In the 1990s, boybands were popular, with acts such as
New Kids on the Block,
Take That,
Boyzone, and
911 achieving success during this period.
GMTV attempted to enter the market with its own boyband, The One, and
2point4 Children broadcast a storyline in which the programme's teenage son joined a boyband called Boyband. In addition,
BBC One aired an episode of
Inside Story called
The Band is Born, which launched the career of
Upside Down, and then inspired by that, David Walliams and Matt Lucas used their
Comedy Central (then Paramount) comedy series
Mash and Peas to satirise the genre. After Paramount broadcast the series, Hat Trick Productions invited the pair to produce a six-part series for
Channel 4, and the pair began writing the series with the former firm's Richard Osman, with whom Walliams had previously worked, At the time, Lucas and Walliams were of the understanding that they would star as parodies of
Gary Barlow and
Howard Donald. The programme was shot in late 1998, and directed by
Liddy Oldroyd. Filming took place over seven weeks, with
Phil Harding and Ian Curnow producing the series' songs. with
James Corden playing Gareth Jones, a loose pastiche of Barlow Lucas had written for himself. Having found Jones, he advertises in
The Stage for bandmembers, from which he rounds up Giles Hornchurch (
Lee Williams), Jason Jackson (
Adam Sinclair), and Nicky Vickery (Billy Worth); Worth had previously been a member of GMTV's The One. After rechristening Hornchurch to the more boyband-friendly Scott Le Tissier, the quartet sign to a record label, whose executive rechristens them Boyz Unlimited from a list of marketable band names. Further storylines include Vickery's ex-headmistress carrying his baby, Jackson being pursued by debt collectors seeking the return of £20,000, Hornchurch's parents going on hunger strike, and a rivalry with Boys Ltd, who formed just before them. == Release, reception, and aftermath ==