Britain's Got Talent 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, it is produced by both Thames and Syco Entertainment, distributed by Fremantle, and broadcast on ITV every year 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.
The X Factor is a British reality television music competition, created by Simon Cowell. Premiering on 4 September 2004, it was produced by Fremantle's Talkback Thames, and Cowell's production company Syco Entertainment for ITV, as well as simulcast on Virgin Media One in Ireland. The programme ran for around 445 episodes across fifteen series, each one primarily broadcast late in the year, until its final episode in December 2018. The majority of episodes were presented by Dermot O'Leary, with some exceptions: the first three series were hosted by Kate Thornton; while Caroline Flack and Olly Murs hosted the show for the twelfth series.
The first series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 9 to 17 June 2007; it was commissioned following the success of the first season of America's Got Talent, helping to revive production of the British edition after initial development was suspended in 2005. Simon Cowell, the programme's creator, formed the judging panel with both Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden, with Ant & Dec operating as the programme's hosts. Alongside the main programme, the first series was accompanied by a spin-off sister programme on ITV2, titled Britain's Got More Talent, hosted by Stephen Mulhern.
The third series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 11 April to 30 May 2009. The judging panel of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan returned from the previous series; a fourth judge, Kelly Brook, was added, but removed from the series shortly after filming began.
The fourth series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 17 April to 5 June 2010; due to live coverage of the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final on 22 May, the sixth audition episode of the series was pushed back a day to avoid clashing with it. Production on the fourth series during the filmed auditions required Louis Walsh to step in as a guest judge, after Simon Cowell became ill and unable to partake in certain sessions.
Charlie Wernham is an English comedian and actor who is known for auditioning on the second series of the ITV talent show Britain's Got Talent and for his role as Robbie Roscoe in Hollyoaks. He played Aaron Monroe in EastEnders from 2021 to 2022. He currently plays Mitchell in Bad Education and has appeared in The Inbetweeners, School of Comedy, and Some Girls.
Over the Rainbow is a British television talent series that aired on BBC One from 26 March to 22 May 2010. It documented the search for a new, undiscovered musical theatre performer to play the role of Dorothy Gale in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 2011 stage production of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and a dog to play Toto for a one-off performance.
The fifth series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 16 April to 4 June 2011; due to live coverage of the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final on 28 May, the final audition episode of the series was pushed back a day to avoid clashing with it. As Piers Morgan had departed from the programme the previous year, and the schedule of Simon Cowell made him unable to attend auditions, the producers arranged for Amanda Holden to be joined by David Hasselhoff and Michael McIntyre on the judging panel. Due to Hasselhoff's schedule during filming of the auditions, Louis Walsh stepped in as a guest judge for the sessions he could not attend.
The sixth series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 24 March to 12 May 2012. The sixth series saw Simon Cowell resume a full commitment to the programme following the previous series, yet neither David Hasselhoff and Michael McIntyre returned to take part in the new series, leading to them being replaced by Alesha Dixon and David Walliams. Because of her pregnancy during filming of the auditions, Amanda Holden was required to miss a number of sessions, leading to producers asking Carmen Electra to step in as a guest judge in her place.
The seventh series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 13 April to 8 June 2013; because of England's international friendly with the Republic of Ireland that year, the show took a break on 29 May to avoid clashing with live coverage of the match. Because of the work schedule of Stephen Mulhern, host of Britain's Got More Talent, filmed auditions had to be pushed back to mid-January that year, while no guest judge was brought in despite the absence of Simon Cowell for an audition session. Following the previous series, the programme's format was given a minor amendment - the cash prize offered to winners was reduced to £250,000 from this series onwards.
The eighth series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 12 April to 7 June 2014; because of England's international friendly with Peru, the show took a break on 30 May to avoid clashing with live coverage of the match. Auditions were held in Northern Ireland instead of Scotland for this series, with hosts Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly having to stand in for Simon Cowell, after illness forced him to be absent during a day of auditions. This series was the first in the programme's history to introduce the "Golden Buzzer" format to the competition – an element that was being introduced to the Got Talent franchise since it was first introduced on Germany's Got Talent in 2012.
The ninth series of the British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 11 April to 31 May 2015. The series saw the "Wildcard" format introduced in the sixth series being modified in this series to include a "Public Wildcard" – like the "Judges' Wildcard" any act eliminated in the semi-finals, primarily those that lost out in the Judges' vote, could be reinstated by the public, based on the one that received the most votes from them before the final. Although speculations and rumours began to emerge after the previous series ended, claiming that some of the judges would be leaving before the ninth series, these were later dismissed as being unfounded by ITV, on 16 January 2015.
The tenth series of the British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 9 April to 28 May 2016. To celebrate ten series of the show, the final featured a special performance entitled "Best of Britain’s Got Talent", which featured several participants who had appeared on the show during the previous nine series, including Ashleigh and Pudsey, Attraction, Diversity, Jon Clegg, Stavros Flatley, Collabro and Spelbound. It was the last series to have its live episodes broadcast at The Fountain Studios before the site's closure that year.
The eleventh series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 15 April to 3 June 2017; because the One Love Manchester concert was to take place on 4 June, the live final was brought forward a day to avoid clashing with it. Following the closure of Fountain Studios the previous year, the live episodes were broadcast from Elstree Studios. The change in location allowed for a revamp of the studio used by both the main programme and its sister show, Britain's Got More Talent.
The twelfth series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 14 April to 3 June 2018. For this series, the live episodes were broadcast from Hammersmith Apollo, and presented by Dec Donnelly only; while Ant McPartlin suspended his TV commitments on 19 March 2018, he still appeared in the audition episodes as these had already been filmed in January and February earlier that year. Compared to previous years, this series featured a higher number of participants for the judges to select semi-finalists from, not counting those who received the Golden Buzzer, and saw the return of the Judges' Vote to the show's format.
The thirteenth series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 6 April to 2 June 2019. This series became the first to see the return of Ant McPartlin to his television duties, hosting alongside Dec Donnelly, following his absence the previous year to attend rehabilitation prior to the start of the previous series' live episodes. Alongside McPartlin's return, the competition for this year saw the oldest participant to win Britain's Got Talent, and the surprise return of a performer who participated in a previous year's contest, operating under an alias until their final appearance.
Britain's Got Talent: The Champions is a spin-off of Britain's Got Talent, a British talent competition series, which began broadcasting on ITV on 31 August 2019. The programme functions similar to BGT, but features a selection of participants - winners, finalists and other notable acts - from across the history of both Britain's Got Talent and the Got Talent franchise, who compete in a series of preliminaries to secure a place in the grand final and a chance to win a large prize and to be crowned Britain's champion within Got Talent.
The fourteenth series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, but in two parts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom during that year which affected production on the programme. The first half consisted of audition episodes that had already been filmed, which were aired between 11 April to 30 May 2020. The second half consisted of the remaining episodes when production could resume, and were aired between 30 August to 10 October 2020. The series was notable for Simon Cowell's absence from the semi-finals and final after he sustained an injury following an accident in August, forcing him to be replaced by Ashley Banjo. He still appeared in the audition episodes as they had been filmed and aired before his injury. Before Cowell's injury, it was intended for him to be virtually present for the semi-finals because of travel restrictions and his commitments to America's Got Talent.
