There's a lot of debate among all of us and the panel, about what exactly makes Nancy come alive.

So, what are you looking for when you watch the Nancy's perform on a Saturday?

Personally I think Nancy is always played with TOO MUCH roughness, she isn't all Oom Pah Pah!! I've never seen her portrayed exactly as I'd like her to be - I always think of her as quite shy, but she comes out when she needs to ("She won't go Fagin!!") So I'm looking for something a little calmer than what the usual portrayal of Nancy is. I want to see the roughness and awareness with a good mix of softness, which so far I've only seen from Sarah and Jessie.

What about the rest of you all?

It's funny how views in what Nancy should be like varies, I guess that what makes the competition so stiff.

I aways think of a Nancy who is first of all tough, she may get pushed around by Bill but is still a strong women I never want her to be seen as weak or a victim. She may look out for Oliver but she has done bad things and she isn't a shy or quiet in my view. She's a ballsy girl that stands by her man and is seen as an equal to him not a weakling.

So for me Jessie and Samantha

A few thoughts on the subject:

ALW knows exactly what he is looking for and he has gone to great pains to broadcast his expectations. When he talks of "rawness", we each have our own idea about what that means. Some people will assume he means unhoned talent, others will assume he means gritty and in a sense he is referring to both but he has also described that he wants to do "something that has never been done before". He wants to take Oliver back to the rawness of the book, the rawness of London with all its gutter filled rats and excrement.

The type of Nancy he needs to play the part requires genuine rawness, not pretend. Nancy may need to have the vulnerability of Sarah but its hard to imagine Sarah spitting; its hard to hear her gutteral groans of anguish; its hard to envisage Sarah with the baseness of a raw character dragged from the gutter, selling her body for bread and being abused and kept by an evil man.

A guttersnipe with natural acting ability and an ok voice is far closer to the mark than any trained professional actress or any contestant with a voice like silk.

When you go to see his production, ALW want you to feel like you are in the rat infested, disease-ridden and stinking 1830's streets of London. He wants you to empathise with the vulnerability of Nancy as she cowers to a brutal man. He wants you to see the bravery of Nancy as she defies the bully and shows kindness to young Oliver. He wants you horrified in your seat while you watch Bill Sykes bludgeoning the prostitute Nancy to a cruel death.

He wants you to feel the "rawness" of life that Dickens describes in his book.

I think, ideally, I'm looking for a Nancy that is foremost gutsy and feisty and wily. I don't think this necessarily has to come in the form of roughness, but I think it is absolutely essential that the overriding impression one gets is that she is strong. However, she needs to be quite clearly devoted and caring - after all, she is one of literature's greatest tarts with hearts. Nancy's relationship with Bill Sykes is where both of these traits must come to the fore most of all - she demonstrably will do anything out of her love for him (As Long As He Needs Me), and yet willing to stand up to him (the reprise of It's a Fine Life for one). She holds her own with the men, yet she wins the hearts of the gang (and the audience!).

Personality wise, Jodie seems an almost textbook Nancy for me, but I have worries about her acting - hopefully we'll see her improve on that score. I'm thinking Francesca may be emerging as my favourite, and I'd be interested to see more of her acting to get a better idea of how she'd portray the character.

Still have a problem with raw and natural. Rachel will act the role but does she connect. Francesca might be a better actress or not but looks maturer than a teen in danger. . Samantha may be able to act it but does she look credible enough for us to care?. Jessie has the look and the voice but doesn't seem to have the acting training so will she be truly raw or unconvincing? Jodie I can see but she's not impressing so much recently and as well as having merits in itself , a young Nancy may be necessary with Mr Bean playing Fagin young?

Yes, this is all very well, but as we know from past experience ALW has a tendency to say one thing and do another.
With the Josephs ALW made a big point of saying he wanted someone who was a cross between Justin Timberlake and a young Michael Jackson, and yet - according to another Joseph who knew him - the only one who was exactly that was Chris C who he got rid of in the first live show!
I won't even bother to talk about the Olivers; ALW said he didn't want the usual nice little cute boy, he wanted much more of a street urchin type, and yet look at them!!
Either he is prone to changing his mind a lot, or he deliberately tries to confuse us. (No, I don't know why either!!)

Put simply I want someone that I would actually care about when they are bumped off by Sykes.

If it were Rachel, Ashley, Tara, Keisha, Niamh or Fran I would just think oh well.

Sarah I think is too sweet to be tarty.
Jodie just looks a little too mature for me.

Only really Jessie or Sam I would care about and believe they can do tarty!

A very important point Italiangirl.

Its like watching the videos on the main BBC website, you will miss so much by looking there. I said in an earlier post that ALW cannot hide his emotions but his script is written for him. If you watch the live show or a VT that includes ALL the action you get a better feel for what ALW etc wants by carefully observing the judges reactions, particularly ALW's facial expressions. For example, every programme has shown ALW with his trademark "mouth open in awe" during/after one particular performers session. Very often ALW is virtually asleep, ignoring the performer on stage or looking at his notes during the singing of those he doesn't feel fit his ideal.

Post performance, if he is very critical (Keisha, Tara), he does not like the person. If he is insulting (Jodie), he does not like the person. If he is insipid (Ashley, Francesca, Cleo), he does not like the person.

That only leaves Rachel (who makes him and JB "tingle" (a comment ALW made in passing during auditions)) and

Jessie (a very raw talent and poor actress), Samantha ("makings of a real Nancy") and Niamh (the mouth open in awe performer); one of these 3 he regards as "world class" and

Sarah, who is a softer cuddlier Nancy, who would not fit his "back to basics" production.

The betting markets didn't take very long to work out those previous assessments, for they are now the current favourites. It is also no coincidence that (aside from Sarah), any of the above 4 could play (so far as we know) the part of an unfortunate prostitute.

What ALW says on camera and what the judges feel are usually very different because it is a scripted show. The words spoken to the camera are sometimes misleading but they only exist to (mis)direct the audience. John Barrowman's comment about Samantha was a misdirection (imo).

ALW has however been consistent when he isn't being scripted and the other judges took a programme or two to understand the exact nature of the production ALW has in mind. In the case of the Olivers, there is no nearer perfect match to a street urchin than Gwion (as picked by ALW himself).

Of course in any production, he may not find the exact match to his high ideals and has to compromise with the nearest fit. However, the Nancy he has in mind, selected before the live shows, can be seen on ALW's face every week.

Whilst I think Nancy should be feisty and gutsy I think this should be a surface attitude that she has to work at to protect herself in the hard world in which she lives

Underneath she should be weaker, kind and vulnerable so that the audience can identify with her and feel sympathy for her when she meets her demise. We have to feel that a truly good person has met an unfair ending for it to be truly tragic

IMO Its not so important that the person to be Nancy has these qualities but that they can convincingly act these qualities

She needs to be a strong dramatic actress with a huge emotional range, tremendous stage presence, rough but likeable (very easy to descend into being a fishwife with some of the more emotional scenes) and have a HUGE singing voice that sends shivers down your spine.

Back to the drawing board with this lot then.

ALW is not casting for his own production this time. He is casting for Cameron Mackintosh. I think it will have more to do with who CM wants for the roles. This time, ALW is just a figurehead.

Unlike ADWD and HDYSAPLM, ALW will be able to save a contestant right up until the semi-final. Therefore the finalists will be the people's choice v the contestant they want and I reckon that contestant will be Rachel, just as it would have been Lee v Lewis, not Lee v Keith, in ADWD last year had ALW been able to choose the second finalist.