Britain's Got Talent (series 1)

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Britain's Got Talent
Series 1
Hosted byAnthony McPartlin (ITV)
Declan Donnelly (ITV)
Stephen Mulhern (ITV2)
JudgesSimon Cowell
Amanda Holden
Piers Morgan
WinnerPaul Potts
Release
Original networkITV
ITV2 (BGMT)
Original release9 June (2007-06-09) –
17 June 2007 (2007-06-17)
Series chronology
Next →
Series 2
List of episodes

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 Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as 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 first series was won by opera singer Paul Potts; as of 2019, result information on other finalists has yet to be disclosed. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 8.4 million viewers.[1] The first series faced controversy relating to the involvement of two participants who failed to disclose information that would make them ineligible for participation, alongside receiving criticism from viewers for airing footage that was considered unsuitable during one of the semi-finals.

Series overview[]

When production on the show resumed, Morgan was brought in as a judge, having been an original choice during the show's initial conception.

After Simon Cowell pitched to ITV his plans for a televised talent competition, production was green-lighted for a full series after a pilot episode was created in mid-2005. However, a dispute broke out between Paul O'Grady, the original choice as host for the programme, and the broadcaster, that resulted in O'Grady signing up to another broadcaster. His decision resulted in production being suspended, and did not resume until in the wake of the success of the first series of America's Got Talent. When it did resume, production staff focused on a schedule of ten episodes to begin with for the first series of Britain's Got Talent, with major auditions for potential acts held within the cities of Manchester, Birmingham, London and Cardiff. The initial choices for judges changed to begin with following O'Grady's decision to switch broadcasters, with it eventually finalised on Cowell, Piers Morgan, and Amanda Holden.

Of the participants who auditioned to be in the contest for this series, only 24 made it into the three live semi-finals, with eight appearing in each one, and six of these acts moving on into the live final. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:

  Winner |   Finalist |   Semi-finalist
Participant Genre Act Semi-final Result
Bessie Cursons Music Musical Theatre Performer 2 Finalist
Caroline Boyes Dance Dancer 1 Eliminated
Cheeky Bits Dance Dance Group 3 Eliminated
Connie Talbot Singing Singer 3 Finalist
Craig Womersley Variety Baton Twirler 2 Eliminated
Crazeehorse Acrobatics Acrobatic Duo 2 Eliminated
Crew 82 Music Beat Boxing Group 3 Eliminated
Damon Scott Comedy Comic Puppeteer 1 Finalist
Doctor Gore Magic Magician 3 Eliminated
Dominic Smith Singer Singer 1 Eliminated
Jack Reeve Dance Tap Dancer 2 Eliminated
Jake Pratt Singing / Comedy Comic Singer 2 Eliminated
Kombat Breakers Dance Dance Group 2 Finalist
Luke & Charlotte Dance Ballroom Dancers 1 Eliminated
MD Productions Dance Dance Group 1 Eliminated
Mel's Klever K9’S Animal / Dance Line Dancing Dog Act 1 Eliminated
Mike Garbutt Comedy Impressionist 3 Eliminated
Paul Potts Singing Opera Singer 1 Winner
Scott Holtom Dance Dancer 3 Eliminated
The Bar Wizards Variety Cocktail Jugglers 3 Finalist
The Free Runners Acrobatics Acrobatic Group 1 Eliminated
The Mini-Mezzos Dance Dance Group 2 Eliminated
Tony Laf Singing Singer 3 Eliminated
Victoria Armstrong Variety Angle Grinder 2 Eliminated

Semi-final summary[]

Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Buzzed out | Crystal Clear app clean.svg Judges' vote |   Advanced - Public Vote
  Advanced - Judges' Vote |   Eliminated - Judges' Vote |   Eliminated

Semi-final 1 (14 June)[]

Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Result
Cowell Holden Morgan
MD Productions 1 Eliminated
Damon Scott 2 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg Advanced (Won Judges' vote)
Mel's Klever K9’S 3 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Eliminated
Dominic Smith 4 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Eliminated (Lost Judges' vote)
Luke & Charlotte 5 Eliminated
Caroline Boyes 6 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Eliminated
The Free Runners 7 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Eliminated
Paul Potts 8 Advanced (Won Public vote)

Semi-final 2 (15 June)[]

Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Result
Cowell Holden Morgan
Kombat Breakers 1 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg Advanced (Won Judges' vote)
Victoria Armstrong 2 Eliminated
Jack Reeve 3 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Eliminated
Jake Pratt 4 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Eliminated
The Mini-Mezzos 5 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Eliminated
Crazeehorse 6 Eliminated
Craig Womersley 7 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Eliminated (Lost Judges' vote)
Bessie Cursons 8 Advanced (Won Public vote)

Semi-final 3 (16 June)[]

Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Result
Cowell Holden Morgan
Cheeky Bits 1 Eliminated
Mike Garbutt 2 Eliminated
Doctor Gore 3 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Eliminated
Tony Laf 4 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Eliminated (Lost Judges' vote)
Scott Holtom 5 Eliminated
Crew 82 6 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Eliminated
The Bar Wizards 7 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Advanced (Won Judges' vote)
Connie Talbot 8 Advanced (Won Public vote)

Final (17 June)[]

Finalist Order Result
Kombat Breakers 1 Finalist
Damon Scott 2 Finalist
Bessie Cursons 3 Finalist
The Bar Wizards 4 Finalist
Connie Talbot 5 Finalist
Paul Potts 6 Winner

Ratings[]

Main article: List of Britain's Got Talent episodes
Episode Air Date Total Viewers
(millions)[2] 		ITV 1
Weekly rank[2] 		Viewer Share
Auditions 1 9 June 5.20 12 22.7% [3]
Auditions 2 10 June 6.73 8 28.0% [4]
Auditions 3 11 June 7.28 15 29.4% [5]
Auditions 4 12 June 7.39 13 29.3% [6]
Auditions 5 13 June 7.51 11 29.2% [7]
Semi-final 1 14 June 8.36 9 34.0% [8]
Semi-final 2 15 June 9.28 8 38.1% [9]
Semi-final 3 16 June 9.29 7 40.9% [9]
Live final 17 June 11.58 1 43.7% [1]
Live final results 17 June 11.45 2 44.7% [1]

Criticism & controversies[]

The first series of Britain's Got Talent found itself marred with controversy over two participants - Richard Bates, and Kit Kat Dolls - that auditioned for the competition, after they were found to have breached rules that required personal details and information that was not "untruthful, inaccurate or misleading".[10] Bates was removed at the request of Lancashire Police, after they revealed that he had not disclosed being on the UK's Violent and Sex Offender Register at the time of filming for an offence he had committed in 2005,[11] while the Kit Kat Dolls were disqualified after three of their members were discovered to be secretly working as prostitutes during an undercover investigation by the News of the World.[12]

When the live rounds took place, viewers criticised the programme for the involvement of magician Doctor Gore. Their complaints focused on the nature of his performance and their presentation, which they deemed as unsuitable for a family-orientated programme that would be watched by young children. Production staff claimed in their defence that the performance was thoroughly reviewed before it was broadcast, but the investigation of regulator Ofcom ruled against Britain's Got Talent for breaching its broadcasting code with regards to protecting young children from unsuitable material.[13][14]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c ITV gets 13.5m with 'Talent' Digital Spy, 18 June 2007
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  3. ^ F1 helps ITV win ratings race Digital Spy, 11 June 2007
  4. ^ BBC 'Dream' pays off Digital Spy, 11 June 2007
  5. ^ Broadcast Now Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine(subscription required)
  6. ^ Broadcast Now Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Broadcast Now Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ [1] Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "Viewing Figures The Authority on Television Viewing > Viewing Figures Home". Viewingfigures.com. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008.
  10. ^ "BGT: Terms and Conditions". Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  11. ^ "Police alert over TV contestant". BBC News. 16 June 2007.
  12. ^ "Britain's Got Talent…For Hire: Kit-Kat Sex". Unrealitytv.co.uk. 17 June 2007. Archived from the original on 25 October 2008.
  13. ^ "Broadcast Bulletin Issue Number 91". Ofcom.org.uk. Archived from the original on 29 June 2008.
  14. ^ "Britain's Got Talent rapped over Dr Gore". 20 August 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2007.
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