Britain's Got Talent

For the most recent series, see Britain's Got Talent (series 11).

For Got Talent around the world, see Got Talent.

Britain's Got Talent
Genre	Talent show
Created by	Simon Cowell
Directed by	Jonathan Bullen
Presented by	Ant & Dec (Main show) Stephen Mulhern (Britain's Got More Talent)
Judges	Simon Cowell Amanda Holden Piers Morgan David Hasselhoff Michael McIntyre Alesha Dixon David Walliams
Voices of	Peter Dickson
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	11
No. of episodes	182 (as of series 11) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Nigel Hall Lee McNicholas Amelia Brown Richard Holloway
Producers	Matt Banks Charlie Irwin Paul Jones
Production locations	Various (auditions) Fountain Studios (Live shows 2007–16) Elstree Studios (Live shows 2017–)
Running time	60–155 minutes
Production companies	Syco Entertainment Talkback Thames (2007–11) Thames (2012–)
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	9 June 2007 (2007-06-09) – present
Related
Britain's Got More Talent

Britain's Got Talent (often shortened to BGT) is a British television talent show competition, and is part of the Got Talent franchise. Produced by both Thames (formerly Talkback Thames) and Syco Entertainment production, and distributed by FremantleMedia, it has been broadcast on ITV since June 2007, and is hosted by Ant & Dec, with each series accompanied by a sister show on ITV2 entitled Britain's Got More Talent presented by Stephen Mulhern. Contestants of any age, who possess some sort of talent, can audition for the show, with their performance judged by a panel of judges; the current lineup consists of the show's creator Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, and David Walliams. Those that make it through the auditions, compete against other acts in a series of live semi-finals, with the winning two acts of each semi-final proceeding into the show's live final. The prize for winning the contest is a cash prize (the amount varying over the show's history), and an opportunity to perform at the Royal Variety Performance in front of members of the British Royal Family, including either Queen Elizabeth II or the Prince of Wales. To date, the show has had eleven winners, ranging from musicians and singers, to variety acts, magicians and dancers.

A significant show in British popular culture, Britain's Got Talent is the UK's biggest television talent competition, ahead of both The X Factor (also created by Cowell) and The Voice UK, with the show's live final in the third series attracting 17.3 million viewers, a 64.6% audience share at the time of its broadcast. At present, the programme is contracted to run until 2019.

There have been eleven winners of the series to date: Paul Potts, George Sampson, Diversity, Spelbound, Jai McDowell, Ashleigh and Pudsey, Attraction, Collabro, Jules O'Dwyer and Matisse, Richard Jones and Tokio Myers.

History

Ant & Dec have both hosted the show since it began in 2007.

Cowell is primarily responsible for the show's creation, and has served as a judge since it began in 2007.

The show's format was devised by X Factor creator and Sony Music executive, Simon Cowell, who was involved in the creation of other Got Talent programmes across several different countries. To showcase his idea, a pilot episode was filmed in September 2005, with the judging panel consisting of Cowell, Fern Britton (at the time, presenter of This Morning), as well as tabloid journalist Piers Morgan. The pilot was not broadcast on television until it was shown as part of a documentary series entitled The Talent Show Story in January 2012.

The original plan for the show was for it be aired within 2005-06, before the broadcast of America's Got Talent, with Paul O'Grady presenting the programme under the title Paul O'Grady's Got Talent, after having hosted the pilot, with his selection as host due to the popularity he was attaining from his teatime chat show, The Paul O'Grady Show. However, complication arose when O'Grady was involved in a row with ITV and refused to appear on another show of the broadcaster, eventually defecting to Channel 4 to continue hosting his teatime show, effectively putting plans for the programme on hold. In a 2010 interview, O'Grady commented about the row by stating:

"I did the pilot for Britain's Got Talent – which was originally going to be called Paul O'Grady's Got Talent. But I told the producers they were having a joke if they thought I would front a show with that title. The original panel of judges was going to be Simon Cowell, Fern Britton and Piers Morgan. I was the host. Then when I had the row with ITV I was banned from the studios. I remember I rang Simon and told him he had a huge hit on his hands, but there was no way I could do it. I said, if I am banned I have to be banned from everything. I can’t be a hypocrite and come in and do this. I had to bow out."

On 12 February 2007, following the success of America's Got Talent the previous year, ITV announced their intentions for a British series of Got Talent. Their announcement revealed changes to the original plan for the programme, with Ant & Dec revealed to be the hosts for the new programme. While Cowell remained as part of the judging panel, the new plan intended for David Hasselhoff and Cheryl Cole. However, both resigned before the programme was due to air, leading to Morgan being part of the panel as originally planned, and actress Amanda Holden joining him and Cowel as a judge; Hasselhoff would later join the panel for the programme's fifth series after being a part of the panel for America's Got Talent, while Cowell later employed Cole to be a replacement for Sharon Osbourne on The X Factor. At the same time, the broadcaster also announced that the show would be accompanied by a sister show on ITV2, entitled Britain's Got More Talent, with Stephen Mulhern as its presenter.

Format

See also: List of Britain's Got Talent episodes and List of Britain's Got Talent finalists

Auditions

The show holds two auditions for contestants. The first is an open audition held across several different cities across the UK during the Autumn months while the second, referred to as the "Judge's Auditions", is held the following year during January and February, prior to the broadcast of the show during spring or early summer, and consists of the contestants who made it through the open auditions. It is held within a select set of cities, which has commonly included Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London. For the Judge's Auditions, each site used for these is located within a theatre or convention hall. These sites are primarily chosen for the purpose of having facilities that can handle large volumes of contestants, with each set up into three arrangements when auditions are taking place: (1) a waiting area for contestants to prepare and await their turn to perform, with monitors to allow them to see the performances of other contestants; (2) the wings, where a contestant enters and leaves from, and where friends and family of the contestant can view them from; and (3) the main stage, where the contestant performs their act before the judging panel, who are located in front of the stage. The main stage area is usually modified to include the judge's panel desk, along with a special lighting rig above the stage, consisting of Xs that each have a name of the judge under them.

Each contestant that auditions is given a number by the production team and remains in the waiting area until called out into the wings, giving them a certain amount of time to prepare their act. Upon being allowed onto the main stage, they will usually be asked by one of the judges for their name and what they plan to perform, along with other details such as age, occupation, personal background, and what they wish to achieve if they won. After this, they are then given three minutes to conduct their performance before both the judges and a live audience, with some acts being supported by a backing track provided by the production team. If at any time, the judges find the performance to be unconvincing, boring or completely wrong, they may use the buzzer before them, which changes the Xs from white to red; if all the judges press their buzzers, then the performance is immediately over.

Once a performance is over, each judge will give an overview of what they thought about the act, before casting a vote. If the contestant(s) receives a majority vote of "Yes", they then proceed onto the next stage in the contest, otherwise they are eliminated from that series' contest. In Series 8, a new feature was added to the auditions, which had been previously used on Germany's Got Talent, called the "Golden Buzzer". Situated in the centre of the judge's desk, the Golden Buzzer allows a judge to effectively send the contestant(s) into the live semi-finals, regardless of the opinions of the other judges, if they felt that a contestant's performance was outstanding; when pressed, the judge's X turns gold and the stage is showered in gold glitter strips. However, as a general rule, they may only press it once and cannot press it again in later auditions. While the hosts of Britain's Got Talent may also press the Golden Buzzer for a contestant, they may only press it once themselves in the same manner.

Filming for the show begins during the Judge's Auditions, with footage that is recorded in these being edited into a series of episodes that are aired on a weekly schedule before the live semi-finals, and featuring the best highlights of the auditions, including those from the best performances the judges saw, to the worst that appeared, whether funny, poorly conceived or generally bad, and in some cases totally inappropriate. These episodes also include interviews with the contestants in a separate area, as well as additional interviews conducted within the wings before and after a performance, that are conducted by the hosts, who also give personal comments about a performance while watching from the wings.

Judges' Decisions

This stage takes place after the auditions have been completed, and is also referred to as Deliberation Day, in which the judges look through the acts that have successfully made it to this stage, and begin whittling them down to those who would stand a fair chance in the live semi-finals. The amount that goes through has varied over the show's history, though usually consists of a number that can be divided equally over the semi-finals being held in a series. Once the judges have decided on who will go through, all contestants that have reached this stage are called back to discover if they had progress into the live semi-finals or not. After this has been done, the acts are divided up between the semi-finals that the series will have; usually eight in each series, except for the sixth to tenth series which had nine acts per semi-final.

For the fifth series, some acts were asked to perform again, as the judges had had difficulty coming to a final decision on the semi-finalist, and thus needed to see their performance again in order to make up their minds; it is only time in the show's history that this has happened, and has not been repeated since.

Semi-finals & Final

Contestants that make it into the semi-finals after both stages (or, from series 8, received the Golden Buzzer), perform once more before an audience and the judges, with their performance broadcast on live television; until the tenth series, live episodes were broadcast The Fountain Studios in Wembley, the same site used for The X Factor, but following the closure of the studios, the show relocated its live episodes to Elstree Studios. Like the Audition stage of the contest, they must attempt to impress by primarily conducting a new routine of their act within the same span of time; the judges can still use a buzzer in the semi-finals if they are displeased with a performance, and can end it early if all the buzzers are used, and can still give a personal opinion about an act when the performance is over, but neither of these impact how the semi-finalists fare at this stage of the contest, only the last part of this stage. As only two semi-finalists from each semi-final may proceed on to the Final, which two is determined by two different types of votes given towards the end - a public phone vote, and a judges' vote.

The phone vote determines the first semi-finalist that wins this stages, and occurs after all the acts in a semi-final have performed, whereupon a special phone line is opened for a short time, which the public can use to vote on the act that they thought was the best; the phone number used, shown after their performance, is the same for all semi-finalists, with the exception of the final two digits, which differs between each semi-finalist in terms of the order of their appearance. Once the lines have closed and the votes have been counted, the act with the highest number of public votes is automatically placed in the final. The judges' vote, held after the result of the phone vote, determine the second act that wins this stage, and is conducted between the second and third most popular acts the public voted on; the other semi-finalist at this point, are eliminated from the contest. The act which receives a majority vote from the judges, moves on to the final; in the event of a tied vote, upon the show increasing the number of judges to 4 from fifth series onwards, the second most popular act moves on to the final. From the sixth series onwards, the show incorporated a new feature in which any eliminated act from the semi-finals could still have a chance of being sent through to the finals, by being picked by the judges to as their "Wildcard" act, later expanding this by allowing the public to vote on a second act to go through into the finals, out of the top three eliminated acts.

For the final of each series, the format of the contest operated in exactly the same manner as the semi-finals, including being broadcast live on television, though this time the winner is determined purely by a phone vote, with the finalists attempting to secure more votes than the others by performing a new routine at their best. Upon the result being given, the top two acts are brought onto the stage, with the hosts announcing which of them received the most votes. The winner of each year's contest receives a cash prize, and earns the opportunity to perform in the Royal Variety Performance later that year.

For the show's scheduling, the live episodes are usually arranged to take place over the course of a week, with the semi-finals aired mainly on weekdays, and the final aired on the weekend; in some series, the schedule featured a break between the live episodes of the semi-finals, due to coverage of live events. All live episodes (only the finals in the first few series) are divided into two parts when they are aired - the first half focuses on performances, each introduced by a short clip of the semi-finalist/finalist, and ended with comments by the judges; the second half occurs after voting is closed, usually after another programme has aired between the two part, and focuses on the results of the phone vote, with a guest performance taking place prior to the announcement of the results. This format was initially used for the live finals only, until the start of the fourth series.

Judges

Holden is the longest serving judge on the show, only being absent in a few episodes in 2012 due to ill health.

Hasselhoff previously worked as a judge on America's Got Talent, before joining the show for the 2011 series.

For the first four series after the show began in June 2007, the judging panel consisted of music executive and television producer Simon Cowell, television and West End star Amanda Holden, and newspaper editor and journalist Piers Morgan. When the third series was starting in 2009, it was announced that Kelly Brook would be joining as a fourth judge in the panel, but this later dropped less than a week later by the producers, who believed at the time that the format would be "too complicated" with four judges, thus leaving the panel consisting of just three judges; Brook was later credited as a guest judge. In 2010, Cowell fell ill during filming of the fourth series and was unable to attend the Birmingham auditions, leading to fellow The X Factor judge Louis Walsh stepping in as guest judge in his place, until he had recovered.

In 2011, Morgan revealed he was leaving the show to travel to America and begin filming of his new show, with Cowell announcing that, although he would attend the live episodes of the fifth series, he wouldn't be present for the auditions, due to his busy schedule with launching The X Factor USA. The show's producers decided therefore to have Holden act as the head judge in the auditions until Cowell returned, while also having comedian Michael McIntyre, and actor, singer and former America's Got Talent judge David Hasselhoff, join the fifth series and oversee the auditions, although Walsh had to be brought in again as a guest judge for the London auditions, due to Hasselhoff's commitments with a pantomime; both judges remained on the panel for the live shows, with Cowell becoming a fourth judge upon his return. After their appearance, it was announced later that year in October, that neither Hasselhoff nor McIntyre would be returning as a judge for the sixth series, after Cowell returned full-time.

On 2 January 2012, the producers revealed its decision to adopt the use of a fourth judge for the programme, after it announced that both Cowell and Holden would now be joined by David Walliams and Alesha Dixon in the sixth series, with the latter moving to the talent show after deciding to leave BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. During filming in February, Holden was unable to attend the London auditions, due to having given birth to her daughter and suffering some after effects from her pregnancy, leading to actress and model Carmen Electra stepping in as a guest judge until she recovered. In subsequent series, the line-up remained as Cowell, Holden, Walliams and Dixon, with no further incidents except for the eighth series in 2014 - Cowell missed the first day of the Manchester auditions, leading to Ant & Dec filling in for him, and was also absent for the final day of the London auditions - and the tenth series in 2016 - Cowell was late for an audition, and was temporarily replaced by Walliam's mother Kathleen, who was attending it.

Series	Main Judge				Guest Judge
	1	2	3	4
1	Simon	Amanda	Piers	—	—
2
3					Kelly1
4					Louis2
5			Michael	David H.
6			Alesha	David W.	Carmen3
7					—
8					Ant & Dec4
9					—
10					Kathleen5
11					—
12					Howie

Notes

1. ^ Brook was credited as a guest judge for the Manchester auditions, after the producers dropped plans for her to be a permanent judge in this series.
2. ^ Walsh served as a guest judge in place of Cowell during the fourth series, and Hasselhoff during the fifth series.
3. ^ Electra served as a guest judge in place of Holden, during the sixth series.
4. ^ Ant & Dec served as guest judges in the eighth series, substituting for Cowell on the first day of the Manchester auditions.
5. ^ David Walliams' mother, Kathleen Williams, served as a guest judge in place of Cowell, while attending a session in the tenth series.

Series overview

Series	Start	Finish	Winner's prize 1	Winner	Runner-up	Third place
1	9 June 2007	17 June 2007	£100,000	Paul Potts	Not announced
2	12 April 2008	31 May 2008		George Sampson	Signature	Andrew Johnston
3	11 April 2009	30 May 2009		Diversity	Susan Boyle	Julian Smith
4	17 April 2010	5 June 2010		Spelbound	Twist and Pulse	Kieran Gaffney
5	16 April 2011	4 June 2011		Jai McDowall	Ronan Parke	New Bounce
6	24 March 2012	12 May 2012	£500,000	Ashleigh and Pudsey	Jonathan and Charlotte	Only Boys Aloud
7	13 April 2013	8 June 2013	£250,000	Attraction	Jack Carroll	Richard & Adam
8	12 April 2014	7 June 2014		Collabro	Lucy Kay	Bars & Melody
9	11 April 2015	31 May 2015		Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse	Jamie Raven	Côr Glanaethwy
10	9 April 2016	28 May 2016		Richard Jones	Wayne Woodward	Boogie Storm
11	15 April 2017	3 June 2017		Tokio Myers	Issy Simpson	Daliso Chaponda

Notes

1. ^ In addition to the cash prize, winners also earn the opportunity to perform at the Royal Variety Performance in the year they win.

Series 1 (2007)

Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 1)

The first series was aired during 2007, between 9–17 June. Auditions for this series took place within the cities of Manchester, Birmingham, London and Cardiff, between January and February earlier that year. The series had 3 live semi-finals, featuring a total of 24 semi-finalists, all of whom were vying for a chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance, as well as claiming a £100,000 cash prize. The series was won by opera singer Paul Potts; the results of the other finalists were not announced.

Series 2 (2008)

Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 2)

The second series was aired during 2008, between 12 April to 31 May, and featured notable differences. Not only did the series run for much longer, auditions took place in Blackpool and Glasgow, the latter following complaints that Scotland hadn't been visited during the previous series, along with Manchester, Birmingham, London and Cardiff. In addition, the show had five live semi-finals, featuring a total of 40 semi-finalists. The series was won by street-dancer George Sampson, with dual dance group Signature coming in second, and singer Andrew Johnston placing third.

Series 3 (2009)

Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 3)

The third series was aired during 2009, between 11 April to 30 May, with auditions held in the same five cities as before. Initially, the producers intended to change the format by including a fourth judge on the panel, but this was later dropped a few days after auditions began. The series was won by dance troupe Diversity, with singer Susan Boyle coming in second, and saxophonist Julian Smith placing third.

Series 4 (2010)

Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 4)

The fourth series was aired during 2010, between 17 April to 5 June; a single episode of this series, intended for airing on 22 May, was pushed back to 23 May, in order to avoid it clashing with live coverage of the UEFA Champions League Final that year. The auditions were once more held across the same five cities as before, though the series also held auditions with Newcastle upon Tyne; the city had been originally planned to hold auditions for the previous series, but these were cancelled before this could happen. Owing to illness, Cowell was unable to attend the Birmingham auditions, which led to Louis Walsh being in brought in as a guest judge for these. The series was won by gymnastic troupe Spelbound, with dancing duo Twist and Pulse coming in second, and drummer Kieran Gaffney placing third.

Series 5 (2011)

Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 5)

The fifth series was aired during 2011, between 16 April to 4 June, and was the first to be broadcast completely in high-definition; like before, a single episode intended for airing on 28 May, was pushed back to 29 May, to avoid it clashing with live coverage of the UEFA Champions League Final that year. Auditions took place across the same five cities, though also included Liverpool. This series saw a change in the judging panel, following Piers Morgan's departure from the show, with Holden joined by David Hasselhoff and Michael McIntyre during the auditions; Cowell appeared during this series in the live episodes, with Louis Walsh returning as a guest judge for the London auditions when Hasselhoof couldn't attend due to other commitments at the time; Cowell was present in the panel for the live shows only. The series was won by singer Jai McDowall, with singer Ronan Parke coming in second, and boyband New Bounce placing third.

Series 6 (2012)

Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 6)

The sixth series was aired during 2012, between 24 March and 12 May. For this series, the cash prize was increased from £100,000 to £500,000, and a new feature was introduced called the "Wildcard", in which the judges could select one of the acts eliminated in the semi-finals, to return and compete in the finals. The show also increased the number of semi-finalist for the semi-finals to 45, with nine acts per semi-final, and the number of judges for the entire contest to 4; the previous series also featured four judges, albeit for the live episodes only. In addition, the show attempted to bring in a new way of voting for the semi-finals via a mobile app, but this was suspended for the series after it suffered technical problems during the first live semi-final. This series featured an open audition in London, along with inviting other acts to audition via YouTube, before holding Judge's Auditions within Birmingham, London, Manchester and Cardiff, Blackpool and Edinburgh. As both McIntyre and Hasselhoff announced in late 2011 they wouldn't be returning, the show announced on 2 January 2012 that they would be replaced by David Walliams and Alesha Dixon, and join both Holden and Cowell for the new series, the latter having announced he would be returning as a full-time judge on the show. Holden was unable to attend some of the auditions due to ill health following her pregnancy, leading to Carmen Electra stepping in as a guest judge for these. The series was won by trainer and dog duo Ashleigh and Pudsey, with opera duo Jonathan and Charlotte coming in second, and Welsh boys choir Only Boys Aloud placing third.

Series 7 (2013)

Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 7)

The seventh series was aired during 2013, between 13 April to 8 June; the show took a break on the 29 May, due to live football coverage of England's friendly with the Republic of Ireland. While the show retained the new features introduced in the previous series, the cash prize was reduced to £250,000, with the series featuring auditions within five cities - Birmingham, London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester. The series was won by shadow theatre troupe Attraction, with comedian Jack Carroll coming in second, and opera duo Richard & Adam placing third.

Series 8 (2014)

Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 8)

The eighth series aired during 2014, between 12 April to 7 June. This series was the first to introduce the "Golden Buzzer", and for the first time since the second series, auditions were not held in Scotland, instead being held in Northern Ireland within Belfast, along with Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Manchester; Edinburgh joined these cities to hold open auditions in late 2013, along with Blackpool and Brighton, with additional open auditions held in various local branches of Morrisons within "Talent Spot" tents, owing to the show's sponsorship deal with the supermarket chain at the time. The series was won by boy band Collabro, with opera singer Lucy Kay coming in second, and rapper duo Bars & Melody placing third.

Series 9 (2015)

Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 9)

The ninth series was aired during 2015, between 11 April to 31 May. This series saw the "Wildcard" feature updated; along with the judges being able to put forth an eliminated act from the semi-finals into the final (referred to as the Judges' Wildcard), the show now also allowed the public to vote between the three most popular eliminated acts, with the one with the highest number of votes going forward into the final - this act is referred to as the Public Wildcard. Audition took place within Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, and London, with the latter three cities holding open auditions in late 2014 along with Newcastle, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Leeds, Norwich, and Bristol. The winner of the series was trainer and dog duo Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse, with magician Jamie Raven coming second, and Welsh choir Côr Glanaethwy placing third.

Series 10 (2016)

Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 10)

The tenth series was aired during 2016, between 9 April to 28 May. Auditions were held within Liverpool, Birmingham and London, with all three holding open auditions in late 2015 along with Cardiff, Glasgow, and Manchester. It was the last series to hold live episodes within The Fountain Studios, before its closure at the end of the year. The series was won by magician Richard Jones, with singer Wayne Woodward coming in second, and dance group Boogie Storm placing third.

Series 11 (2017)

Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 11)

The eleventh series was aired during 2017, between 15 April to 3 June; the final was originally planned for 4 June, but this was moved forward to avoid it clashing with the One Love Manchester benefit concert that day. The series saw two major changes: the first saw the total number of semi-finalist reduced to 40 with eight per each semi-final, as it had been prior to the sixth series; the second saw the Judges' vote being dropped, with the two semi-finalists with the highest number of public votes moving on into the final. In addition, the live episodes were now broadcast from Elstree Studios, owing to the closure of the previous site. Auditions were held within Salford, Birmingham, London, and Blackpool, with the latter two cities holding open auditions in late 2016, along with Peterborough, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Kingston upon Hull, Lincoln, Reading, Manchester and Luton. The series was won by pianist Tokio Myers, with magician Issy Simpson coming in second, and stand-up comedian Daliso Chaponda placing third.

Future series

At present, Britain's Got Talent has been renewed for two more series until at least 2019.

Britain's Got More Talent

Stephen Mulhern has been the host of the sister show to Britain's Got Talent, since 2007.

Britain's Got More Talent is a companion sister show that is broadcast on ITV2, and is aired after each episode of Britain's Got Talent since the main show began in June 2007. Hosted by Stephen Mulhern (with occasional appearances by Ant & Dec), the programme operates in a similar manner to The Xtra Factor (the companion show of The X Factor), in that it features interviews with contestants and behind-the-scenes footage, though what is shown depends on what the main show is focused on during its broadcast. When the auditions stage is being broadcast, its sister show focus on highlights of acts that couldn't be shown on the main show, with Mulhern operating in a similar manner to Ant & Dec by viewing the performances in the wings and giving comments, as well as interviewing contestants before and after their performance. When the main show begins broadcasting live episodes, its sister show conducts live "after-show" episodes, featuring interviews with the semi-finalists/finalists, as well as chatting with the judges.

In addition to this format, each year also sees Britain's Got More Talent broadcasting a special set of compilation episodes featuring the best and worst auditions from that year's contest, entitled Britain's Got Talent: Best and Worst, which are presented by Mulhern who introduces each clip shown.

Reception

Awards and nominations

Britain's Got Talent has been nominated for a number of National Television Awards in the category of 'Most Popular Talent Show' since 2007. But has lost out to its sister shows The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing. Ant and Dec have won the award for 'Most Popular Entertainment Presenters' at the same awards for twelve consecutive years (as of January 2014). Britain's Got Talent has also been nominated for two British Academy Television 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 Royal Television Society Programme Award for its technical achievements. It has also won four Nickelodeon UK Kids' Choice Awards from five nominations. In 2009, it won its first ever Digital Spy Reality Award for George Sampson for 'Favourite Reality Contestant'. The show was further nominated in the 'Reality Show' category, but lost out to The X Factor in the 'Reality TV Presenter' category for Ant & Dec and two nominations in the 'Reality TV Judge' category for Cowell and Morgan.

Year	Group	Award	Nominee	Result
2007	National Television Awards	Most Popular Talent Show	Britain's Got Talent	Nominated
		Most Popular Entertainment Presenter	Ant & Dec	Won
	Nickelodeon UK Kids' Choice Awards	Best Reality Show	Britain's Got Talent	Nominated
		Best TV Presenters	Ant & Dec	Won
	TV Quick and Choice Awards	Best Talent Show	Britain's Got Talent	Nominated
2008	National Television Awards	Most Popular Talent Show		Nominated
		Most Popular Entertainment Presenter	Ant & Dec	Won
	Nickelodeon UK Kids' Choice Awards	Favourite Winner	George Sampson	Won
	British Academy Television Awards	Lew Grade Award	Britain's Got Talent	Nominated
		Audience Award		Nominated
	Royal Television Society Programme Awards	Best Production Design-Entertainment	Dominic Tolfts	Won
	Nickelodeon UK Kids' Choice Awards	Best TV Presenters	Ant & Dec	Won
		Best Family TV Show	Britain's Got Talent	Won
		Best TV Baddie	Simon Cowell	Won
2009	TV Quick and Choice Awards	Best Talent Show	Britain's Got Talent	Nominated
	Digital Spy Reality TV Awards	Favourite TV Reality		Nominated
		Favourite TV Reality Judge	Simon Cowell	Nominated
			Piers Morgan	Nominated
		Favourite TV Reality Presenters	Ant & Dec	Nominated
		Favourite Reality Contestant	George Sampson	Won
2010	National Television Awards	Most Popular Talent Show	Britain's Got Talent	Nominated
	British Academy Television Awards	Best Entertainment Programme		Won
2011	National Television Awards	Most Popular Talent Show		Nominated
	TV Choice Awards	Best Talent Show		Won
2012	National Television Awards	Most Popular Talent Show		Nominated
2013	Broadcast Awards	Best Entertainment Programme		Nominated
	National Television Awards	Most Popular Talent Show		Nominated
2014				Nominated
2015				Nominated
		TV Judge	Simon Cowell	Nominated
			David Walliams	Won
2016		Most Popular Talent Show	Britain's Got Talent	Nominated
	2016 British Academy Television Awards	Best Entertainment Programme	Britain's Got Talent	Nominated
2017	22nd National Television Awards	Talent Show	Britain's Got Talent	Nominated
		TV Judge	Simon Cowell	Nominated
			David Walliams	Nominated
	2017 British Academy Television Awards	Best Entertainment Programme	Britain's Got Talent	Nominated
	Diversity in Media Awards	TV Programme of the Year	Britain's Got Talent	Nominated

Controversies and criticism

In series 1, the show was criticised for not visiting Scotland. Extra audition dates were added in series 2, and the judges visited Scotland.

The show was criticised by psychologist Glenn Wilson, who referred to it as a "freak show". He stated that "[contestants'] deficiencies and shortcomings are as important as their talent. We enjoy the stress we are putting these people under – will they or will they not survive?"

The treatment of contestants at the audition stage was heavily criticised by the Daily Mail, which described applicants being kept waiting for over 10 hours with no food or drink provided, with no certainty of being allowed to perform more than a few seconds of their act. It also detailed how staff intentionally built up the hopes of low-quality performers in order to maximise the dramatic effect of the judges' put-downs, and the fine points of the contracts performers must sign, which gives the show infinite freedom to "modify" the footage for their own purposes, and to use the footage indefinitely for whatever purpose they choose.

In two separate interviews in 2012, MC Kinky said "Shows like X Factor and Britain's Got Talent reduce the art of making music and practising your craft to the level of a low rent game show with huge financial backing and support. It's a means to make money, not a means to produce ground breaking or interesting artists that demonstrate what they are feeling or are compelled to do. It's corporate" and "it's a churn 'em out fast food form of putrid shit that I have no affiliation with".

In 2013, Bruce Forsyth questioned the show's allowing children to audition. He said, "I don't think that's entertainment. I don't think they should put children on that are too young. If you're going to do that, have a separate show. Have a children's show, British Children Have Talent."

In 2013 it was revealed that up to 50% of acts on the televised shows had been headhunted by producers. In 2012, electropop band Superpowerless were approached to appear in the semi-finals. They attended the audition after assurances that the act would be portrayed in a positive light. On the day they felt that all interviews, especially those with Stephen Mulhern, were conducted in a manner intending to portray them in a negative light, reducing their act to a novelty/comedy routine intended for ridicule and humiliation. While many newspapers wrote articles on this topic, very few were published as the news outlets were told that running the story would cut that publication out of any advance coverage of the show in the future.

Live tour

On 17 April 2008, a thirteen date live tour was announced 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 twenty two performances, including matinées. The tour featured all ten finalists, as well as semi-finalists Tracey Lee Collins and Anya Sparks. The tour also featured a duet with Faryl Smith and Andrew Johnston.

On 13 January 2009, a four date tour was announced with dates in Newcastle, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester. More dates were later added and the tour ran for eighteen shows from 12–26 June 2009 and also travelled to Dublin, Birmingham, Belfast, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Nottingham, London, Aberdeen and Bournemouth.

The tour in 2009 included: 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 hosted the tour.

The tour returned in 2010, this time hosted by comedian Paddy McGuinness. The show also added a new city to the schedule, Brighton. The tour included all the finalists: Spelbound, Twist & Pulse, Kieran Gaffney, Tobias Mead, Tina & Chandi, Paul Burling, Christopher Stone, Janey Cutler, Liam McNally and Connected. The tour lasted from 19 June to 11 July. With 16 cities and 23 shows, it was the longest Britain's Got Talent Tour to date.

The tour in 2011 included all the finalists: Jai McDowall, Ronan Parke, New Bounce, Razy Gogonea, Michael Collings, Paul Gbegbaje, Steven Hall, James Hobley, Les Gibson and Jean Martyn.

In 2012, due to very low ticket sales the tour was axed.

Best-selling albums

These albums were sold after Britain's Got Talent. The sales numbers are UK sales only.

Artists with BPI-certified albums

Former contestant Total sales	Debut album	Second album	Third album	Fourth album	Fifth Album	Sixth Album	Seventh Album
Susan Boyle (Series 3, runner-up) 3,452,059	I Dreamed a Dream (23 November 2009) Syco/Columbia 7× platinum 2,100,000 Peak: 1	The Gift (8 November 2010) Syco/Columbia 2× platinum 609,602 Peak: 1	Someone to Watch Over Me (1 November 2011) Syco/Columbia Platinum 344,508 Peak: 1	Standing Ovation: The Greatest Songs from the Stage (13 November 2012) Syco/Columbia Gold 175,488 Peak: 5	Home for Christmas (25 October 2013) Syco/Columbia Gold 122,448 Peak: 9	Hope (21 October 2014) Syco/Columbia Silver 85,000 Peak: 13	A Wonderful World (4 November 2016) Syco/Columbia N/A 15,013 Peak: 22
Paul Potts (Series 1, winner) 680,000	One Chance (16 July 2007) Syco/Columbia 2× Platinum 680,000 Peak: 1	Passione (1 June 2009) Syco/Columbia N/A N/A Peak: 5	Cinema Paradiso (15 October 2010) Sony N/A N/A Peak: did not chart in the UK	Home (12 October 2014) Sony N/A N/A Peak: did not chart in the UK
Richard & Adam (Series 7, 3rd place) 300,000+	The Impossible Dream (29 July 2013) Arista Records, RCA Records Platinum 300,000 Peak: 1	The Christmas Album (2 December 2013) Sony N/A N/A Peak: 24	At the Movies (8 August 2014) Sony N/A N/A Peak: 5	Believe – Songs of Inspiration (26 February 2016) Sony N/A N/A Peak: 9
Collabro (Series 8, winner) 253,100+	Stars (18 August 2014) Syco Gold 193,100+ Peak: 1	Act Two (1 June 2015) Syco Silver 60,000+ Peak: 2	Home (3 March 2017) Peak Productions N/A N/A Peak: 7
Jonathan and Charlotte (Series 6, runner-up) 160,000+	Together (24 September 2012) Syco Gold 100,000 Peak: 5	Perhaps Love (14 October 2013) Sony Classical Silver 60,000 Peak: 5	Solitaire (Charlotte Jaconelli) (9 June 2014) Sony Classical N/A N/A Peak: 40 Tenore (Jonathan Antoine) (13 October 2014) Sony Classical N/A N/A Peak: 13	Believe (Jonathan Antoine) (19 August 2016) Cavendish N/A N/A Peak: 79
Faryl Smith (Series 2, 4th place) 150,000+	Faryl (9 March 2009) Universal Classics and Jazz Gold 150,000+ Peak: 4	Wonderland (30 November 2009) Universal Classics and Jazz N/A N/A Peak: 56
Andrew Johnston (Series 2, 3rd place) 120,000	One Voice (29 September 2008) Syco Gold 120,000 Peak: 4
Escala (Series 2, 4th place) 100,000	Escala (25 May 2009) Sony BMG/Syco Gold 100,000 Peak: 2	Quadrasonic (15 January 2016) Arctic Poppy N/A N/A Peak: N/A
Connie Talbot (Series 1, finalist) 100,000+	Over the Rainbow (26 November 2007) Rainbow Recording Company Gold 100,000 Peak: 35	Connie Talbot's Christmas Album (24 November 2008) Rainbow Recording Company N/A N/A Peak: 93	Holiday Magic (20 October 2009) AAO Music N/A N/A Peak: did not chart in the UK	Beautiful World (26 November 2012) Evosound N/A N/A Peak: did not chart in the UK	Matters to Me (25 March 2016) Evosound N/A N/A Peak: did not chart in the UK

Artists without BPI-certified albums

Former contestant	Total sales	Albums
Charlie Green (Series 2, semi-finalist)		Charlie Green (1 October 2008) did not chart A Friend Like You (9 May 2010) did not chart Rainbow (5 November 2012) did not chart
Hollie Steel (Series 3, finalist)		Hollie (24 May 2010) did not chart Hooray For Christmas (11 October 2011) did not chart Children on the Titanic (19 April 2012) did not chart
Lucy Kay (Series 8, runner-up)		Fantasia (24 September 2014) #18
Beau Dermott (Series 10, 5th place)		Brave (1 Sept 2017) #73

Merchandise

There are 6 pieces of related merchandise:

• Best of The Auditions DVD (2009)
• The Electronic Board Game (2009)
• The Magic Set (2009)
• Finalists of 2009: Annual 2010 (2009)
• Be the judge buzzer (2010)
• Finalists of 2010: Annual 2011 (2010)

BGT App

Since 2010, a Britain's Got Talent app has been available on Apple's App Store and Google Play. The features of the app vary from year to year but always include an interactive feature (e.g. a buzzer, polls or quizzes), relevant social media feeds and clips from the show. In 2015, free in-app voting was introduced. This means viewers are able to vote free of charge for five acts of their choice per voting window during the semi-finals and final rounds.

External links

• Britain's Got Talent at itv.com
• Britain's Got Talent at stv.tv
• Template:U.tv

• Britain's Got Talent on Twitter
• Britain's Got Talent at IMDb