Hollywood: the town is a metaphor for ambition, success and glamour. Nowhere in the world do people put so much effort into creating glamorous perfection as they do in this City of Dreams. And nowhere in the world is the pursuit of fame such an integral part of a city’s fabric.

As David and Victoria Beckham prepare to take their football and fashion celebrity road-show to Hollywood, the entertainment capital is topping the news headlines in Britain again. It’s the perfect moment for September Films to update its groundbreaking Hollywood franchise for ITV1. The brand, which included the series Hollywood Women and Hollywood Men, reshaped entertainment television in the nineties and was famously described as ‘disgracefully watchable’ (The Times, 1993).

Hollywood Lives tests the temperature of Hollywood in 2007. It goes behind the scenes to offer an insider’s view of the professional and personal costs of reaching for fame. For the celebrities who make it, the price may be worth paying for: money, power, success and sex. But for those who fall by the wayside, the impact of drastic measures such as state-of-the-art surgery – or simply a high-octane lifestyle – is heavy.

But crucially this series doesn’t just look at contemporary Hollywood. It also draws on the original series’ amazing archive to tell a mini history of Tinseltown’s last 15 years. By catching up with some of the characters from the past, Hollywood Lives discovers if they have survived the shifting sands of this fame-obsessed city. In doing so it personifies the light and shade that inevitably exits within Hollywood.

Some characters went on to achieve fame and fortune. Halle Berry was just another unknown wannabe when she was interviewed in 1993. Since then she’s been a Bond girl, won an Academy Award and is now one of the highest paid women in Hollywood.

Pamela Anderson had also recently arrived in the city when she first appeared on Hollywood Women. The Playboy model and Baywatch star has since endured an up-and-down Tinseltown lifestyle. Her private life has been dogged with controversies such as domestic abuse and home porn movies being distributed over the internet. But in terms of fame and fortune, she’s still a Hollywood success story.

For others the city offers a much darker journey culminating in ‘death by Hollywood’. Anna Nicole Smith was the fresh-faced 1993 Playmate Model of the Year when she was first interviewed. She went on to marry a billionaire 63 years her senior and endured a series of court cases regarding her share of his estate. She died this February after an accidental drug overdose.

Each episode of Hollywood Lives will be specifically tailored to six different themes that define the unique world that is Hollywood. The themes are:

o Fame and Fortune
o Vanity and Vulgarity
o Sex and Success
o Dating and Mating
o Scandal and Gossip
o The Beckhams and the Brits

But ultimately the series asks the question that could be worth millions – if not billions – of dollars: what price will people end up paying in their search for fame and fortune?

September Films chairman David Green, who devised the original 90’s series, said: “Having lived and worked in Hollywood for five years and, on returning to England, making more than 100 hours of factual entertainment programmes about this remarkable town and its inhabitants, I feel privileged to have been granted an insider’s view of this unique world.

And now, the imminent arrival of the Beckhams gives September Films the perfect opportunity to capitalise on that experience and show Hollywood in all its 21st century glory to a new British audience.”