Melanie

THE Nineties might have been ruled by boybands and girl-bands, but life at the top of pop could be tough.

And it was probably worse for the girls, as putting on extra pounds, dating the wrong guy or, heaven forbid, having a baby were hugely frowned upon by management teams.

New BBC documentary Girlbands Forever, the follow-up to last year’s three-parter about boybands, delves into an era where record companies had less regard for duty of care, days off or mental health.

It features members of Atomic Kitten, Eternal, Sugababes, Mis-teeq and Little Mix, providing insight into what it was like being in an all-female group in the Nineties and early Noughties.

The dream was to replicate the success of the Spice Girls, the all-conquering icons who sparked the girlband explosion.

And record labels invested millions in a bid to find the next big thing.

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But as the Spice Girls’ rivals All Saints found out, the pressure became unbearable.

So much so that when founding member Melanie Blatt informed managers that she and bandmate Nicole Appleton were pregnant, both were told to abort their babies.

The reason? They had just cracked America with No1 hit Never Ever and momentum could be lost.

Melanie, 50, explains: “I hadn’t been with my partner for very long, it was definitely a bit of a surprise It wasn’t people congratulating us. It was more like this look of dread and worry and the realisation that things are going to change.

“We flew to LA and at [airport] LAX our manager, he was behind us, was telling us to abort our babies.”

She added that her bosses told them they were “going to ruin everything” and “it was the end of the band”.

Melanie ended up having her baby with her partner, Stuart Zender, the bassist for band Jamiroquai.

‘Vomiting in toilets’

But Nicole, who fell pregnant with then boyfriend Robbie Williams, did not, which Melanie admits caused issues with their relationship.

She explains: “Nic and I had been best friends since we were 11. We took pregnancy tests in a hotel in Canada and spent that whole night discussing bringing our kids up together. It was one of the best nights ever.

“And it’s not really my place to talk about it, but unfortunately . . . it was a very uncomfortable situation because I kept mine, she didn’t. That was a really tricky part of my and our existence.”

All Saints, which consisted of Melanie, sisters Nicole and Natalie and main songwriter Shaznay Lewis, were always deemed a “cool version” of the Spice Girls and were far more rock ‘n’ roll.

Whereas Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton and Mel B found love with a footballer, an R&B singer and a dancer respectively, the All Saints girls dated rock stars, with Nicole marrying and having a son with Liam Gallagher.

Melanie says: “We were turning up to kids’ TV shows on a Saturday morning without having one wink of sleep. We looked fine, just a bit of vomiting in the toilets prior to CD:UK.”

After two albums, All Saints split in 2001, a disparity in earnings between Shaznay and the rest of the band being a major factor.

By the end of their existence as a group, Melanie says they “hated each other”.

She adds: “We’d fallen out, it was hell, it was ‘separate’ everything.

“It was just ridiculous but literally one of the proudest moments of being in that band was calling it quits because we didn’t stay for the money. We wanted to be done, we didn’t want to be with each other any more and we made that decision.

“We were in control. We were supposed to go on tour and we gave the money back and I’m so proud of that. That’s one of the only decisions we were all happy to make together, telling each other to f*** off.”

• Girlbands Forever begins on Saturday at 9.20pm on BBC Two.

Little Mix

AS girlbands moved into the 2010s, life did not get any easier, with social media now to contend with.

With Little Mix, Perrie Edwards, 32, bore the brunt of the online abuse due to her relationship with One Direction heart-throb Zayn Malik.

She explains: “Social media was dark, especially back in the day.

“Me and the girls used to get a lot of stick. Things we would wear or how we would look, people would pick us apart.

“You’re hurting enough as it is, never mind everybody having an opinion on it. Everyone wants to know your business and everyone feels like they have ownership in that.

“You can’t escape it. So you may as well sing about it.”

Life in girlbands was relentless, so Little Mix lasting ten years was a monumental achievement.

But Perrie, below, admits she almost quit when she was at her lowest ebb ahead of a gig in Las Vegas.

She says: “I didn’t want to go, I was so exhausted. I tried getting out of the trip and when I got there, I started experiencing panic attacks.

“I didn’t know what was happening at the time, I’d never experienced a panic attack.

“I ended up in a hospital. I didn’t want to let the girls down. They had to do it without me and I hated it and I really resented myself for it.”

She adds: “When you’re in a group dynamic, even though you’re going through stuff individually, you can’t just be selfish so I kind of put a brave face on a lot of time.

“I didn’t want to let the team down.”

Eternal

ETERNAL had a No1 smash hit with I Wanna Be The Only One in 1997, but their looks soon became a concern.

Founding member Kelle Bryan, 50, reveals: “People were always voicing concerns about my weight and about our weight as a band. Stylists would come along and say, ‘This doesn’t fit you, this doesn’t fit you’.

“We’re talking about an era where being a size zero was popular, so they sent us away to this place in the countryside where they were able to control what we ate.”

Atomic Kitten

WHILE on the 1999 Smash Hits Tour, Atomic Kitten’s Kerry Katona fell for Westlife singer Brian McFadden, but was ordered not to date him by management.

Kerry, 45, says: “They all went absolutely f*ing apes**t. I remember [Westlife manager] Louis Walsh saying, ‘I don’t like you, you’re trouble’.

Bandmate and best pal Natasha Hamilton, 43, adds: “It was definitely bad for the brand. Not from my point of view but from the label and management. They said girls can’t be seen with one of the boys in the biggest boyband in the UK because fan jealousy is a thing.”

Mis-Teeq

BEING an all-black group who rose up from the “underground scene” in 1999, Mis-Teeq felt they were discriminated against and given fewer opportunities.

Su-Elise Nash, 44, says: “We weren’t invited to the same premieres. Some magazines wouldn’t consider us for the cover because they didn’t think three black girls would sell.

“Our struggle to get there was definitely not as easy as it would have been if we had one white member or we’d all-white.”

Sugababes

WHEN Sugababes founding member Mutya Buena gave birth to her first child aged 19 – while the band were working on their fourth album – there was no let-up.

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Mutya, now 40, quit the group that same year in 2005 and was later diagnosed with post-natal depression.

Record label exec Darcus Beese says: “I remember standing in my kitchen trying to talk her down. I had no concept of post-natal depression. I would ask questions now like, ‘How’s your mental health?’.”

Growing up, Melanie Scrofano had a hard time relating to other kids — especially other girls. And though she felt like she was able to fit in with the boys for a while, it was a phase that also eventually ended.

“It was just a lonely existence,” the actor says during a recent Zoom call, “which I think was a gift. Because as I got older, I [realized] your female peers are your superpower, and I really started trying to cultivate those relationships.”

Nowadays, Scrofano is best known for work on TV that center such bonds between women. She says experiencing just how special the relationship between sisters can be during her time on “Wynonna Earp” — a supernatural western about fiercely loving your family — made it something she’s drawn to in projects.

“I think I crave those relationships because there’s a safety in them that I never found when I was younger,” says Scrofano, who emphasizes that it helps that she’s been “spoiled” by her castmates. “Yes, I’ve gravitated to those stories, but partly, it’s fate and luck that these people who make it so easy to fall in love with them fall into my lap.”

Her latest series, “Revival,” which premiered last week on Syfy (the first episode will hit Peacock on Thursday), is also anchored by the relationship between two sisters. Created by Aaron B. Koontz and Luke Boyce, the supernatural mystery revolves around a small Wisconsin town where one day, people who have recently died suddenly come back to life. The show is based on the comic book series by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton.

Melanie Scrofano’s Dana Cypress with her father, Wayne (David James Elliott), in “Revival.”

(Naomi Peters / Lavivier Productions / Syfy)

Scrofano stars as Dana Cypress, a single mother and local police officer who is simply trying to provide for her kid. Audiences first meet Dana as she is packing up her house to chase a new opportunity away from her hometown.

“It’s a small town, [and] once people have decided who you are, that’s who you are,” says Scrofano, who also serves as an executive producer on the series. “[But] Dana knows she can be more. … So she wants to get out of there and fulfill the promise she knows that she has in herself.”

Unfortunately, the sudden resurrection of the town’s recently deceased derails Dana’s plans. The series follows Dana as she investigates the situation around the no-longer-dead, dubbed “revivers” in the show’s parlance, as well as other (possibly related) crimes. She’s also navigating a strained relationship with her father and a budding romance while trying to reconnect with her estranged younger sister.

What struck Scrofano about the character is that she is not defined by her job or any one specific role.

“She [feels] like a real human being,” Scrofano says of Dana. “She’s simply a woman trying to exist and achieve her dreams in a way that is feeling impossible, and there’s nothing more human than that.”

The revivers, Scrofano explains, are also human — real people who appear to have returned just as they were before they died, rather than as undead zombie-like monsters — at least for the most part. But much of the world no longer sees them that way, and views differ on how the revivers should be treated.

“The rules [that apply to them] have changed, even though they have not,” Scrofano says. “So as a metaphor for how we treat people who are different than us, I was really compelled by that. How do you fight for what’s right when you don’t fully understand what’s going on, but in your heart, you know we need to stand by these people?”

Dana’s sister Em (Romy Weltman), right, confronting Arlene Stankiewiscz (Nicky Guadagni) in “Revival.”

(Naomi Peters / Lavivier Productions / Syfy)

Although the show is set in 2006 — as evidenced by everybody’s flip phones — the themes it touches have become timely. While the revivers are more a general metaphor for those who are deemed “other,” the show arrives at a moment when immigrants and their status in the U.S. have been challenged by the federal government ostensibly for public safety reasons, leading to people being targeted for what they look like. (Scrofano was interviewed before the recent immigration raids and unrest in Los Angeles.)

Also topical is how the ideological rift between Dana and her father, town sherriff Wayne Cypress (David James Elliott), is a source of tension. They hold differing views regarding their duty as well as attitudes towards revivers.

“So many families right now I find are quite divided because of what’s going on in the world,” Scrofano says. “I love the story of a fight to find common ground between them. … They’re forced to find it … and that gives me hope that it could inspire people who might be in those divisions to try to find their way back to each other in a way that feels respected and fulfilling for both sides.”

The series touches on relevant themes through its supernatural allegory, but “Revival” tells more than one story. As Scrofano describes, “it’s got horror, it’s got comedy, it’s got family, it’s got paranormal [and] it’s got true crime.”

Dana’s relationship with her younger sister Em (Romy Weltman) checks off a few of those boxes.

Em was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease, so her family has treated her delicately her entire life.

“Growing up, we were all very protective of her,” Scrofano says of her character’s family. “Much in the way that Dana is defined and can’t escape the definition of who she is, Em has the same burden. There’s a distance there that happened because Dana couldn’t get close … because all of her life [her] dad would have said, ‘Don’t touch. Be careful.’ ”

The sisters grew distant some time prior to the beginning of the show, but the mysterious events happening in their town bring them back into each other’s orbit. They try to reconnect, discussing how much the sisters can and will touch because of Em’s condition.

“We’re rediscovering our relationship in this new way,” says Scrofano. “Because of what she’s gone through, it frees her from certain things and frees us to be able to bond in a way that we couldn’t previously.”

Scrofano calls Weltman, who portrays Em, “a blessing.”

“Romy is one of the most thoughtful, considerate, compassionate people I’ve ever met, and she’s wise beyond her years,” she says.

Scrofano acknowledges that there are some similarities between “Revival” and the show she is best known for: “Wynonna Earp,” on which she played the eponymous, initially reluctant demon hunter. The Syfy series premiered in 2016 and gained a devoted following over its four-season run. A special, “Wynonna Earp: Vengeance,” was released on Tubi last year.

Dana (Melanie Scrofano) and a reviver in “Revival.”

(Mathieu Savidant / Lavivier Productions / Syfy)

Both are supernatural shows featuring a group of reanimated dead folks and a central relationship between sisters. Scrofano admits that she felt some pressure to make sure Dana and Wynonna were separate enough that the former did not feel like a derivative of the latter, since “ ‘Wynonna’ is such a special thing.”

She even jokes about avoiding the word “curse” when discussing “Revival” just to maintain the distance between the two shows, but she also makes it clear that the similarities only go so far.

“I’m not going to try to convince people there isn’t … an obvious parallel, but that’s kind of where it ends,” Scrofano says. She does share one less obvious connection between the two shows, explaining it was “Wynonna Earp” writer-producer Noelle Carbonewho initially reached out to her about the “Revival” role.

That Scrofano is a bit protective of “Wynonna Earp” is understandable. The cast and crew have spoken often about the show’s fiercely loyal and compassionate fanbase over the years. The show also helped kick off Scrofano’s writing and directing career.

“‘Wynonna’ opened so many doors creatively,” Scrofano says. “Because it’s opened so many doors, I don’t feel the pressure of [having] to escape some mold that Wynonna has created or that I’ve created for myself through her.”

In a conversation that detours through jokes about the composition of turduckens, nostalgia about the state of jeans worn during the aughts and comparing the background decor visible in each of our Zoom windows, Scrofano is most engaged when discussing storytelling.

She shares how as a child growing up with anxiety, thinking about “Married… With Children” episodes was the one way she was able to settle her mind. Identifying with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” led her to start martial arts. She also has deep love for “Spaceballs, “ Weird Science” and “Labyrinth.”

And what Scrofano loves about her job and shows like “Revival” is that they give people an opportunity to “search for answers through these stories” and characters to foster empathy and understanding toward others.

“By doing what we do, we hopefully can empower people to at least tolerate each other a little bit better,” Scrofano says.