Grease Is The Word will launch on ITV this week and the hunt will begin for the West End’s new Sandy and Danny.

At the launch party for the show in London last night, it was revealed that the winners of the show will be contracted to perform in eight shows per week despite the recent injury that Connie Fisher sustained while performing the same amount.

Connie won the BBC’s ‘How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria’ last year and has subsequently been playing Maria in the West End Sound Of Music stage show. She had to pull out of a number of shows earlier this year and is currently performing with the aid of a backing track due after damaging her vocal chords. Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has revealed that he feels responsible for Connie’s illness as she insisted on performing eight shows per week, when he should have insisted on six.

David Ian, judge on Grease Is The Word and producer of Sound Of Music claims that Connie’s injury was sustained due to her singing while ill with a cold. He assures us that eight shows a week, while playing Sandy and Danny is the absilute norm.

He said: “Danny and Sandy will be contracted to do eight shows a week, which is absolutely the West End norm. It’s not always normal for certain roles but I’ve always contracted Danny’s and Sandy’s to do eight shows a week and subject to them being fit, healthy and well, they’ll be on stage for eight shows a week.

“Maria in The Sound of Music is a huge thing and Connie would be the first to admit that the mistake she made was to sing through a cold. Maria has considerably more to do than Danny and Sandy. Grease is very much an ensemble piece.”