Simon Cowell, via his Syco Entertainment, has started the search for the next British boy band. The contest will be filmed for a possible documentary series by production company Box to Box.

Cowell launched his search with a London billboard reading: “Simon needs you. Future megastars wanted for new boy band. No time wasters.”

Nationwide auditions will start later this month and are targeting singers between the ages of 16 and 18. Cowell is looking for a band “as good as One Direction,” he told the PA news agency, adding, “The truth is, since One Direction there hasn’t been a successful U.K. boy band.”

The acerbic British music impresario and star of American Idol, Pop Idol, Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent, among other shows, has worked with Leona Lewis, Fifth Harmony, Olly Murs, Susan Boyle, Teletubbies and Noah Cyrus, as well as boy bands Westlife, PrettyMuch and CNCO, in addition to One Direction.

“Bands never knock on your front door. It’s never happened in my career. Someone has to go out and put them together,” he said.

The TV series, he noted, should portray what “really, really happens” when people audition. “I’ve been in the music business for a long, long time and I’ve never seen anything like that,” he continued.

Cowell also commented that the recent decline in U.K. artists who become international stars has been “shocking,” elaborating, “I’ve never, ever seen such a bad, sorry state of affairs. And I’m not doing this as a crusade, but I hope to prove a point, that this is one of the ways of getting a career in the music business.”

Tinky Winky and Laa-Laa were not available for comment.