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 first series was won by opera singer Paul Potts; as of today, result information on other finalists has yet to be disclosed. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 8.4 million viewers. 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
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, with the original panel being Cowell, journalist Piers Morgan and former This Morning presenter, Fern Britton. 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, Morgan and actress Amanda Holden rather than Britton as originally intended and the hosts being Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, commonly known as Ant & Dec.
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:
Key: | | |
ParticipantAge(s)Genre Performance TypeSemi-finalResult Bessie Cursons 11 Singing Musical Theatre Performer 2 Caroline Boyes 48 Dance Dancer 1 Cheeky Bits 14–29 Dance Dance Group 3 Connie Talbot 6 Singing Singer 3 Craig Womersley 17 Variety Baton Twirler 2 Crazeehorse 29–37 Acrobatics Acrobatic Duo 2 Crew 82 18–32 Music Beatboxing Group 3 Damon Scott 27 Comedy Ventriloquist 1 Doctor Gore 30 Magic Gore Magician 3 Dominic Smith 14 Singing Singer 1 Jack Reeve 80 Dance Tap Dancer 2 Jake Pratt 10 Comedy Comedian 2 Kombat Breakers 13–25 Dance Dance Group 2 Luke & Charlotte 11 & 11 Dance Ballroom Dance Duo 1 MD Productions 11–28 Dance Dance Group 1 Mel's Klever K9’S 10–25 Animals / Dance Dog Act 1 Mike Garbutt 37 Comedy Impressionist 3 Paul Potts 36 Singing Opera Singer 1 Scott Holtom 21 Dance Breakdancer 3 The Bar Wizards 26—28 Variety Juggling Duo 3 The Free Runners 17–35 Acrobatics Free Running Group 1 The Mini-Mezzos 8–11 Dance Dance Group 2 Tony Laf 26 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist 3 Victoria Armstrong 29 Variety Angle Grinder 2
Semi-final summary Buzzed out | Judges' vote |
Semi-final 1 (14 June) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult MD Productions 1Dance Group Damon Scott 2Puppeteer Mel's Klever K9’S 3Dog Act Dominic Smith 4Singer Luke & Charlotte 5Ballroom Dance Duo Caroline Boyes 6Dancer The Free Runners 7Free Running Group Paul Potts 8Opera Singer
Semi-final 2 (15 June) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult Kombat Breakers 1Dance Group Victoria Armstrong 2Angel Grinder Jack Reeve 3Tap Dancer Jake Pratt 4Stand Up Comedian The Mini-Mezzos 5Dance Group Crazeehorse 6Acrobatic Duo Craig Womersley 7Baton Twirler Bessie Cursons 8Musical Theatre Performer Cowell inexplicably pressed Holden's buzzer, followed by his own, during Jack Reeves' performance. The buzzers were never removed, however Cowell offered no reason as to why he did this, going on to praise the act.
Semi-final 3 (16 June) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult Cheeky Bits 1Dance Group Mike Garbutt 2Impressionist Doctor Gore 3Gore Magician Tony Laf 4Singer & Guitarist Scott Holtom 5Breakdancer Crew 82 6Beatboxing Group The Bar Wizards 7Cocktail Juggling Duo Connie Talbot 8Singer
Final (17 June)
Finalist Order Performance Type Result Kombat Breakers 1Dance Group Finalist Damon Scott 2Puppeteer Finalist Bessie Cursons 3Musical Theatre Performer Finalist The Bar Wizards 4Cocktail Juggling Duo Finalist Connie Talbot 5Singer Finalist Paul Potts 6Opera Singer
Ratings
Episode Air date Total viewers(millions) ITV1Weekly rank Viewer share Auditions 1 9 June 5.20 12 22.7%F1 helps ITV win ratings race Digital Spy, 11 June 2007 Auditions 2 10 June 6.73 8 28.0%BBC 'Dream' pays off Digital Spy, 11 June 2007 Auditions 3 11 June 7.28 15 29.4%Broadcast Now Auditions 4 12 June 7.39 13 29.3%Broadcast Now Auditions 5 13 June 7.51 11 29.2%Broadcast Now Semi-final 1 14 June 8.36 9 34.0% Semi-final 2 15 June 9.28 8 38.1% Semi-final 3 16 June 9.29 7 40.9% Live final 17 June 11.58 1 43.7%ITV gets 13.5m with 'Talent' Digital Spy, 18 June 2007 Live final results 11.45 2 44.7%
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". 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, 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.
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.
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