25 years after wowing audiences on the first series of Pop Idol, Consett-born Zoe Birkett has built a successful career on the West End stage and remains a familiar face in British entertainment.
Born in County Durham, Birkett started stage school at three.
She grew up in Darlington, trained at the Amanda McGlynn Academy in Middlesbrough and later moved to London to attend the Lorraine Murray Dance School.
Birkett entered the first series of Pop Idol in 2001, aged 16, and left as the highest-placed woman of the competition in fourth.
She impressed the judges with songs by ABBA, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston.
After the series, she sang to crowds of more than 250,000 on winners Will Young and Gareth Gates’ tour and recorded three songs, including Get Happy, for Pop Idol: The Big Band Album. The triple-platinum record topped the UK Albums Chart.
In 2003, Birkett signed with US label 19 Recordings and released her first solo single outside the Pop Idol brand, Treat Me Like A Lady, in January.
Co-written with fellow Pop Idol contestant Sarah Whatmore, the single reached number 12 in the UK Top 40.
Birkett left her label later that year to pursue musical theatre.
Birkett joined the UK's Big Brother house in 2014. (Image: CHANNEL 5)
After beginning with pantomimes, she became a regular in West End productions from 2009.
She appeared in Priscilla Queen of the Desert in 2008 alongside vocalist Emma Lindars before joining Respect La Diva at the Garrick Theatre in 2011.
Official London Theatre described her Respect La Diva performance as “fierce on stage, attacking every song with power and enthusiasm”.
“She gives everything to the performance and leaves nothing in reserve, notably blowing the audience away with her version of Etta James’s At Last.”
Birkett appeared on ITV game show Sing If You Can in 2011, performing Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black in the first episode. In 2012, she became lead singer of Thriller Live and an understudy for former X Factor singer Alexandra Burke in The Bodyguard.
She entered Big Brother UK as a late arrival in 2014 and finished ninth.
In 2021, Birkett performed as Arabia in Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre, later portraying the show's main role of Satine. Her more recent credits include The Witches, a musical by Dave Malloy, in 2023.
She also reprised her role in The Bodyguard when the production came to Newcastle that year.
Expressing her excitement for her homecoming show to LivingNorth, Zoe said: "Northern people always blow my mind.
"Whenever I come back I get a lot of ‘go on pet’, which is lovely. They are my family."
She added: "They’ve watched me grow up and they’ve been backing me since Pop Idol.
"I’m really looking forward to heading back to home turf and standing at stage door and chatting to people.
"It’ll be really special to be home."
In 2024, the County Durham singer began sharing the role of Tina Turner with Karis Anderson in Tina - The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre and received a WhatsOnStage Award nomination for Best Takeover.
Birkett is a proud ambassador for baby loss charity Miscarriage UK, revealing in 2025 that she suffered a miscarriage during her time as Tina Turner on the West End.
She discussed her miscarriage on an August 2026 episode of the Happy Mum HQ podcast, attracting praise from fellow reality competition contestant Fleur East, who wrote: "To get on that stage after you and knowing what you had been through, was a true honour.
"You are a force @zoebirkett and an amazing, super talented woman."
This year, Birkett joined childhood favourites Take That on The Circus Live tour, providing guest vocals on Relight My Fire.
The Consett singer said she “regressed” to her 9-year-old self during rehearsals and felt overwhelmed with nostalgia after seeing the band live as a child.
She will play Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty at Birmingham Hippodrome during the 2026–27 season.