Britain's Got Talent
is a British television show on ITV and part of the Got Talent
series. Presented by British celebrity presenters Ant & Dec, singers, dancers, comedians, variety acts, and other performers compete against each other for audience support. The winner of each series receives £100,000 and is given the opportunity to perform at the Royal Variety Performance in front of members of the Royal Family, including the Queen. The first series of the talent show began on 9 June 2007, and was broadcast daily with a live final on 17 June 2007, in which Paul Potts won. Street-dancer George Sampson went on to win the second series of the show on 31 May 2008. The third series began on 11 April 2009, and ended on 30 May 2009, with Diversity being named winners in front of 19.2 million viewers (roughly 68% of the viewing audience). As of 2009 it is the most watched television program on British television.
|
BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT TICKETS
|
History
It is the creation of
The X Factor
creator and
Pop Idol/American Idol
judge and
Sony Music Entertainment A&R Executive
Simon Cowell, who has created a
Got Talent
series across the globe. On
12 February 2007, it was announced by
ITV the judges would be Simon Cowell,
Piers Morgan (who had also judged
America's Got Talent
) and
Amanda Holden (a late replacement for
Cheryl Cole, who later became a judge on
The X Factor
). Originally the judge line-up was to have been Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and
David Hasselhoff, from
America's Got Talent
. In a similar fashion to
The X Factor
, the show has an
ITV2 counterpart called
Britain's Got More Talent
, presented by the magician and former
CITV presenter
Stephen Mulhern.
It was originally planned that the show would be aired in 2005 (before
America's Got Talent
) and would be presented by
Paul O'Grady. However, after O'Grady's defection to
Channel 4 for
The Paul O'Grady Show
, he refused to appear in another ITV show, so the series was put on hold after just one rehearsal show.
[1] [2]
Format
The auditions take place in front of the judges and a live audience at a different city across Britain. At any time during the audition the judges may show disapproval to the act by pressing a buzzer which lights that lights a red X near them. If all the judges press their buzzers, the act ends immediately. To advance to the second round, auditionees needed to get at least two yes votes (three votes were required at the Manchester Auditions during the third series) or they would be sent home.
After the auditions the judges have to whittle almost 200 successful acts down to just 24 in series 1 or 40 in series 2-3. All of the performers are called back to discover if they have progressed to the semi-finals.
The semi-final and final shows are broadcast live from
Fountain Studios in
Wembley (which is also used for ''Britain's Got Talent
s sister show,
The X Factor''), with a varying number of semi-finals, followed by the one live final split into two episodes over one night. The remaining acts perform across a number of semi-finals, with the two most popular acts from each semi-finals winning a position in the final. Unlike the American version, judges may still end a performance early with three Xs. The judges are again asked to express their views on each act's performance.
After all acts have performed, phone lines open for a short time. After the votes have been counted, the act that has polled the highest number of public votes is automatically placed in the final. The judges then choose between the second and third most popular acts, with the winner of that vote also gaining a place in the final. All other acts are then eliminated from the competition.
The show's secondary theme song is "
Lux Aeterna" (originally from the movie
Requiem for a Dream
), which is used to create tension. It is also used for the judges "walk-in" at the beginning of every live show.
Judges and presenters
Presenters
| Years
| Presenter
| Show
|
| 2007-present
| Anthony McPartlin
| Main show
|
| 2007-present
| Declan Donnelly
| Main Show
|
| 2007-present
| Stephen Mulhern
| "Britain's Got More Talent "
|
| 2008-present
| Stephen Mulhern
| "Britain's Got Talent: The Live Tour "
|
Judges
| Years
| Judge
|
| 2007-present
| Simon Cowell
|
| 2007-present
| Amanda Holden
|
| 2007-present
| Piers Morgan
|
| 2009
| Kelly Brook
|
Series One
Series one of
Britain's Got Talent
began on 9 June 2007 and ended on 17 June 2007. The first five shows covered the audition stages and the final three shows were the live semi-finals and final. Altogether, 24 (26) acts performed in the semi-finals, eight acts in each episode, with a further two acts disqualified from the competition before the semi-finals were aired. The series was eventually won by opera singer
Paul Potts.
Series Two
The 2008 series of
Britain's Got Talent
included notable differences from the 2007 series, including the fact that the auditions visited
Scotland and that there were 40 in the live semi-finals. The series also ran for longer, this time airing for seven weeks instead of one. The series was won by street-dancer
George Sampson, with dual dance group
Signature coming in second and singer
Andrew Johnston third.
Series Three
As announced at the end of Series 2,
Britain's Got Talent
returned on 11 April 2009.
[3] Ant & Dec returned as the hosts of the show. Sister-show
Britain's Got More Talent
with
Stephen Mulhern has also returned, as announced in the last episode of the second series.
The 2009 panel of judges consists of
Simon Cowell,
Amanda Holden and
Piers Morgan.
Kelly Brook was originally announced as a new fourth judge, reportedly being offered £200,000 for the role,
but was fired after just six days, having acted as a judge in Manchester only, just one of the five audition venues.
[4]
The application process took place throughout January and February 2009 with auditions being held in five of Britain's major cities:
Manchester for three days, where the judges saw a total of 120 auditionees;
Glasgow for one day, viewing a total of 40 auditionees;
Birmingham for three days, watching a further 120 auditionees;
London for three days, seeing 128 acts; and
Cardiff for one day, where they saw 40 auditionees.
The "First Round Call-Backs" took place in London on Saturday 7 February, where 40 acts were made aware that they would be competing in the live semi-finals in May.
Britain's Got Talent
2009 kicked off on 11 April and there were five semi-final shows taking place beginning from the 24th of May, until the final on the 30th of May.
One of the most notable performances for the series was by
Susan Boyle, a 48-year-old Scottish woman. Boyle sang “
I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical
Les Misérables
. The performance earned a unanimous "yes" vote and resounding astonishment from the judges.
[5] Her performance helped lift the show to a launch record of 11.2 million viewers. Within five days of her initial appearance,
YouTube recordings of the event had collectively generated more than 100 million views. Boyle also attracted widespread international media coverage.
[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] It is highly thought that this media coverage led to Susan Boyle being admitted to
The Priory [13]
However, other people in the final included;
Aidan Davis, Stavros Flatley, Flawless,
Hollie Steel,
Diversity, Shaun Smith,
Shaheen Jafargholi, the grandfather and granddaughter singing duo "2 Grand" and Julian Smith who played the soprano saxophone.
The top three finishers were Julian Smith, Diversity and Susan Boyle, with Diversity coming out as the winners, Susan Boyle finishing second and Julian Smith third.
Bookmakers are said to have made a fortune because of the unexpected result.
"We are in shock and have made a six figure sum in what has been the biggest surprise in reality TV history. Susan was a certainty," said William Hill's spokesman Rupert Adams.
William Hill estimate that over £3m was bet on the show in the final hour. [14]
As announced at the end of Series three, Britain's Got Talent will be returning for a fourth series, in 2010.
Awards and Nominations
Britain's Got Talent
has been nominated for 2 'National Television Awards' in the category of 'Most Popular Talent Show' in 2007 and 2008, losing to its sister show
The X-Factor
and
Strictly Come Dancing
respectively. Its shows presenters have won the award for 'Most Popular Entertainment Presenters' at the same awards in 2007 and 2008. It has also been nominated for 2
BAFTA Awards in 2008, but failed to win any awards. In 2007 and 2008, the show was nominated at the TV Quick and Choice Awards in the 'Best Talent Show' category, losing out to
The X-Factor
and
Strictly Come Dancing
respectively.
In 2008 it was a recipient of a
RTS Award for its technical achievements. It has also won 4
Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards from 5 nominations. In 2009, it won its first ever Digital Spy Reality Award for Escala for Favourite Reality Contestant. It was further nominated in the Reality Show category, but lost to
The X-Factor
in the Reality TV Presenter category for Ant and Dec and 2 nominations in the Reality TV Judge category for Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan, but lost to
Cheryl Cole from
The X-Factor
.
Awards Table
| Year
| Group
| Award
| Nominee
| Result
|
| 2007
| National Television Awards
| Most Popular Talent Show
|
| Nominated
|
| National Television Awards
| Most Popular Entertainment Presenter
| Ant and Dec
| Won
|
| Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards
| Best Reality Show
|
| Nominated
|
| Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards
| Best TV Presenters
| Ant and Dec
| Won
|
| TV Quick and Choice Awards
| Best Talent Show
|
| Nominated
|
| 2008
| National Television Awards
| Most Popular Talent Show
|
| Nominated
|
| National Television Awards
| Most Popular Entertainment Presenter
| Ant and Dec
| Won
|
| BAFTA Awards
| Lew Grade Award
|
| Nominated
|
| BAFTA Awards
| Audience Award
|
| Nominated
|
| Royal Television Society Awards
| Best Production Design-Entertainment
| Dominic Tolfts
| Won
|
| Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards
| Best TV Presenters
| Ant and Dec
| Won
|
| Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards
| Best Family TV Show
|
| Won
|
| Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards
| Best TV Baddie
| Simon Cowell
| Won
|
| TV Quick and Choice Awards
| Best Talent Show
|
| Nominated
|
| 2009
| Digital Spy Reality TV Awards 2009
| Favourite TV Reality
|
| Nominated
|
| Digital Spy Reality TV Awards
| Favourite TV Reality Judge
| Simon Cowell
| Nominated
|
| Digital Spy Reality TV Awards
| Favourite TV Reality Judge
| Piers Morgan
| Nominated
|
| Digital Spy Reality TV Awards
| Favourite TV Reality Presenters
| Ant and Dec
| Nominated
|
| Digital Spy Reality TV Awards
| Favourite Reality Contestant
| George Sampson
| Won
|
Live tour 2008 and 2009
On 17 April 2008 it was announced that a 13-date live tour would be visiting the UK's major cities during the month of June, featuring the semi-finalists, the finalists and the winner from series two, along with a few surprises.
Stephen Mulhern hosted the tour, which began on 6 June. None of the judging panel were present, and there was no live voting.
After high demand for tickets, the tour was later extended to 22 performances, including matinées. The tour featured all 10 finalists, as well as semi-finalists Tracey Lee Collins & Anya Sparks. The tour also featured a duet with Faryl Smith and Andrew Johnston.
On 13 January 2009 a four-date tour was announced via the
Ticketmaster website, with the dates in
Newcastle,
Cardiff,
Liverpool and in
Manchester. More dates were later added and the tour will run for 18 shows from 12 to 26 June 2009 and will also travel to
Dublin (
Ireland),
Birmingham,
Belfast,
Sheffield,
Glasgow,
Edinburgh,
Nottingham,
Wembley Arena,
Aberdeen and
Bournemouth.
The tour in 2009 included these acts:
Diversity, Flawless, Aidan Davis, Shaun Smith, Stavros Flatley, Hollie Steel, 2 Grand, Julian Smith, Shaheen Jafargholi, Susan Boyle, Darth Jackson, DJ Talent and the 2008 winner, George Sampson. Stephen Mulhern presented the show.
International Versions
- America's Got Talent
- Australia's Got Talent
- India's Got Talent
- Got Talent series
References
- O'Grady to host prime-time talent show Digital Spy, 13 August 2005
- Paul O'Grady quits Unreality TV
- Kelly Brook named Britain's Got Talent judge
- Kelly Brook Axed From Britain's Got Talent
- Talent show singer is online hit, BBC
- “Singing Talent of Susan Boyle Stuns Simon Cowell, Times of London
- “Britain’s got talent hits high note,’ Guardian
- "An unlikely star brings smiles to views, NBC Nightly News
- "Middle-aged Scottish woman is unlikely instant singing star after reality TV appearance, LA Times
- Le Monde - Susan Boyle, chanteuse en herbe et vedette sur le Web
- L'Express - Susan Boyle, la révélation de "Britain's got talent"
- Le Figaro - La gloire surprise de Susan Boyle
- Susan Boyle admitted to Priory
- Willaim hill Fortune made by bookmakers