I don't know why so many have been so hard on this series. Obviously there are similarities between many other shows, so what? I thought the cast were talented and refreshing. If you listened to just the album, it contained some brilliantly written and recorded material. In fact some of the songs if not all, are quite memorable and infectious, and I found myself humming the tunes quite often. So full credit to the writers of the music to the series. They've done a most remarkable job. The variable selection of cast were good at what they did, and the songs sung and danced well.Through a half decent stereo, the Soundtrack CD sounds pretty damn good too, I think.I saw the first episode about a year ago, one Saturday morning here, and I was quite surprised. (Forgive me if my thoughts are a bit late in coming...) It's a nice clean show without the usual over aggression and conflicts and attitudes that most other shows of this type seem to emphasise, or glorify, I think might be a better word. Anyway, with soooo many people NOT liking this series, there had to be someone who liked it, and that'll be me I guess. (believe me when I say, I'm surprised too!) OK, so I'm not from the UK, (I'm in Oz), but that doesn't necessarily mean we see things upside down.BTW, I'm a retired global sound engineer with a lot of hard rock bands under my belt, so even the most savage beast can be tamed, and the music from this series seems to have that capacity. (just thought I'd mention it.) ;-)Cheers to all of you, whether you love it OR hate it.....

Terrible, terrible, terrible, cheesy music videos thrown in to random scenes. Like the "sad" black and white filmed farewell at an airport (with the girl and her teacher who she slept with) where everyone in the background stands around watching while these two lovers sing a song and dance. The characters in this show all seem self absorbed (Oh, their teenagers, so that part is the only realistic part about this and even that sucked) all talking over each other and overacting. The only thing I enjoyed was watching those two teenagers drink out of a cup made by their landlady that was made with clay from the backyard that had possible been sh*t in by cats. What a mega waste of airtime.

As a dancer i am actually quite insulted by Britannia High. The main character in the first episode, Lauren, can't sing, can't dance, and is still considered to have "megastar potential". Ridiculously, Mitch Hewer's character Danny falls for her in seconds. It is cheesy, predictable, and disappointing.I am a fan of both Fame and HSM (cheesy and childish as it is, its still enjoyable.) But Britannia High is a massive shame. The idea, if executed correctly, could have been great, bringing more attention to dancing and performing colleges and what goes on there. But Arlene Phillips (who is a joke in my opinion. truly awful woman. but i wont get started on that) has massacred the idea of this fictional stage school in London with bad casting, terrible choreography, extremely scripted dialogue that no one could make realistic - take Mitch Hewer's comment to Lauren - "i fancy you well bad" or words to that effect - that really truly ruin the concept.If i had been in charge, this could have been brilliant (haha). But a real dance stage school is nothing like Britannia High (really). They are places where audition processes are tough, the applicants extremely talented, the shows take months to prepare for. Lauren is not even close to this... is it just me, or was not only her voice, but also her face, extremely annoying? Not to mention her inability to perform the simplest of dance moves with someone exceedingly hot such as Mitch Hewer? (who needs to bleach his hair and straighten it again, i think, as the brown curls he is sporting now don't really suit him.) The other characters are just as dull and lifeless. The mean queen of the episode never really comes up with anything too insulting except the odd "you suck" or whatever, which is pathetic, lets face it. The supporting characters equally can't dance particularly well, or sing. The group routines are messy and the dancers are out of time. And i HATE Adam Garcia as a dance instructor - probably only hired because he is considered good looking, when really he has no idea how to dance at ALL (anyone see him in Wicked: The Musical? laughable.) Maybe thats just me being a picky dancer type. But really, i think the majority of the public would dislike this shambling mess of a programme. Hopefully no one will believe thats what dance schools are really like - it gives them a bad name! However, I may personally take a risk and watch the next one... it was so awful i kind of want to see if it gets worse.

Now, TBH i was slightly dubious about this 2 start with. I mean i hate HSM and was thinking OMG take off of it. But i looked into it a bit more and found out that it's the love child of Arlene Philips and Gary Barlow has done the music. Now if thats not a line up i dunno what is LOL. Then 2 top it off Mitch Hewer, Maxxie from skins, is in it and i love both skins and him, and now I've just watched a bit of the first episode which is piloting on the ITV website before it comes out on TV and it luks....AMAZING u cant seem to watch it without seeing someone absolutely gorgeous, its funny, dramatic, seems like there's gonna be some love in it all combined with music and dance. Perfect.But best of all it doesn't seem 2 be anything like HSM cos its so not all Americanised and crappy, much more like FAME.And then as if it couldn't get any better it has Adam Garcia in it as the dance teacher and he hardly ever wears anything but a training vest.Gonna be the teen drama of the year!