Will Young to vie for World Idol status

Pop Idol winner Will Young will have the chance to measure himself against his international counterparts in World Idol, a two-part television special to be filmed in London and featuring Idol winners from 10 other countries.

An international panel of judges consisting of one representative from each country will comment on the performances and viewers from around the world will vote for the winner, reports Daily Variety.

Details on the voting process - which will have to be weighted to avoid the singer from the nation with the largest population being the automatic winner - will be released later according to the Fox TV network, the home of American Idol which will broadcast the two-part special in America on Christmas and New Year’s Days.

Shows patterned after Britain’s Pop Idol are now seen in more than 20 countries.

“When I dreamed up the idea of Pop Idol I always saw it as a global concept,” the show’s creator Simon Fuller told the newspaper.

“The last two years have been fantastic and it is incredibly satisfying to see a British TV idea being so successful on a global stage.”