Review: Britain’s Got Talent

Let’s start this off by saying I don’t usually watch Britain’s Got Talent. I dip in and out around the time of the live semi-finals. If an act I particularly like gets through then I’m quite prepared to watch the final. In fact this evening it was purely coincidental that I watched the show, however I saw enough that might make me want to tune in next week which may or may not be a good thing. The trouble I’ve always had with BGT is two things firstly there has always been a judge that has particularly grated on me – whether it be Piers, Hasslehoff or even now Alisha Dixon; secondly is the fact that now some acts seem to enter Britain’s Got Talent as part of ‘collecting’ fame across Europe. Being slightly controversial the idea of Attraction winning last year’s BGT did not appeal to me – they were Hungarian – the show is Britain’s Got Talent – it’s not called ‘Got Talent’ which is more like what the show should be called these days, though I suspect a certain Mr. Cowell’s increasing bank balance doesn’t mind.

The show’s initial news skit at the start, did not sit well with me. It was self indulgent and unnecessary and as with X Factor felt padded out, though fortunately this did not last long and we were soon into the thrust of the show. Unlike ‘The Voice’, ITV always show bad auditions. You do feel bad for some acts, but admittedly one of the more entertaining moments was the drummer who performed in what can only be described as a hamster wheel. Having been ‘buzzed out’ when left upside down, there then followed amusing cuts of the drummer being returned to the upright position and going off stage, having literally been ‘left hanging’.

Comedy acts aside the acts that got through were particularly entertaining. The country and western dance troupe were bound to get through particularly given the bad auditions shown directly before it, as were the two children who performed an extremely energetic and well co-ordinated hip-hop dance. Obviously press attention is going to be diverted towards the 79 year old ballroom dancer and her partner Nico who were nothing but outstanding and incredibly energetic. So much so Amanda Holden put this act straight through to the live semi finals – though Britain tends to love an underdog and the press news this evening that she already won the Spanish version of the show is not likely to go down well in the press. Dancing aside we had an electronic light show that was fairly good and a very talented opera singer that got through as well.

For me there were two highlights of the evening. Firstly there was the section on nerves – and yes you did read that right. Whilst the show is good for entertainment value, the fact that they showed more than one or two contestants bail out because they were so nervous I think is reassuring and a good thing to show to performers, particularly young performers everywhere. Sometimes people feel that its just them – this proved otherwise and it was great to see the show highlight this in a reasonably sensitive way.

However for me tonight’s major highlight was Collabro. The minute you saw them, you thought boyband. They were introduced as a boyband. Withering looks were given, eyebrows were raised – then they started singing. Not so much a boyband in the pop sense, but in the G4 and Il Divo sense. They were superb, singing a faultless version of ‘Stars’ from Les Miserables. I sincerely hope that this five piece do make it through to the live semi finals because I think I might just be persuaded to vote for them. I’ve already watched the audition four more times – I was that impressed. Unsurprisingly once they had started singing, Simon Cowell looked that them with those ‘come to my bank balance’ eyes, and they went through to the next round. I think they could go all the way depending on the rest of the competition – but as always I’ll let you all judge that one for yourselves!

This episode of Britain’s Got Talent is repeated at 2.40pm, Sunday 13th April on ITV and again at 4.25pm on ITV2. A further repeat is scheduled for Easter Saturday at 12.15pm on ITV2. Britain’s Got Talent continues on Easter Saturday at 7pm on ITV.