Kate Thornton hosts the first episode of The X Factor. The judges visit Leeds and London. Among the thousands of hopeful’s who try out include Mario, Sweet Harmony and Gemini. Rapper Benjamin manages to get on the wrong side of Sharon by insulting her children. Leah Marie Williams isn’t happy when Simon tells her that she can’t sing.

The judges visit Newcastle. Two rivalry bands both get through to the next round. A girl tries out with her two best friends, only to be told by Simon that she has to ditch them if she wants to go any further. After a heart-to-heart with her friends, the girl tries out in front of the judges on her own. Louis gets re-acquainted with an old friend. Simon suggests that Louis take her out, then when she turns up for their lunch date with her dog, Louis runs away from Simon and out of the back door.

Kate introduces the third of the audition shows. Rowetta impresses the judges with her voice and makes it through to the next round. More hopes are dashed by the judges comments.

It's round four of the auditions and the show goes to Scotland this week. The success rate of people getting through to the next round is low. When gets annoyed with Simon she pours a glass of water over his head. A few lucky hopefuls manage to impress the judges and make it through.

Kate introduces the final round of the audition process. Chris Isaac receives harsh comments from the judges after his performance. Chenai and Llyod impress all the judges with their perfomances. Former Brookside actor, Danny McCall also makes it through. Sharon pulls a prank on the other two judges when her sisters audition. The audition process comes to an end and the judges look forward to finding out which section of the competition they will be in charge of.

The judges find out which section of the competition they are mentor for. Sharon is in charge of the under 25's, Louis has the groups while Simon has the over 25's. By the end of the first session the judges are forced to eliminate acts from their section of the competition. By the end of the episode each judge is forced to eliminate even more performers.

By the end of today the judges will have to pick their three acts to take forward to the live shows. First though the judges have to whittle down their remainindg acts to just five. The final five in each section have one last chance to impress their mentors before they will learn their fate. Sharon picks Tabby, Roberta and Cassie to take through after some serious soul searching. Louis picks G4 Voices With Soul and 2 To Go. Simon selects Rowetta, Verity and Steve. For the six disappointed acts the competition ends here.

Kate introduces the first of the live final shows. Louis isn't impressed with Verity's performance. Most of the acts perform well and receive good coments from the judges. At the end of the show Kate reveals a sudden twist. The seven acts with the highest amount of viewer votes will go through to the next round and the remaining two have to sing again in the final showdown after which the judges have to decide who to put through.

Kate returns with the results of the public vote. Roberta and Voices With Soul learn that they are in the bottom two. Once both acts have performed again Louis and Sharon chose to save their own performers. Simon has the casting vote and decides to save Voices With Soul.

The remaining acts in the competition have to perform for the second time. The judges are critical of some of the performances. Once everyone has finished performing the phone lines are opened for tonight's vote.

Kate returns later in the evening with the all important results. Verity and Two To Go discover that they are in the bottom two and have to sing again in the final showdown. Louis and Simon both elect to save their own acts leaving Sharon with the deciding vote. She decides to save Two To Go leaving Verity eliminated from the competition.

It's week three of the live finals. Simon is critical of some of the performances tonight. G4 and Steve though manage to impress the judges. Once all the acts have sang the phone lines are opened for tonight's vote.

Kate returns with the results of tonight's vote. 2 To Go and Voices With Soul discover that they have polled the lowest amount of votes and have to sing again in the final showdown. Sharon elects to save Voices With Soul and Louis does the same leaving 2 To Go eliminated from the competition.

The remaining acts left in the competition have to sing live for the fourth time. Simon thinks that Louis has chosen the wrong song for G4 to sing. Steve gives a great performance as does Tabby. Once all six acts have performed the phone lines are opened for this week's vote.

Kate returns with the results of the viewer vote and reveals that G4 and Voices With Soul are in the bottom two. Once both groups have sang again in the final showdown it comes down to Louis to decide which of his two acts he wants to save. Louis finally decides to save G4 leaving Voices With Soul eliminated from the competition.

Cassie and Tabby were the final two people left and the judges had to choose between them. Louis and Simon both voted Cassie off. Sharon refused to give a vote. Kate Thornton said that if the votes were tied, then the person who would be kicked out is the person who got the lowest phone votes. Over 2 million people had voted for Cassie and Tabby.

When Kate returns with the results of the viewer vote she reveals that both of Sharon's remaining acts are in the bottom two. Cassie and Tabby sing again in the final showdown and after Sharon refuses to vote off either of her acts it's left to the other judges to decide who stays. Cassie ends up being the one eliminated this week.

The final four acts return to sing once again. Kate announces that this week there will be no final showdown and the person with the lowest amount of public votes will be eliminated. Eact act has to perfom twice tonight. Everyone gives great performances and it's a difficult night to predict who will be going home.

Kate returns with this week's important results. Rowetta learns that her time on the show is over and she is eliminated.

Kate presents the penultimate show of the series. Each judge has one act each left in the competition. Tabby, G4 and Steve have to sing twice on tonight's show. All three perform well and it's difficult to tell who will be eliminated.

Kate returns with the results of the public vote. G4 and Steve learn that they are though to the final leaving Tabby eliminated from the competition.

Kate presents the final of X Faxtor. G4 and Steve have to perform three times tonight. Both acts give great performances throughout the night. Sharon has an angry outburst at Steve after he has performed his third song. The phone lines are opened for the public vote.

Kate returns later in the evening with the all important results and announces that Steve is the series winner. Steve performs live again on stage the song 'Against All Odds' which will be his first single as all the finalists join him on stage.