Pop Group Little Mix Making BBC Talent Search Show

By Stewart Clarke

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Little Mix is making a new talent show for the BBC. The group has enjoyed international success since winning Simon Cowell-fronted “The X Factor” in 2011. That show is a staple of ITV’s weekend primetime schedule, but the band is now headed to the for its own series, provisionally titled “ – The Search.”

The BBC declined to comment, but Variety has confirmed that the project, first reported by tabloid The Sun, is underway. The British pubcaster has been searching for a new Saturday night format. Its long-running “Strictly Come Dancing” remains popular, but several efforts to launch new shiny-floor hits have foundered.

Little Mix’s Jesy Nelson recently made a one-off documentary for the BBC, “Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out,” in which she opened up about abuse she has suffered at the hands of cyberbullies.

In talent format “Little Mix – The Search,” Nelson and her bandmates Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock will mentor up-and-coming acts.

Little Mix has had a string of No. 1 singles in the U.K. including “Black Magic” and “Shout Out to My Ex,” and has sold 50 million records worldwide. The band was on Cowell’s Syco record label but moved to RCA for its most recent, fifth album “LM5.” The band is managed by Modest.