In 2001 Pop Idol came to life as the brainchild of Spice Girls/S Club 7 svengali Simon Fuller.
It brought Simon Cowell, Nikki Chapman, Pete Waterman and Neil Fox to our screens as the judges who would comment on auditions and live performances of the wannabe pop stars.
Presented by the ever-lovable duo of Ant & Dec, the show quickly became a smash hit and the blueprint for reality-based talent shows over the world.
It's easy to forget that it has been more than two decades since that first Pop Idol series aired.
We took a look at all the characters we remember to see what they have been doing over the last 20 years.
Will Young
Will Young won the hearts of the public with 53.1 per cent of the vote to win the first-ever Pop Idol competition.
With a show-stealing rendition of The Doors' Light My Fire and the winner's double A-side single of Anything Is Possible/Evergreen in the final saw the singer from Berkshire kick start a wonderful music career that went from strength to strength.
Some of his highlights include four number one albums along with a string of top 40 singles and bagging two BRIT Awards along the way. In later years the singer has also begun a successful musical career with a stint in Cabaret and more recently he was unmasked as Lionfish in the 2022's season of The Masked Singer.
Gareth Gates
Runner up Gareth Gates may have come in second to Will but also went on to have a successful pop career.
Since 2007 the heartthrob singer from Bradford has gone on to star in several hit musicals including Les Miserables and Legally Blonde.
He was also a contestant on ITV's Dancing On Ice back in 2008 and has made numerous TV appearances over the years.
Gareth was most recently linked to Corrie star Faye Brookes, to whom he was engaged before they split.
Darius Danesh
The Scottish singer wonder burst onto our screens before Pop Idol had even started - with his memorable appearance in Popstars which began in January 2001, which saw him audition for a place in the newly formed pop group Hear'Say.
Thankfully this was not the last we saw of him as he replaced finalist Rik Waller in week two and went all the way to the final. After his appearance on the show, Darius went on to have five of his singles hit the UK top 10 - including his number one hit Colourblind. He also appeared in 2010's Popstar to Operastar.
He married actress Natasha Henstridge in 2011 but their divorce was finalised in 2018.
In 2017, Darius was left fighting for his life when he accidentally drank dirty water from the River Thames, causing him to collapse into a near-fatal coma.
Zoe Birkett
At only 16, Zoe was one of the youngest contestants at and finished the highest of all female competitors in that year's contest.
Since the show, Zoe has gone on to star in a number of musical performances and was Alexandra Burke's understudy for Broadway show The Bodyguard.
These days Zoe describes herself as a "Mamma, TV personality, singer, actress and author".
Hayley Evetts
Hayley Evetts was very much like her Pop Idol co-star Darius Danesh in that she also appeared on Popstars, and was unsuccessful in joining the group.
Hayley came fifth overall and joined Coronation Street the year after.
10 years after Pop Idol she tried again when she auditioned for X-Factor however she didn't make it past the boot camp stage.
Now Hayley appears to live a quiet life and has remained out of the spotlight.
Jessica Garlick
Despite coming ninth in the competition, Carmarthen's Jessica went on to represent the UK in the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest coming joint third in the UK's highest position, which we haven't beaten since.
She tried to revive her music career in 2009, but her single failed to light the charts.
Jessica has since remained out of the spotlight.
Rik Waller
Rik Waller made an impression on Pop Idol even though his time on the show was cut short when he had to drop out of the competition due to laryngitis.
He was replaced by Darius in the show who ended up in third place.
The singer went on to land a top ten hit with a cover of the classic ballad I Will Always Love You.
Since the show, Rik has appeared on a number of TV shows such as Celebrity Fit Club and then he appeared two years later in Back to Reality.
The last we heard from Rik was that in 2014 he was working full-time invigilating school exams in Sittingbourne, Kent.
Love nostalgia? Have the best articles emailed to you for free with our nostalgia newsletter. Click here to see all the Wales Online newsletters.
