HI,
I thought it might be helpful to write down our experience of ticket validation and attending the show last week (Saturday 3rd October 2015).
Having used this forum ourselves, it seems that the most useful information came from here, so thank you.
My son and I decided to stay the night before at the Ibis Hotel because we got the distinct impression that being turned away at the gates was a definite possibility! We got up early and headed to the queue for 6am. When we arrived there was a queue of approx 50 to 60 people (the earliest to arrive has got there at 2am!!
Check your ticket for where you have to queue; I noticed at the last minute that we had to queue at the Maxwell Road entrance. You can easily find Maxwell Road on a map, when you get there, head to the end of it (it's short) and you will see a red and white car park barrier at the Community Hall; the gates you're looking for are opposite the Community Hall. The queue then runs along the footpath adjacent to the playing field.
We queued until 9am, during which time a member of BBC staff was on hand to answer any questions. Ticket validation began promptly at 9am when members of staff wearing high viz, scanned our tickets and put a numbered sticker on them. That was it! Validation complete!
Just to clarify as there was some confusion in the queue, that number isn't a seat number, however, it does mean that you are seated from best seats to worst seats in numerical order. So, those with no 1 got the best seats and went into the studio first, followed by no2 and so on until everyone is seated. We were numbers 57 and 58; we were seated behind the judges and sat next to Tess all night between her links!
If you want to be in the front row, you had better get there early! Having said that, we had a great view and it was hard to see any seats that would have been a disappointment.
After validation we were asked to return at 3pm for admission to the marquee; security checks were done, phones handed in and we started to go into the studio around 4.30pm.
We had a fabulous time; the whole experience was well organised and great fun. I recommend anyone who is lucky enough to get tickets to go.
Just a quick note to finish; whilst queueing for 3 hours obviously lots of people arrived after us. Some were still arriving when we left at 9; all of those people got in that day. In fact I spoke to lady in the interval who said she hadn't arrived until 13:30 and she still got in! They apparently took 500 members of the public that day so I believe it depends on how many guests of contestants and production there are; then they seat as many of us as to fill the audience.
I don't regret going early though! I wanted to be sure as we had travelled a long way and didn't want to be disappointed. It was good fun with everyone in the queue but you will have to make your own call about how early you go!
but it was. Thanks for sharing your experience. 
