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Home / News / I’d Do Anything begins on BBC1
I'd Do Anything begins on BBC1

15th, March, 2008

I’d Do Anything begins on BBC1

_I’d Do Anything_, the BBC search for the stars of the Lionel Bart classic show _Oliver!_, followed Andrew and the BBC’s earlier searches for a Joseph (2007’s _Any Dream Will Do_, won by Lee Mead) and Maria (2006’s _How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?_, won by Connie Fisher) for the West End productions of _Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat_ and _The Sound of Music_ respectively.

On _I’d Do Anything_, Andrew was reunited with TV presenter Graham Norton. He was joined on the judging panel by _Oliver!_ producer Cameron Mackintosh and Barry Humphries, Denise Van Outen and John Barrowman.

Over the course of the series, 12 contestants – selected from the thousands that initially auditioned in regional heats – competed for the role of _Oliver!_’s iconic East End girl Nancy. Blackpool’s Jodie Prenger was the show’s eventual winner, beating fellow finalist Jessie Buckley into second place when the results of the public vote were announced on 31st May 2008.

Of the12 boys who made it through to the live shows, 3 were chosen by the judging panel to share the title role: 12-year-old Harry from Oxfordshire; Laurence, 11, from Cheshire; and 11-year-old Gwion from Carmarthenshire.

_Oliver!_ opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on January 14th 2009. After the show’s opening night, Andrew said of Jodie: “The show was probably the best production of _Oliver!_ I’ve seen. The public got it right. She’s great.”