Saturday 18 August 2007 9:40pm - 10:40pm on ITV1.

Boybands are a musical phenomenon. Each decade of pop is marked by one sensational group or another. From the original boybands like The Jacksons and Osmonds right through to Take That’s meteoric return to stardom today, The Truth About Boy Bands charts the rise, fall and rise of the boyband.

Taking a nostalgic look back over the years and giving you a chance to listen again to some of those classic hits, the documentaries exclusively speak to a selection of the boys themselves and also some of the key managers who masterminded their success.

Featuring interviews with managers Nigel Martin-Smith (Take That), Louis Walsh (Boyzone and Westlife) and Tom Watkins (East 17), Stephen Gately and Shane Lynch from Boyzone, JC Chasez from N Sync, AJ from The Backstreet Boys, Dane Bowers formally of Another Level, East 17, Westlife, Take That and many more, programme one focuses on the rise of the boyband from the seventies through to today.

Long before Take That and East 17 dominated the UK charts, World pop was dominated by bands like The Jackson Five, The Osmonds and The Monkees. Jermaine Jackson and Donny Osmond reflect on their battle for fans; Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees and Billy Sammeth, the Osmonds’ marketing manager reveal how the bands were formed and Maurice Starr, aka The General, discusses how Motown laid the foundations for these super groups.

Adoration from young female fans is essential to the success of a boyband, and teen magazines have always been the perfect vehicle to ensure pop domination.

Donny Osmond says: “I was on the front of more covers of Tiger Beat [magazine] than anybody else by a long shot. They’d say ‘blow a kiss to camera’ and it always used to drive me crazy,” says Donny. “I didn’t want to blow a kiss to the camera - I’m a guy. But I was meant to appeal to that kind of a loveable, sweet puppy love kid – and it worked.”

The modern era of the boyband started with New Kids on the Block. Louis Walsh says: “New Kids on the Block were the first manufactured boyband I can remember, and they were the all American five boys singing and dancing. When they came to the UK there was hysteria at the airport.”

Pop svengali and former manager of Take That Nigel Martin-Smith wasn’t so fond of the American pop stars and their failings as a group gave him the inspiration for Take That.

“They were very spoilt, very petulant and not very pleasant, and it just occurred to me that there was so much talent in Manchester, and if I put some real kids together with nice attitudes and different characters, who knows what might happen. And that’s how Take That came about really,” says Nigel.

Only about 24 boys were auditioned to be in Take That, and Nigel knew he had hit gold with his final five. Their unbelievable success inspired future boybands around the world.

AJ Mclean from American super group The Backstreet Boys says on the difference between them and Take That:

“Take That were huge, but I think when we went overseas the fact that all five of us could sing and bust out a cappella at the drop of a hat it started something. It started a ripple effect for groups that were already out there to step it up a little bit,” he says.

On the competition between American and British boybands Louis Walsh says: “I think the American boybands are better dancers, they’ve got better production but the English boybands have better personalities, better looks and better managers!”

The typical ingredients for a boyband are usually looks, personality, members who can dance and great singers or singers who can at least harmonise, and the battle was often between those with the looks and those with the talent. Louis found this out for himself when forming Boyzone.

Shane Lynch recalls how terrible he was at singing but still got in the band.

“As far as singing was concerned if I did it in the shower you were lucky, if I did it in the car on the way to work listening to the radio you were lucky. I don’t think I even did that to be honest,” he laughs. “If you had a slight vocal talent, fair enough, you had a little bit of an edge. Generally speaking it was how you looked and I guess I had the right look and I got in.”

Also in the programme industry experts including Mark Frith (ex-editor of Smash Hits, now editor of Heat) talk about bands and Mark comments on the importance and huge success of the Smash Hits Tours and Poll Winners party for the boybands.

As Take That and Boyzone stormed the British charts, competitors sprung up in their droves including 5ive, Another Level, 911, Blue, Westlife and many more. But the boyband phenomenon was heading towards saturation. Pressures got greater and workloads got harder, and it was only a matter of time before the backlash began in the press and from the fans.

Programme two will follow the fall out after Take That split, the second wave of would-be boyband’s in the late nineties, and the demise of bands such as East 17 at the hands of the press.