Britain's Got Talent

''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as Ant & Dec), it is produced by both Thames (formerly Talkback Thames) and Syco Entertainment, distributed by Fremantle, and broadcast on ITV every year (excluding 2021) in late Spring to early Summer. The show was originally intended for production in 2005, but filming was suspended in the wake of a dispute between ITV and the programme's originally planned host. Following the success of '' America's Got Talent'' that year, production resumed and the programme eventually premiered on 9 June 2007.

Every year, contestants of any age can audition for the televised contest with whatever talent they wish to demonstrate. During auditions, participants seek to impress a panel of judges – presently consisting of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon – in order to secure a place in the live rounds of the contest. Once in the live rounds, participants seek to impress the public and judges to secure votes, in order to reach the final and a chance to win a cash prize and a place within that year's performances for the Royal Variety Performance before members of the British Royal Family. , the show has had fifteen winners, ranging from musicians and singers to variety acts, magicians, dancers and comedians.

On average, ''Britain's Got Talent'' draws viewing figures of 9.9 million viewers per series. The show's live final in the third series attracted a record 17.3 million viewers, obtaining a 64.6% audience share at the time of its broadcast. Each series of the main programme is accompanied by a sister show, ''Britain's Got More Talent'', presented by Stephen Mulhern. Until June 2019, the programme was aired on ITV2, but has since been moved to online platforms. A spin-off featuring the same judges and hosts, titled '' Britain's Got Talent: The Champions'', was later produced and broadcast in 2019 following the success of the American edition's spin-off '' America's Got Talent: The Champions''. ''Britain's Got Talent'' is contracted to run until 2025.

History

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. He was inspired by popular British variety talent shows '' Opportunity Knocks'' (1949–1990) and ''New Faces'' (1973–1988). 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, titled ''The Talent Show Story'', in January 2012.

The original plan for the show was for it to be aired within 2005–2006 (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. However, complications arose when O'Grady was involved in a row with ITV and refused to appear on another of the broadcaster's programme, eventually defecting to Channel 4 to continue hosting his teatime show and effectively putting plans for the show 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 Cowell 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, titled ''Britain's Got More Talent'', with Stephen Mulhern as its presenter.

Format

Auditions

Each year's competition begins with two rounds of auditions. The first round, referred to as "open auditions", are held across several different cities around the UK during the Autumn months, within small venues that are attended by the producers. The second round, referred to as the "Judges' Auditions", are held the following year during January and February, within a select set of cities (these have commonly included Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London). They take place within a theatre or convention hall, whose venue is chosen primarily for having the necessary facilities for handling large volumes of contestants. The venue is arranged into three zones consisting of a waiting area for participants, the wings where they enter and leave, and the main stage area that they perform on. The second round's name is due to the fact that these auditions are attended to by the judges, along with an audience who secure tickets to attend these sessions.

Each participant that seeks to enter that year's competition must first submit an application to the programme, containing information about who is performing – whether a single person, a pair or trio of performers, and a small or large group – personal details regarding age, hometown and background, what experience they have for their talent, and the nature of the act that will be performed. Eligibility for the contest is determined by what information is submitted for researchers to double-check, such information is required, per the programme's terms and conditions. Once an application is approved, the participant conducts a performance during an open audition close to where they reside (or can reach), whereupon if successful, they will be allocated a place in the second round, and at a venue that they can reach without issue. Once they arrive at the venue they are assigned to, the participant is then given a number, and remains within the venue's designated waiting area until called into the wings to prepare to perform. Once brought onto the main stage, they begin by engaging with the judges, asking a few small questions (subjects can include their name, background and nature of their performance) – whereupon they are given three minutes to conduct their performance. A backing track for their act is allowed if required.

A performance ends when either the time is up, or all the judges use their buzzers. Each judge has one that they can use to signal their dislike of the performance if they believe it to be unconvincing, boring or completely unacceptable for the contest (although a buzzer can be retracted if the judge felt they used it mistakenly), such as if the participant's performance did something unexpected that changed their opinion of them. 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 at that point from the competition. Beginning with the eighth series, judges can also grant an automatic place in the live rounds through the use of the "Golden Buzzer" situated on their panel's desk (a feature first introduced on '' Germany's Got Talent''), which can be used by any of the judges for a participant whose audition was exceptional in their opinion, regardless of the views of the others. It may only be used once by each judge, and cannot be used again for any other participants yet to audition in that year's competition. The hosts of ''Britain's Got Talent'' may also press the Golden Buzzer for a participant, but must also adhere to the same rule.

Filming for each series begins during the Judges' Auditions, and always consists of recording taken from each venue of auditions and backstage scenes within the wings and waiting area. Footage taken by production staff is then edited into a series of episodes consisting of montages of scenes from multiple venues, consisting of the most notable auditions (the best, worst and funniest made) – along with interviews with some of the notable participants that auditioned, and recorded backstage scenes of the hosts overseeing the performances 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 will 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 the only time in the show's history that this has happened, and has not been repeated since.

Semi-finals and Final

Contestants who make it into the semi-finals by passing both stages of auditions (or receiving a Golden Buzzer, as of series 8), are divided into groups for each round, where they must perform before the audience and judges, as well as on live television. As with the audition stage, each semi-finalist must conduct a performance before the judges – a new routine of their act – with the judges' role being to watch what is conducted and give feedback towards the end of the performance. Buzzers may still be used by each judge, and the performance can be ultimately terminated if all buzzers are used. Because all semi-finalists are performing live, they are given time to prepare in advance with rehearsals, while production staff can provide assistance to those in preparing their performance. In the case of those conducting routines that incorporate a level of risk, precautions are put in place, including paramedics and sometimes set up off-site venues for performances to use – either live or for a pre-recorded film for the episode's live broadcast.

Each semi-final can only have two participants advance into the final, and these are determined by two votes. The first is public phone-in vote (via a special phone-number), in which the last two digits correspond to each semi-finalist, that takes place once all semi-finalists have performed and during a break in the semi-final to allow for votes to be made. Once the vote period is ended and the results counted and fully verified, the semi-finalist with the highest total of votes is announced as the winner of the semi-final and secures their place in the final. The second vote involves the judges and takes place after the result, in which they vote between the two semi-finalists placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the public vote, with the participant receiving the majority vote securing their place in the finals. In the case of a tied vote, as of series 5, the semi-finalist placed 2nd in the public vote advances into the final. In addition to these votes, semi-finalists can also secure a place in the finals if chosen as a "Wildcard". Introduced in the sixth series, the format allows the judges to choose any eliminated semi-finalist to be appointed as their Wildcard in the finals, through a private vote conducted once the semi-finals are completed. The result of this vote is announced prior to the final's broadcast. The format was later expanded to allow for a Wildcard to be chosen by the public from any eliminated semi-finalist they liked within in the ninth and tenth series respectively, though this format was dropped before the eleventh series. For the eleventh series, the judges vote was removed and all of the finalists from the semi-finals were chosen by the public, with the top two participants in the public vote advancing to the final. Following criticism over the format change, the judges vote was reinstated for the following series.

The finals operate in a similar manner to the semi-finals, though all participants in this stage compete primarily to win votes from the public with either a new routine, or on some occasions, an enhanced version of their original audition performance. The judges can still buzz and give opinions on the performance they view, but have little impact on the public's voting intention. Once the public vote has been completed (once all finalists have performed and the votes verified and counted), the hosts announce who is placed as the top two acts of the vote, before revealing the winner who received the most votes from the public. Finalists who win receive a cash prize, and a place 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, semi-finals for each weekday, and the live final aired on either the Saturday or Sunday of the weekend. Exceptions to this were in both the seventh and eighth series, the live final aired a week after the semi-finals had been completed, and in the fourteenth series, where due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the semi-final episodes were all pre-recorded and aired weekly on Saturday nights, with the live final following a week after the semi-finals had finished. In the first three series, the live semi-finals were aired as single 90 minute editions featuring both performances and results whilst the live final (apart from the first series) was shown in two parts, the first part featured the live performances from the finalists with the results announced in a separate broadcast later that evening. From series four until series thirteen, the semi-finals were altered and adopted the two show format featuring a 90 minute performance episode and a half-hour results episode, with another ITV programme, usually an episode of '' Coronation Street'', airing inbetween whilst the public vote took place. The live final during this period (apart from the fifth series) was merged into a single bumper edition, often running for around two and a half hours. Beginning from the third series, guest performers appeared on the show to give a performance; from the following series, when the semi-finals adopted the two show format, the results episode always featured a guest performer slot before the voting closed. In series fourteen, when the semi-finals aired weekly, each semi-final episode aired as a single two-hour edition. For the fifteenth series, the semi-finals returned to being shown live across a single week, but maintained the single two-hour episode format from the previous series.

Until the tenth series, live episodes were broadcast from The Fountain Studios in Wembley, the same site used for ''The X Factor''. Following its closure in 2016, the show relocated its live episodes to Elstree Studios in 2017, before moving to Hammersmith Apollo from the following year, apart from 2020.

Judges and Presenters

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 personality and actress Amanda Holden, newspaper editor and tabloid journalist Piers Morgan. In 2009, the producers made plans to alter the show's format to allow for a fourth judge when the third series was set to begin, with plans for Kelly Brook to be the new judge on the panel. Less than a week after the series began, this change was dropped on the belief that this alteration to the show's format would complicate it, resulting in Brooks being credited as a guest judge for that series. In 2010, Cowell fell ill during filming of the fourth series and was unable to attend the Birmingham auditions, leading to Louis Walsh stepping in as a guest judge in his place until he recovered.

In 2011, the panel saw its first major change, when Morgan revealed he was leaving the show to travel to America and begin filming of his new show. After Cowell announced he wouldn't be present for the fifth series' auditions due to his busy schedule with launching ''The X Factor USA'', the panel was replaced with comedian Michael McIntyre and former ''America's Got Talent'' judge David Hasselhoff, to join Holden during the auditions. Walsh returned as a guest judge for the London auditions, due to Hasselhoff's commitments with a pantomime at that time. When the series entered its live episodes, Cowell returned to oversee the acts as a fourth judge. In October 2011, both Hasselhoff and McIntyre declined to return for the sixth series, while Cowell announced he was returning full-time to the show.

On 2 January 2012, the producers revealed its decision to adopt the use of a fourth judge for the programme's format, announcing that both Cowell and Holden would now be joined by David Walliams and Alesha Dixon for the sixth series (with the latter moving to the talent show after deciding to leave BBC
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