Britain's Got Talent (series 1)
| Britain's Got Talent | |
|---|---|
| Series 1 | |
| Broadcast from | 9 June – 17 June 2007 |
| Judges | Simon Cowell Amanda Holden Piers Morgan |
| Presenter(s) | Ant & Dec (ITV) |
| Co-presenter(s) | Stephen Mulhern (ITV2) |
| Broadcaster | ITV ITV2 (Britain's Got More Talent) |
| Winner | |
| Paul Potts | |
| 180px | |
| Origin | Port Talbot, Wales |
| Song | "Turandot" |
| Genre(s) | Classical, operatic pop |
The first series of Britain's Got Talent began on ITV on 9 June 2007 and ended on 17 June 2007. It was won by opera singer Paul Potts. The first five shows concerned the audition stages of the competition and the final four shows aired the live semi-finals and final. The show was hosted by Ant & Dec on ITV, while Stephen Mulhern presented spin-off show Britain's Got More Talent on ITV2. The judges were Piers Morgan, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell.
Contents
Background
The series was first intended to air in 2005 before America's Got Talent, but was postponed after original host Paul O'Grady transferred from ITV to Channel 4. Ant & Dec were later decided upon as replacement hosts. David Hasselhoff and Cheryl Cole were originally lined up as judges, but both resigned before the programme was due to air, meaning Holden and Morgan were brought in as replacements. Cowell later employed Cole as the replacement for Sharon Osbourne on The X Factor, as he felt she was better suited to the show. Hasselhoff later joined America's Got Talent and was a judge in the fifth series of Britain's Got Talent.
Auditions
Auditions took place Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham and London.[1]
Semi-final summary
The "Order" columns lists the order of appearance each act made for every episode.
| Key |  Buzz |
 Judges' choice |
Won the public vote
|
Won the judges' vote
|
Lost the judges' vote
|
|---|
Semi-final 1 (14 June)
| Order | Result | Artist | Act | Buzzes and judges' choices | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowell | Holden | Morgan | ||||
| 1 | Eliminated | MD Productions | Dance Group | |||
| 2 | Top 3 (won judges' vote) | Damon Scott | Comedy Puppeteer | |
|
|
| 3 | Eliminated | Mel's Klever K9’S | Line Dancing Dog Act | |
|
|
| 4 | Top 3 (lost judges' vote) | Dominic Smith | Singer | |
||
| 5 | Eliminated | Luke & Charlotte | Dancing Couple | |||
| 6 | Eliminated | Caroline Boyes | Solo Dancer | |
|
|
| 7 | Eliminated | The Free Runners | Acrobatic free running act | |
|
|
| 8 | 1st (won public vote) | Paul Potts | Opera singer | |||
Semi-final 2 (15 June)
| Order | Result | Artist | Act | Buzzes and judges' choices | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowell | Holden | Morgan | ||||
| 1 | Top 3 (won judges' vote) | Kombat Breakers | Dance group | |
|
|
| 2 | Eliminated | Victoria Armstrong | Angle Grinding | |||
| 3 | Eliminated | Jack Reeve | Tap Dancer | |
1 |
|
| 4 | Eliminated | Jake Pratt | Singer/Comedian | |
||
| 5 | Eliminated | The Mini-Mezzos | Dance Group | |
||
| 6 | Eliminated | Crazeehorse | Acrobatic Act | |||
| 7 | Top 3 (lost judges' vote) | Craig Womersley | Baton Twirler | |
||
| 8 | 1st (won public vote) | Bessie Cursons | Musical theatre performer | |||
- ^1 Cowell pressed Holden's buzzer.
Semi-final 3 (16 June)
| Order | Result | Artist | Act | Buzzes and judges' choices | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowell | Holden | Morgan | ||||
| 1 | Eliminated | Cheeky Bits | Dance Group | |||
| 2 | Eliminated | Mike Garbutt | Comedian | |||
| 3 | Eliminated | Doctor Gore | Alternative Magic/Comedy | |
|
|
| 4 | Top 3 (lost judges' vote) | Tony Laf | Singer | |
||
| 5 | Eliminated | Scott Holtom | Solo Dancer | |||
| 6 | Eliminated | Crew 82 | Beat boxing group | |
||
| 7 | Top 3 (won judges' vote) | The Bar Wizards | Alternative Juggling | |
|
|
| 8 | 1st (won public vote) | Connie Talbot | Singer | |||
Final
| Order | Finished | Artist | Act |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5th | Kombat Breakers | Dance group |
| 5 | 3rd | Damon Scott | Comedy puppeteer |
| 3 | 4th | Bessie Cursons | Musical theatre performer |
| 4 | 6th | The Bar Wizards | Alternative juggling |
| 2 | 2nd | Connie Talbot | Singer |
| 6 | 1st | Paul Potts | Opera singer |
Ratings
| Show | Date | Official ratings (millions)[2] |
Weekly rank[2] | 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%[10] |
| Live final results | 17 June | 11.45 | 2 | 44.7%[10] |
| Series average | 2007 | 8.38 | TBC | 34% |
| Overall | Viewers | Share | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auditions | 6.8m | 28.0% | — |
| Live shows | 10.0m | 40.0% | — |
| Series average | 8.40m | 33.6% | [10] |
Controversies
Richard Bates
Series one contestant Richard Bates claimed he quit the show in 2007 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 offender registry following an unspecified offence committed in December 2005.[11][12] Lancashire Police stated that they were worried the victim might see Bates on television. As a result, Richard Bates was disqualified.
Kit Kat Dolls
On 16 June 2007 (the last semi-final show of series one), drag act the Kit Kat Dolls were disqualified after the News of the World claimed that three of the members were prostitutes.[13]
Doctor Gore
Ofcom investigated 21 complaints made about Doctor Gore's rather gruesome magic act, and found the programme to be in breach of their broadcasting code.[14]
Paul Potts
During his time on the show, Paul Potts faced allegations that was already an established performer who had trained intensively under Pavarotti in Italy. Potts, who would later win the show denied the accusations, claiming that he had only performed in amateur opera productions, and his lessons with Pavarotti had actually been a single masterclass. This was confirmed by a former singing teacher who stated that Potts was forced to quit singing in 2003 due to illness[15]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ F1 helps ITV win ratings race Digital Spy, 11 June 2007
- ↑ BBC 'Dream' pays off Digital Spy, 11 June 2007
- ↑ Broadcast Now[dead link]
- ↑ Broadcast Now[dead link]
- ↑ Broadcast Now[dead link]
- ↑ [1][dead link]
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ This is my lifelong dream, says the singing salesman
| Series | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presenters | |||||||||||||||||||
| Judges |
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Winners | |||||||||||||||||||
| Other notable contestants |
|
||||||||||||||||||
