If you want to see Bradley swing, want to see Rachel do her thing, it’s time to head back and revisit the cheesy pop lives of S Club 7. Launching their TV show S Club 7 in Miami in 1999, the British band hoped to follow in the footsteps of other manufactured bands like the Spice Girls.
Seven members with seven attributes, the young group were spirited, striking, successful, stylish, spicy, strong, and (apparently) seven. However, Bradley, Rachel, Paul, Hannah, Jo, Tina, and John finding fame in America was only the beginning. After the huge success of S Club 7 in Miami, the band set their sights on Hollywood, Barcelona, and even their own strange movie spinoff.
S Club 7 recorded four albums and 11 singles, going on to sell over 10 million records with their addictive pop melodies. These days, the band is known for its reunion tours and appearing on the likes of Children in Need in 2014, but as of 2017, only Jo, Tina and Jon remain as the newly-renamed SC3. However, let’s not forget their TV highlights.
The shows included romance, tears, and even time travel across 52 episodes of fun and frolics. If you are ready to “reach for the stars” and “bring it all back to you,” here are 16 Crazy Secrets Behind The S Club 7 Shows.
The Spice Girls connection
Bringing pop bands to the masses through their own comedy shows and movies seemed to be all the rage back then. If anyone noticed that the S Club TV shows had a slightly camp and over-the-top theme, it may be because co-creator Kim Fuller also wrote hit ‘90s Spice World movie starring the Spice Girls.
As the brother of music mogul Simon Fuller, Kim had a big part in the creation and writing of S Club 7 in Miami, S Club 7 in L.A., Hollywood 7, Viva S Club, and even the movie Seeing Double. With over 40 years experience writing in the TV industry, Kim worked with her brother to bring S Club 7 to life but also worked on shows like The Tracey Ullman Show and Red Dwarf.
While the S Club titles weren’t quite as ambitious as Spice World, it was easy to see Fuller’s mark on all the shows.
The Shows Had Different Names In The UK
While American audiences will know the shows as S Club 7 in Miami/L.A./Hollywood, the UK had a much simpler formula to naming each series. With those other shows titled Miami/L.A./Hollywood 7, the final series was known as Viva S Club - for reasons that will be discussed later. Originally shown on UK network CBBC, each show got an American update on its title sequence and name when shipped to Fox Family.
Once the USA airing changed the title of Miami 7, the formula ran the same for most of the shows.
The only exception was the final run of episodes, which was sometimes called S Club 7 in Barcelona and referred to as just S Club in promos and the title sequence. There was never any explanation to why the show was renamed for America instead of just keeping the original names, but does it really matter?
14. Why there are no S Club 7 DVDs
For anyone struggling to find the golden years of S Club’s TV career online, that’s largely because all the seasons are reduced to a couple of grainy YouTube videos with some Japanese subtitles over the top. These days, nearly every TV show is available on DVD or some sort of crystal clear streaming service, but sadly, S Club missed the boat on that one.
Coming in the early ‘90s/’00s when VHS was all the rage, the shows were much harder to convert anyway. The last six episodes of S Club 7 in Miami made it to the UK but were never released on VHS in North America and it slowly got worse from there.
Not a single episode of any S Club TV series ever made it onto DVD anywhere in the world. Since the band’s split, fans have been campaigning for a full release, so maybe one day our dreams will come true.
Everyone Had Their Own Color
From the Power Rangers to the Teletubbies, some of the entertainment industry’s biggest groups have given each of their characters an individual color to define them. The S Club kids were no different, so all of the seven had their own unique color palate. Similar how all the Spice Girls had a different personality trait, it also helps kids tell the different members of the band apart.
Appearing on the TV shows, each member of S Club had their own exaggerated version of their real self.
Jo was the tough girl, Bradley the hopeless romantic, and Rachel the independent dreamboat. As the shows went on and the group became bigger, they would discard the color trope, but to begin with, they all matched their personality. Hannah said that she was given the sunny yellow because it matched her “bright and happy” outlook on life.
On-set romance was put in the show
By the time we got to 2001, the perfectly manufactured pop band had been together for two years and been all over America. The formula of the episodes had gotten a little stale, so it was decided to mix things up a bit. The S Club 7 in Hollywood episode “The Kiss” saw the band temporarily make a dog their eighth member, but also had the (at the time) shocking union of Paul Cattermole and Hannah Spearritt.
What prompted the episode is unknown, but it spookily mirrored real life.
Just a week before “The Kiss” aired, Cattermole and Spearritt confessed that they had secretly been dating for six months and were ready to make their relationship official. After Paul and Hannah met aged 17 and 14, they had been close friends and eventually become romantically involved, but then it all changed.
90 million people watched S Club 7
In the UK, the kid’s TV channel CBBC was an offshoot of the BBC that was aimed at ages 6-12. However, it often had an older viewership thanks to shows like Byker Grove and the S Club shows. S Club 7 in Miami was a huge hit for the network, but nothing could compare to the second series. Kids and teens alike couldn’t get enough of the band’s colorful adventures, meaning that S Club 7 in L.A. had a record-breaking audience of 90 million people in over 100 countries.
These are impressive figures for any show to have, and it is a record that has still never been broken on CBBC.
These days, the BBC is known for the likes of Blue Planet and Sherlock ruling the network, but back in 2000, S Club 7 in L.A. was all anyone was talking about. Sadly, the ratings weren’t quite as strong for the rest of the seasons.
“Bring it all Back”
If the words “Don’t stop, never give up, hold your head high and reach the top” sound like seven hopefuls trying to live their musical dreams in Miami, that’s because “Bring It All Back” was created with the show in mind. It is no surprise that the band’s debut single aired alongside S Club 7 in Miami, and fans may be able to spot several scenes from the show in the music video.
Despite premiering to mixed reviews on the music scene, “Bring It All Back” went on to be a chart-topping success. It went platinum in the UK but launched in America before S Club 7 in Miami had really become popular, meaning it only reached No.22 on the Billboard Hot Single Sales.
That being said, when ShortList’s Dave Fawbert says it has “one of the greatest key changes in music history,” what more could you want?
S Club in Miami was shot in England
Much like their exaggerated selves on the TV show, it wasn’t all sunshine and piña coladas for the group. Filming on S Club 7 in Miami took around three months to complete, and to save time and money, a lot of the shots took place in London.
While the group were supposed to topping up their tans at the Florida Paradise Hotel, the interior room shots had already been filmed in the UK.
The main plot saw the group attempting to live their best lives in the lap of luxury at the hotel while being forced to work there under the management. The actual location of the Florida Paradise Hotel was Villas By The Sea in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, but spending an entire shoot in Miami would’ve been extremely expensive. Cutting costs, the low-budget show did as much as it could before jetting off to the States.
The Hotel Remained Open During Filming
Howard and Marvin were the Fawlty Towers owners of the Florida Paradise Hotel - obviously just actors hired for the comedy aspect of the show. In real life, the Florida Paradise Hotel was a pretty nice place to stay and didn’t include nightmare managers either. Filmed at Villas By The Sea before it was torn down and moved up the road in 2005, the real hotel was a world away from its shabby Florida Paradise counterpart.
As somewhere you might actually want to stay, Villas By The Sea remained open to guests during filming of S Club 7 in Miami. Instead of hiring extras, the crew simply shot while the hotel was still in business. This meant that several guests were then recruited for walk-on parts as fictional guests being served by the band during their stay at the Florida Paradise Hotel.
Linda Blair Was Their Landlord
Brady Bunch actor Barry Williams may have starred in Hollywood 7, but his appearance pales in comparison to horror legend Linda Blair starring in S Club 7 in L.A..
Toning down her foul language from being the possessed Regan from The Exorcist, Blair nabbed a part as roller-blading ex-hippie Joni Witherspoon. As the series found a new location and a new search for fame, the group found themselves another mentor to lead the way. This time, it was Blair as their new landlord.
Meeting the band when she accidentally ran Bradley over with her rollerblades, Joni offered them somewhere cheap to stay until she put the apartment on the market. Appearing in the likes of Scream, Celebrity Ghost Stories, and Supernatural, Blair’s part in S Club 7 in L.A. has to be one of her strangest.
The time-traveling ABBA episode
While the S Club shows are remembered as a piece of ‘90s and ‘00s nostalgia, those years were also gripped by ABBA fever. Long before Mamma Mia hit screens, S Club 7 in Miami had its own tribute to Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Anni-Frid. While most of the episodes from the first season featured the band singing one of their own songs to promote the debut album, there was one exception to the rule.
The episode “Bermuda Triangle” was a time travel episode that had the group head back to the ‘70s. As well as meeting Elvis and Madonna, they crossed paths with ABBA and performed their own cover of “Dancing Queen.” It was all actually a clever ploy to promote the 1999 album ABBAmania, which included bands like Westlife and Steps. The album even randomly had a cover of “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme” from UK TV presenter Denise Van Outen.
It Parodied Back To The Future
Trips to meet with ABBA, Madonna, and Elvis weren’t the only time travel adventures for S Club 7, though. There may have been no DeLorean reaching 88mph to be found alongside the band, but to help bridge the gap between S Club 7 in Miami and S Club 7 in L.A., there was a Back to the Future-inspired special.
Arguably more famous than the TV shows, Back to the ’50s was the group’s first spinoff sitcom from the main series.
Hopping in their convertible 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air, S Club 7 got stuck in a time portal and headed back to a sleepy diner town while on the road between Miami and Los Angeles. As well as all their usual comedy antics, the band found themselves caught in a daring drag race, which somehow became the music video for “S Club Party”.
The S Club Fashion Dolls
They say you’ve never really made it until your likeness is turned into a plastic, fantastic, fashion doll. From the aforementioned Spice Girls to Boyzone, all the best British bands popped up in doll form. After the success of S Club 7 in Miami, Hasbro bought the rights to the group’s image and turned them into their own line of doppelgänger dolls.
In agreement with 19 Management, Hasbro released Sing ‘N Style dolls, which are just as awful as the idea sounds.
Unveiled at the American International Toy Fair on Valentine’s Day 2000 in New York City, the band then performed a set for the media afterward. The dolls obviously came with interchangeable outfits. If collectors look hard on auction sites like eBay, they can probably gather a full set.
S Club 7 In L.A.’s Reach
Sure, “Bring It All Back” may have put the group on the road to stardom, but it is a close call on whether the band is better-known for “Reach.” After appearing as a featured track for TV special Boyfriends and Birthdays,“Reach” released alongside S Club 7 in L.A. in 2000.
The video had the seven of them driving through the backroads of America (filmed in Littlerock, California) in some sort of Yellow Submarine/Priscilla Queen of the Desert hybrid and blasting out their chirpy tune. There were bright pinks and vibrant yellows in contrast to the town’s grey appearance and it was an instant hit.
Strangely, “Reach” was never released in the USA or Australia, but debuted at number 2 in the UK charts with sales that eclipsed the first two singles. Sadly, “Reach” never managed to knock Sonique’s “It Feels So Good” off the top spot.
It Was Basically A Reboot Of The Monkees
In an era where almost every TV show is accused of ripping off another one, did anyone notice that S Club 7 in Miami was actually a merchandise-heavy remake of The Monkees?
NBC aired its cheerful sitcom from 1966-1968, starring four young men who were trying to make it in the music industry. Admittedly, S Club 7 in Miami added some girls and upped the number from four to seven, but the format was basically the same.
It didn’t take the US media long to cotton on to this and dub S Club “the Monkees for ‘90s kids.” The vice president of the Fox Family Channel went on to say that S Club 7 were different from the Monkees and their show was much more relationship driven because the kids of today are more sophisticated. Well, S Club 7 in Miami wasn’t exactly LOST when it came to plot development.
Paul’s Departure Signaled The End
S Club 7 in Barcelona was the fourth and final season, which was renamed just S Club in America due to Paul leaving the band. Appearing in just four of the last 13 episodes, Paul had a heartfelt goodbye in 2002’s “Goodbye Is the Hardest Word”.
Just like the kiss with Hannah, Paul’s departure came straight from real life.
The show ended with the remaining six band heading back to the UK. The band lived on without Paul in the movie Seeing Double, but nothing could live up to the high of the first three seasons in America. The baton was eventually passed to S Club Juniors and their own TV show I Dream (starring Christopher Lloyd), however, the magic seemed to disappear with S Club 7.
Although they continued to tour over the years with various reunions, S Club 7 in Barcelona marked the end of their TV career.
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