''Cheryl Cole's Night In'' was a one-off

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

, starring English recording artist

Cheryl Cole Cheryl Ann Tweedy (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and television personality. She rose to fame as a member of Girls Aloud, a Pop music, pop girl group created through ITV (TV network), ITV's reality competition show ''Popstars: The R ...

, produced for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

, that aired on 12 December 2009 at 6:30 pm. The programme was hosted by

Holly Willoughby Holly Marie Willoughby ( ; born 10 February 1981) is an English television presenter, author and model. She has presented various television shows for ITV, most notably '' This Morning'' (2009–2023) and '' Dancing on Ice'' (2006–2011, 201 ...

, featured a host of other performers and acted as a lead-in to the final of the sixth series of ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'', in which Cole is a judge. Cole performed songs from her debut solo album, ''

3 Words ''3 Words'' is the debut studio album by English singer Cheryl Cole released on 23 October 2009 by Fascination Records. Cole's first solo performance was on American rapper will.i.am's " Heartbreaker" (2008), on which she sang additional vocals ...

'', and the programme also featured performances from other musical acts as well as interviews conducted by Willoughby. The programme received mixed reviews from critics and was watched by 5 million people; this is substantially less than the viewing figures of other programmes airing at the same time.

Production

Tabloid newspaper ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' published a report on 21 November 2009 claiming that Cole would receive £100,000 for appearing in a programme entitled ''Cheryl Cole's Night In''; ITV confirmed the programme two days later, with Cole saying that she would be "working with some of erfavourite artists". The programme was recorded through the week beginning 7 December at the

BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC), formerly known as BBC Television Centre, is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, which was the headquarters of BBC Television from 1960 to 2013, when BBC Television moved to Broadcasting H ...

and images of Cole performing the song "

Fight for This Love "Fight for This Love" is the debut solo single by English singer Cheryl Cole, recorded for her debut studio album, '' 3 Words'' (2009). It was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland as the lead single on 2009 by Fascination Records (Polydor ...

", whilst dressed as a

ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

, were released. Cole also debuted a song from her album, ''3 Words'', titled "

Parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

", where she danced with

Derek Hough Derek Bruce Hough (; born May 17, 1985) is an American professional Latin dance, Latin and ballroom dancer, choreographer, actor and singer. From 2007 to 2016, Hough was a professional dancer on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC dance compe ...

, a professional champion of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

''.

Setlist

Reception

Anna Pickard of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' described the programme as "an hour of commissioning genius", despite Stuart Heritage of the same publication arguing that "just the title is enough to put you off". In a separate article, Heritage voiced his belief that the programme saw Cole "discussing her life in the blandest possible terms while wearing a variety of impractical dresses". Rick Fulton of the '' Daily Record'' was complimentary of the programme as he compared the dance routine that accompanied "

" to a routine from the programme ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

''.

Alexandra Burke Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke (born 25 August 1988) is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She won the fifth series of the talent television show ''The X Factor'' in 2008. Following the show, she was signed to Syco Music and releas ...

, who featured in the programme, praised Cole by complimenting her hairstyle and by stating that her performance had "gone up another level". Sian Brewis of the ''

Leicester Mercury The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its pre ...

'' was critical of the programme; she claimed that it was an "hour-long

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for Chezza's ole’s nicknamealbum", branded Willoughby's questions "vacuous" and compared Cole's costumes to that worn by characters of ''

Street Fighter II is a 1991 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcade game, arcades. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter (video game), Street Fighter''. Designed by Yoshiki O ...

''. Rachel Holmes, writing in ''The Guardian'', was also critical of Cole's choice of attire and argued that the programme was uninformative. Holmes also claimed that viewers "were suffering from Chezza overload" due to her appearances on ''

'' the same weekend. The programme attracted 5 million viewers, a 22% share of the viewing audience, on its first airing. However, an episode of ''

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'' and an installment of the seventh series of ''

'', which aired at the same time on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

, attracted 5.2 million (25% of the audience) and 8.1 million (33%) respectively.

References

{{Cheryl Cole 2009 television specials British music television shows British television specials ITV (TV network) original programming Music television specials Television series by ITV Studios