Even if the answers were complete opposites of each other.

I can see ITV1 stretching Britain's Got Talent out by a couple of audition shows; or maybe a couple of last chance qualifiers where the public vote on acts turned down by the judges and the winners go through to finals week.

BGT has 45 finalists this year, more than normal. Whats happening, theyre having extra live shows?

Nine acts over five nights, presumably. I would say they're aiming for two hour live shows but what would they do with Emmerdale?

What happens if the FA Cup Final overuns due to penalties, will they delay the BGT final until the next day or show it until after 11pm?

It looks fresh and fantastic. I also think the BBC have got the judges spot on. I was a bit 50/50 on Will.I.Am but even he looks like he will work. I hope its a success but ITV are going all out to make sure it isn't.

I'm also gutted Titanic is going out against Upstairs Downstairs. UD has had a very unfortunate set of circumstances to deal with from the get go and now it looks like it will be killed off for good unless they can somehow pull in a decent final rating. Which now looks unlikely. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be.

They'll presumably run it from 8-10pm, or 8:30-10:30pm on the Monday and Friday.

As for the Saturday, I presume they'll start it at 8pm to minimise the effects of a football overrun. Makes a Sunday results show more likely too if they aren't starting until 8pm on the Saturday.

Whens the BGT Final again? I just checked and FA Cup Finals on 5th May, is that same day as BGT Final? I mightve got the dates wrong before

10.30pm will be far too late for Britain's Got Talent to finish; especially on a weeknight.

8-10 will be interesting; I can see ITV doing it if they're fuming at the BBC for their approach with The Voice. It'd mean either Coronation Street or Britain's Got Talent would be against EastEnders throughout the week.

Ah I got mixed up. I think BGT's final may be on the 12th - I thought the FA Cup Final was then too for some reason.


BGT had a few semifinals ending at 10:30pm in 2008 and 2009 and in both years they were the highest rating of the week so it wouldn't be an issue. I doubt they'd have Corrie against EE.

My guess is that the final week of BGT will run from 7.30pm to 9.30pm each evening with Corrie running at 9.30pm and the BGT results at 10pm. The news being pushed back to 10.30pm.

Its the only way it will work with all those contestants.

Could they do that? Even though they couldn't let Adele finish her speech?

didnt ITV delay the schedule a bit, after Ant, Dec, & Simon make a little girl cry live on BGT?

I may have the exact details wrong.

Depends how annoyed they are at the BBC - especially if Coronation Street is scripted to have the usual big week during Britain's Got Talent finals week.

I guess 10.30pm would work fine on the Friday. I'm surprised it works well on a Monday, though.

Might've gone over by a couple of minutes, but nothing serious. Strangely, they managed to make up time very well.

im pleased that they didnt do any real damage to the ITV schedule that night, that after all is what is the most important.

Anything would think it was timed to happen, if you get my drift.

Not that I'm stating for definite that it was deliberate, before Syco sue me.

Upstairs Downstairs predicament is its own doing. It's a pretty charlmless programme with characters that the viewers have failed to warm to. Hence the reason it's lost 1.5m viewers in the overnights in 2 weeks. If the programme had been as well received as Call The Midwife and Downton Abbey, ITV would think twice about launching Titanic against the season finale.

you think that Syco would deliberately set out to make a little girl cry? Ive accused Syco of alot on this thread, never that.

It won't happen due to the curfew for young people:appearing on live TV. I think the cut off time is 10pm. Which is why you don't see them on More Talent afterwards..

Not eactly - but I wouldn't be surprised if they asked her to make a bit of a drama out of the performance.

It's just strange how they duplicated performance and barely didn't lose any time on it. Maybe in truth ITV cut some ads (yeah, right )

As I said before, I'm not saying they did. But with Syco there's always a doubt.

I would expect BGT to run from Monday 28th May through to Saturday 2nd May?

Agree - at least Simon Cowell has earned his arrogance in the field over the last few years. Never really though Will.i.am came across that well in interviews etc. either.


I don't see why it would - I suspect they've still got an eye on May half term for the live shows. Adding an extra audition show wouldn't be a problem, and they could easily flesh out the selection of the finalists to a full blown hour rather than tagging it on to the end of an audition show - indeed they could make a couple of shows out of it if they turn it into some kind of boot camp.

And if they're still struggling they could ditch the show the week of the Champions League final rather than move it to Sunday.

As for 45 in the final week - hopefully the talent backs that up this year as if anything I'd be cutting an act per show rather than adding one. I suspect it'll still follow the 90/30 pattern - Syco is nowhere near as bad as Dancing on Ice for stretching out performance shows and they previously had eight acts, a guest and results within 30 minutes so could accomodate nine quite easily. If they did need extra time for a ninth act I would think it's more likely the two shows will be merged into one and it'll play out over two hours rather than getting an extra half hour a night.


Almost certainly. The Bank Holiday may have moved but that week is still the best option as Euro 2008 kicks off on the 8th June - plus it puts the final as part of Jubilee weekend, rather than having the live shows competing against it. I imagine too that for most people half term remains that week too.

Dragging BGT so that the live shows are at the end of May, going on June, is huge overkill. With The Voice it will be relatively new for most people, but as The X Factor has proved, extending a show for longer than is necessary kills the ratings. Any more than 7 audition shows will get people turning over to the Beeb.

But if they add a fresh stage to the programme, they may be able to keep the ratings up.

you obviously have a lower opinon of Syco than me.