CHART toppers Steps are set to headline the switch-on of this year's Blackpool Illuminations.

Claire, Faye, H, Lee and Lisa will be joined by other big name celebrities from the music world to flick the famous switch during a live broadcast on BBC Radio 2 from the resort's Talbot Square on Friday, August 31.

Lee from Steps, who holidayed in the town when he was a child, said: "We're all really looking forward to coming to Blackpool for the show and switching on the lights.

"I used to go there as a kid and have really happy memories of the town -- sunbathing on the beach, eating ice cream and breathing in the sea air. It's a great place to have a good time, so we're going to try and get there early and spend some time at the Pleasure Beach -- Steps having it large on the Big One."

Spice Girl Emma Bunton, the lead singer of Wet Wet Wet Marti Pellow, hit-maker Lisa Stansfield and Swedish duo Roxette will also be in town for the event.

The star-studded show will be presented by Janice Long which will be broadcast between 8.30pm and 9.30pm.

Eight million people are expected to trip the Blackpool Lights fantastic between August 31 and November 4.

Best-selling Lancashire-born author Josephine Cox is to perform a separate VIP switch on of the lights on Tuesday, October 16, when she visits Blackpool to promote her new paperback Child of the North.

THE inspiration for Blackpool Illuminations goes back to 1879 when just eight arc lamps shone on the Promenade. The display now cost £2.4million to stage, stretches for six miles, boasts almost half a million light bulbs, 40 large tableaux and more than 500 flood and spot lamps.