Over The Rainbow

(Entertainment : Music)
Britain's Got Talent, singing competition, Connie Talbot,

Connie performs on Britain's Got Talent Grand Final

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 receives £100,000 and will perform at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen and members of the Royal Family at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool.

The series follows the format of hit U.S. talent show, America's Got Talent, and is the creation of The X Factor and American Idol judge, Simon Cowell. On 12 February 2007 it was announced by ITV the judges would be Cowell, Piers Morgan, and Amanda Holden. 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 CITVStephen Mulhern. presenter,

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.

The final four shows broadcast live, with three semi-finals, followed by the final. In Series 1, eight acts performed in each semi-final, with the six most popular acts from each semi-final winning a position in the final. Unlike the American version, judges may still end a performance early with three 'X's. The audience are again asked to express their views on each act's performance.

After all eights acts have performed, phone lines open for a short time. After the votes are counted the act who polled the highest number of public votes was automatically placed in the final. The judges then choose between second and third most popular acts, with the winner of that vote gaining a place in the final. All other acts are then eliminated from the competition.

Paul Potts was announced as the winner of Britain's Got Talent Series 1.