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Robbie Williams · S1 E7
The Audition
How a 16-year-old with no experience talked his way into Take That
Manchester, spring 1990. Robbie Williams is sixteen, has taken the train from Stoke-on-Trent, and is sitting in a waiting room with teenage boys he has never met. None of them know his father. He is, for the first time in his performing life, completely on his own.
Pray (1993). Take That's first UK number one. This is what Robbie Williams signed up for in that Manchester waiting room. Three years after the audition, five boys from the North of England are the biggest act in Britain.
Pray (1993)
The a cappella opening was Gary Barlow's idea: five voices, no instruments, proving the harmonies could stand alone before a single beat drops. When the bass and drums arrive, the song shifts from boy-band audition tape to genuine pop record. This is the song that proved Take That were not just a marketing exercise.
The Manager's Blueprint
Nigel Martin-Smith has a precise vision: a British answer to New Kids on the Block. Five male performers built on choreography, pop songwriting, and a direct emotional connection with a teenage fanbase. He has four members already. He needs one more.
“I didn't even dream of music. I auditioned for a boy band, Take That, and got in.”
— Robbie Williams, Esquire, 2024
TAP TO REVEAL: How did Robbie Williams even find out about the Take That audition?
Manchester, Where the Band Is Born
Nigel Martin-Smith ran the Film Artist Agency from Half Moon Chambers, Manchester. For a sixteen-year-old double glazing salesman from Stoke-on-Trent, the train journey alone was a declaration of intent.
Nothing Can Divide Us -- Jason Donovan
This is reportedly the song a sixteen-year-old Robbie Williams performed at his Take That audition in 1990. A late-80s pop ballad by Jason Donovan, written by Stock Aitken Waterman. Press play and imagine a boy from Stoke-on-Trent singing this to a manager he's never met.
Which single was Take That's first UK number one?
Season Two: Manchester, 1990-1995. Five boys, one ruthless manager, and a hunger none of them know what to do with yet. Britain goes completely, irreversibly mad for Take That.
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