The Xtra Factor (known as The Xtra Factor Live in 2016) is a companion show to the British television music competition The X Factor. It was broadcast on ITV2 and on TV3 in the Republic of Ireland, on Saturday and Sunday nights after the main ITV show from 4 September 2004 to 11 December 2016. It featured behind-the-scenes footage of The X Factor and shows the emotional responses of the contestants after the judges comment on their performances. Background and overview The commissioning of The Xtra Factor was prompted by the success of Big Brother's Little Brother, a former Big Brother companion show screened on E4. The Xtra Factor featured extra auditions, bootcamp performances and judges' houses performances and behind-the-scenes footage. There were sometimes competitions and games featuring the judges and presenters. During the live shows the programme featured behind-the-scenes footage and answered live video and phone calls for the judges and contestants. Facebook statuses and tweets were read out as well. It also showed the emotional responses of the contestants after the judges comment on their performances. A celebrity panel was usually featured, who gave their opinions on the contestants. Voiceovers from series 1–6 were done by Peter Dickson, and by Brian Blessed in series 7. Dickson returned in series 8 and continued his role until the show ended after series 13. Redd Pepper only featured in one episode – series 12’s judges houses. Broadcast The Xtra Factor usually aired on ITV2 directly after the ITV broadcast of The X Factor. Therefore, from series 1 to 5, The Xtra Factor aired once a week. From Series 6, with the introduction of the Sunday results show, The Xtra Factor aired twice a week, during weeks that there were two episodes of The X Factor. In series 12, initially The Xtra Factor aired directly after every show (Saturday and Sunday for the first four weeks during the auditions, then every Sunday for the next five weeks during bootcamp and the six-chair challenge, before returning to both Saturday and Sundays, live for judges' houses). From the live shows, the Saturday episode was replaced by a live episode on Thursdays for the remainder of the series, starting on 29 October 2015. For series 13, it reverted to airing directly after each ITV broadcast of The X Factor, though the episode after the live performance shows was 30 minutes long instead of an hour.