'Nasty' Nigel Lythgoe may return to American Idol

'Nasty' Nigel Lythgoe may return to American Idol (Image credit: Paul Smith/EMPICS Entertainment)

Nigel Lythgoe may be on the verge of returning to American Idol. According to a person close to the show, the So You Think You Can Dance judge is in talks to come back to the Fox show next season in the producing role he left two years ago. The person said Nigel would return as a member of the Idol executive production team to represent CKx Inc, the holding company of 19 Entertainment, co-producer of American Idol. Fox declined to comment on Nigel's possible return or whether his judging role on So You Think You Can Dance, which airs on Fox, would be affected. Nigel is co-creator and an executive producer of the dance contest. The new season of American Idol will be without Simon Cowell, who left the judging panel to concentrate on the US version of The X Factor. Rolling Stone magazine reports a rumour that Justin Timberlake and Elton John have been targeted as replacements for Cowell.

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.