As The Only Way is Essex turns 15, what made it so profitable?

With its forged of glamorous 20-somethings who launched the world to vajazzles and the Sugar Hut, The Only Way is Essex (Towie) was an immediate hit with British viewers when it got here to screens in 2010.

Having attracted a global fanbase, and even just a few A-list followers alongside the best way, the present is about to return for its thirty sixth collection, marking its fifteenth anniversary.

Love it or hate it, there isn’t a denying that the present thrust Essex into the highlight. But what made it so profitable?

TV critic Emma Bullimore says Towie paved the best way within the “constructed reality” style on British tv, constructing on the success of The Hills, a actuality present set in Los Angeles that aired its ultimate episode earlier in 2010.

“It was a confusing concept,” she says.

“These were real people, living real lives and conducting genuine relationships, but the directors of the show would give ideas for ‘scenes’, or steer the contributors in particular directions to create drama.”

Bullimore recollects going to the press launch for the primary collection at a cocktail bar with loud music, a far cry from most premieres held in a theatre or screening room.

“There was a real buzz and a feeling that this show would change the TV landscape, which indeed it did.”

She places its success right down to the present’s portrayal of Essex stereotypes – filled with glitzy outfits, pretend tans and massive hair – a technique which “inspired countless copycat versions set in different parts of the UK” like Made in Chelsea and Geordie Shore.

Essex is a big county sharing borders with London, Hertfordshire, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

But followers of the present who’re unfamiliar with the world could be forgiven for considering there isn’t a life outdoors of cities like Loughton, Buckhurst Hill and, specifically, Brentwood – broadly thought-about as the house of Towie.

The city had been dubbed by the media as England’s most boring city again within the 90s, however with venues just like the Sugar Hut nightclub playing a pivotal role in the show, it was rapidly thrust into the highlight.

David Kendall, a Brentwood borough councillor, stated not everyone was a fan of how their native space had been portrayed.

At the present’s peak, followers from so far as Australia flocked to Brentwood to rub shoulders with their favorite stars, a lot of whom had opened businesses in the town centre after discovering fame.

Kendall stated the present brought thousands of visitors to the town.

“They stayed in hotels, they shopped, it certainly boosted our local economy,” the Lib Dem councillor added.

Victoria Cleaves, from Rhode Island within the US, began watching the present together with her husband, Taylor, after listening to about it from her cousin who lives in Essex.

“I got hooked on some of the main characters like Billie and Sam Faiers, Joey Essex and Mark Wright,” the 36-year-old says.

“It was interesting to see their lives and how different they are to my own. It’s very different to American life.”

The time period “Essex girl” was dropped from the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary after a prolonged marketing campaign by ladies who wished to problem the stereotype.

But Victoria, who’s talking to the BBC whereas visiting household in Colchester, about 40 miles (64km) away from Brentwood, thinks the present’s portrayal of Essex individuals is spot on.

“I’ve seen a lot of women who I thought could be on Towie – they look similar and seem to be acting similar,” she stated.

Elaina Johnson, from Florida, stumbled throughout the present whereas scrolling by way of the American streaming platform Hulu about 10 years in the past and was hooked throughout the first quarter-hour.

“You think that because we speak the same language, I wouldn’t need subtitles, but I do,” the 42-year-old jokes.

“When they would talk in the early seasons about wanting to be a little orange with their tan… in Florida, if you were orange, that’s just a faux pas of tanning. That was something I got such a huge kick out of.”

Saffron Lempriere, who joined the present in 2018, places the present’s ongoing success right down to the storylines it covers.

“Fifteen years ago, Towie was about breakups, glam, white stilettos, Sugar Hut,” she says.

“It was the nostalgia, but now we have grown, and society has changed, and we talk about very relatable things. We are all real people.

“Jordan [Brook]’s going by way of a fertility journey with Sophie [Kasaei] – the present has been wonderful at protecting that. Junaid [Ahmed] is homosexual and muslim – the primary UK actuality TV star to have the ability to share that. I had a current loss – we spoke about grief.

“I think the viewers are so invested in our lives at the minute and the stories.”

The Only Way is Essex returns on Sunday at 21:00 BST on ITV2 and ITVX.