Britain's Got Talent George Sampson (winner) Britain's Got Talent is a British television show on ITV (also on TV3 in Ireland). Presented by Ant & Dec, the talent show premiered on 9 June 2007, and was broadcast daily with a live final on 17 June 2007. It is a search for Britain's next best amateur talent act, featuring singers, dancers, comedians, variety acts, and other talents of all ages. Anyone who believed they have talent was encouraged to audition. The winner of the show received £100,000 and performed at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen and members of the Royal Family at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool. As Britain's Got Talent returns for its second series, hosts Ant & Dec and judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan once again begin their search for Britain's most talented performer. The second series began on a primetime slot at 19:45 on 12 April and for the remainder of the auditions will continue in this Saturday night slot. Once the semi-finals begin they will be shown daily, like in series one, over one week 26 May - 30 May with the live final on Saturday 31 May. Format The series made its début soon after the conclusion of its U.S. counterpart, America's Got Talent, and is the creation of The X Factor and Pop Idol/American Idol mastermind Simon Cowell who has created a Got Talent series across the globe. On 12 February 2007 it was announced by ITV the judges would be Cowell, Piers Morgan (who had also judged America's Got Talent), and Amanda Holden (a late replacement for Cheryl Cole[1]). In a similar fashion to The X Factor, the show has an ITV2 counterpart called Britain's Got More Talent, presented by magician and former CITV presenter, Stephen Mulhern. The show was originally planned to air much earlier (before America's Got Talent) and be presented by Paul O'Grady. However, after O'Grady's defection to Channel 4 from ITV for The Paul O'Grady Show, O'Grady refused to appear in another ITV show, so the series was put on hold after just one rehearsal show.[2][3] The audition process is similar to The Gong Show but with the judges pressing buzzers instead of banging a gong. The buzzers can only be pressed once if the judge has seen enough, and when all three are pressed the act must stop. The auditions also include the added twist of having to perform in front of a studio audience alongside the judges. Once the act finishes or is stopped, judges express their opinions and decide whether they would like to see them in the semi-finals, with acts needing to receive a majority vote to go through. The audience is invited to express their views (often boos or cheers) which may have a positive or negative impact on a judge's decision, should the judge be unsure on whether to put the act through. taken from wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain's_Got_Talent