BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT

'''Britain's Got Talent ''' is a British television show on ITV (also on TV3 in Ireland). Presented by Ant & Dec, the talent show premiered on 9 June 2007, and was broadcast daily with a live final on 17 June 2007. It is a search for Britain's next best amateur talent act, featuring singers, dancers, comedians, variety acts, and other talents of all ages. Anyone who believed they have talent was encouraged to audition. The winner of the show receives £100,000 and will perform at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen and members of the Royal Family at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool.

Contents

Format

Semi finals

Series 1

Ratings

Controversy

Series 2

References

External links

Format

The series made its début at the same time as its U.S. counterpart, ''America's Got Talent'', and is the creation of ''The X Factor'' and ''Pop Idol/American Idol'' judge Simon Cowell. On 12 February 2007 it was announced by ITV the judges would be Cowell, Piers Morgan, and Amanda Holden. In a similar fashion to ''The X Factor'', the show has an ITV2 counterpart called ''Britain's Got More Talent'', presented by magician and former CITV presenter, Stephen Mulhern.
The show was originally planned to air much earlier (before ''America's Got Talent'') and be presented by Paul O'Grady. However, after O'Grady's defection to Channel 4 from ITV for ''The Paul O'Grady Show'', O'Grady refused to appear in another ITV show, so the series was put on hold after just one rehearsal show.^[1][2]

The audition process is similar to ''The Gong Show'' but with the judges pressing buzzers instead of banging a gong. The buzzers can only be pressed once if the judge has seen enough, and when all three are pressed the act must stop. The auditions also include the added twist of having to perform in front of a studio audience alongside the judges. Once the act finishes or is stopped, judges express their opinions and decide whether they would like to see them in the semi-finals, with acts needing to receive a majority vote to go through. The audience is invited to express their views (often boos or cheers) which may have a positive or negative impact on a judge's decision, should the judge be unsure on whether to put the act through.

Semi finals

The final four shows broadcast live, with three semi-finals, followed by the final. In Series 1, eight acts performed in each semi-final, with the six most popular acts from each semi-final winning a position in the final. Unlike the American version, judges may still end a performance early with three 'X's. The audience are again asked to express their views on each act's performance.
After all eights acts have performed, phone lines open for a short time. After the votes are counted the act who polled the highest number of public votes was automatically placed in the final. The judges then choose between second and third most popular acts, with the winner of that vote gaining a place in the final. All other acts are then eliminated from the competition.
Paul Potts was announced as the winner of ''Britain's Got Talent'' Series 1.

Series 1

'Results'

Semi-final 1	Semi-final 2	Semi-final 3	Final
Paul Potts	Bessie Cursons	Connie Talbot	Paul Potts
Damon Scott	Kombat Breakers	The Bar Wizards	Damon Scott
Dominic Smith	Craig Womersley	Tony Laf	Bessie Cursons
MD Productions	Crazee Horse	Doctor Gore	Kombat Breakers
Luke and Charlotte	Jake Pratt	Scott Holtom	Connie Talbot
The Freerunners	The Mini-Mezzos	Crew 82	The Bar Wizards
Mel's Klever K9's	Jack Reeve	Mike Garbutt
Caroline Boyes	Victoria Armstrong	Cheeky Bits
	Richard BatesForced out, the Britain's Got Talent act who's also got a sordid secretPolice alert over TV contestant	Kit Kat DollsBritain’s Got Talent…For Hire: Kit-Kat Sex

Ratings

Show 1 (Saturday, 9 June 2007 at 21:25) - ''4.9 million viewers'' (22.7% Share)^[3]

Show 2 (Sunday, 10 June 2007 at 20:30) - ''6.4 million viewers'' (28% Share)^[4]

Show 3 (Monday, 11 June 2007 at 21:00) - ''6.9 million viewers'' (29.4%)^[5] The show saw its audience rise from ''6.6m'' (28.9%) to ''7.3m'' (30.5%)

Show 4 (Tuesday, 12 June 2007 at 21:00) - ''6.8 Million'' (29.3% Share) ^[6]

Show 5 (Wednesday, 13 June 2007 at 21:00) - ''7.1 Million'' (29.2% Share). Peaking at 7.9 Million (33.9% Share)^[7]

Show 6 (Thursday, 14 June 2007 at 21:00 [First Live Show]) - ''7.8 Million'' (34% Share). Peaking at 8.9 Million (40.1% Share) ^[8]

Show 7 (Friday, 15 June 2007 at 21:00 [Second Live Show]) - ''8.9 Million'' (38.1% Share)http://www.viewingfigures.com

Show 8 (Saturday, 16 June 2007 at 19:45 [Third Live Show]) - ''8.9 Million'' (40.9% Share)http://www.viewingfigures.com

Show 9 (Sunday, 17 June 2007 at 20:00 [Final - Performances] - ''11 Million' (43.7% Share) (Peaking at 13.5 Million - 51.7% share)http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a61704/itv-gets-135m-with-talent.html

Show 10 (Sunday, 17 June 2007 at 22:00 [Final - Results] - ''10.6 Million'' (44.7% Share). Peaking at 11.2 Million - 48.4% Share http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a61704/itv-gets-135m-with-talent.html
The average ratings for series one is 8 million and a 33.6% share.http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a61704/itv-gets-135m-with-talent.html

Controversy

Contestant Richard Bates claimed he quit the ITV show after injuring himself in an accident with his electric organ, but in fact the Lancashire Police force had contacted producers to inform them that he was listed on the Sex Offenders Register following an unspecified offence committed in December 2005.Forced out, the Britain's Got Talent act who's also got a sordid secretPolice alert over TV contestant
On 16 June (the last semi-final show), drag act the Kit Kat Dolls were disqualified after the News of the World claimed three of the members were prostitutes.Britain’s Got Talent…For Hire: Kit-Kat Sex

Series 2

During the final show it was announced that the series will be returning in 2008 Apply for Series 2 - http://gottalent.fremantlemedia.com/, with considerations underway to air it in a Saturday evening prime time slot.^[9]
Amanda Holden will not return for series 2.

References

1. Digital Spy
2. Unreality TV - Paul O'Grady quits
3. Digital Spy
4. Digital Spy
5.
Broadcast Now
6. Broadcast Now
7. Broadcast Now
8. http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadcastnowarticle.aspx?intStoryID=169542
9. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/realitytv/a63955/talent-moving-to-saturday-nights.html

External links

★

★ 'Paul Potts on the audition process'