Mike Ward at Large: A Kind Voice

I can’t even begin to tell you how thrilled I am that The X Factor isn’t being axed. It was touch and go for a while, with talk of ITV’s long-running talent-hunt being “rested” at the very least. And taking it off air would certainly have made sense in many ways – given that, as of next year, ITV will also have rival singing contest The Voice.

But a couple of weeks ago the powers-that-be put us out of our misery by issuing an official statement. “Don’t worry, folks, The X Factor will drag on into 2017 and beyond,” were their very words, more or less. Phew, eh? What a relief etc.

But before you start to question my judgment here, or suggest perhaps I’ve mislaid my marbles, let me add something rather important: I can’t stand The X Factor. I really can’t. I find it utterly unwatchable. It makes me feel physically sick.

OK, maybe that last one is a slight exaggeration. But my point is, this show (which I’ll admit I enjoyed for a good many years) has now become truly awful – bloated, bombastic, witless, vain, horrendously self-important – encouraging the worst, most narcissistic elements of today’s music industry.

But here’s the thing: I’ve really come to like its rival show, The Voice. Sneer if you must, but there’s a warmth to The Voice, a positivity, humour and perspective. Its coaches – Paloma Faith, Boy George, Ricky Wilson and will.i.am.really.regretting.lumbering.myself.with.this.ridiculous.name, actually seem to care about music itself – not just the unit-shifting potential of those who audition.

“Even the rejects are sent away in an upbeat frame of mind”

Almost as important, we’re spared all that X Factor nonsense, where the acts (of which The Voice has a refreshingly wide range) must imply this is make-or-break, do-or-die, as if their very lives depend on the verdict of Simon Cowell, Rita Ora, Nick Sure-Is-Grim and Cheryl Whatever-My-Surname-Is-This-Week.

Even the rejects are sent away in an upbeat frame of mind. Don’t give up, they’re told. This show is hardly the be-all and end-all. In other words, the opposite of what the X Factor tells people. So why on earth do I want The X Factor to stay?

Simple. For as long as it’s there, doing what it does, The Voice can carry on doing its own thing. When ITV is running both contests, it’ll want them to be as different as possible.

Whereas if The X Factor were axed, I could see The Voice, currently so much more likeable, being pressurised to fill the void. And wouldn’t that be a crying shame? Oh, don’t pretend you don’t care.

Mike Ward is the TV Critic of the Daily Star and the TV Editor of the Daily Express Saturday magazine. Hear him every Monday afternoon with Guy Lloyd on Brighton’s Juice 107.2

Twitter: @mikewardontv