 8.01 | 23 |
| Live semi-final | 4 December | 7.79 | 20 |
| Live results 7 | 4 December | 7.52 | 23 |
| Final | 11 December | 8.62 | 15 |
| Final results | 11 December | 9.96 | 8 |