During auditions, participants seek to impress a panel of judges – presently consisting of Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, and KSI – in order to secure a place in the live rounds of the contest.

The show's format was devised by X Factor creator and Sony Music executive Simon Cowell, who was involved in the creation of other Got Talent programmes across several different countries.

[3] To showcase his idea, a pilot episode was filmed in September 2005, with the judging panel consisting of Cowell, Fern Britton (at the time, presenter of This Morning), as well as tabloid journalist Piers Morgan.

The second round, referred to as the "Judges' Auditions", are held the following year during January and February, within a select set of cities (these have commonly included Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London).

[11] Contestants who make it into the semi-finals by passing both stages of auditions (or receiving a Golden Buzzer, as of series 8), are divided into groups for each round, where they must perform before the audience and judges, as well as on live television.

Introduced in the sixth series, the format allows the judges to choose any eliminated semi-finalist to be appointed as their Wildcard in the finals, through a private vote conducted once the semi-finals are completed.

The finals operate in a similar manner to the semi-finals, though all participants in this stage compete primarily to win votes from the public with either a new routine, or on some occasions, an enhanced version of their original audition performance.

[14][15][16] In 2010, Cowell fell ill during filming of the fourth series and was unable to attend the Birmingham auditions, leading to Louis Walsh stepping in as a guest judge in his place until he recovered.

[21] On 2 January 2012, the producers revealed its decision to adopt the use of a fourth judge for the programme's format, announcing that both Cowell and Holden would now be joined by David Walliams and Alesha Dixon for the sixth series (with the latter moving to the talent show after deciding to leave BBC's Strictly Come Dancing).

In September, October and December 2020, Cowell was absent from the series 14 live rounds and the Christmas Spectacular, following an accident that left him recovering from a back injury.

A single episode of this series, intended for airing on 22 May, was pushed back to 23 May in order to avoid it clashing with live coverage of the UEFA Champions League Final.

[citation needed] The series was won by gymnastic troupe Spelbound, with dancing duo Twist and Pulse coming in second, and drummer Kieran Gaffney placing third.

This series saw a change in the judging panel, following Piers Morgan's departure from the show,[citation needed] with Holden joined by David Hasselhoff and Michael McIntyre during the auditions.

Cowell appeared during the live episodes of the series with the rest of the panel,[26][27] while Louis Walsh returned as a guest judge for the London auditions when Hasselhoff couldn't attend due to other commitments at the time.

Additional open auditions were held in various local branches of Morrisons within "Talent Spot" tents, owing to the show's sponsorship deal with the supermarket chain at the time.

The series was won by boy band Collabro, with opera singer Lucy Kay coming in second, and rapper duo Bars & Melody placing third.

The winner of the series was trainer and dog duo Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse, with magician Jamie Raven coming second, and Welsh choir Côr Glanaethwy placing third.

Following the previous series, the Judges' vote was brought back into the show's format, while the live episodes were aired from Hammersmith Apollo and presented solely by Declan Donnelly.

[33] Two of these cities held open auditions in 2017, along with a number of locations within the United Kingdom and Ireland (including Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dublin and Inverness).

[34] The series was won by stand-up comedian Lost Voice Guy, with comedy singer/pianist Robert White coming second, and singer Donchez Dacres placing third.

Before the first semi-final was to be filmed, Simon Cowell sustained an injury following an accident in August, causing him to be absent for the rest of the series, and leading to him being replaced by Ashley Banjo as a guest judge in his place.

The fifteenth series was planned for production and broadcast in 2021, yet ITV, Thames and Syco Entertainment were concerned on how to safely conduct filming in the midst of the new government restrictions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both the contest and the production of the programme began in Spring of that year, with the spin-off's planned broadcast date announced in the 2019 series finale of Britain's Got Talent.

Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams were joined by Ashley Banjo from the series' live rounds, while Simon Cowell continued his recovery from a back injury earlier that year.

The one-off special featured judges Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams and guest Penn Jillette (who replaced Simon Cowell due to commitments in the US).

Former magician Stephen Mulhern hosted the show due to Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly testing positive for Covid days before filming.

"[citation needed] Cowell responded to Forsyth, stating that: "someone, Mr Grumpy, said we shouldn't have children your age on the show", after the performance of dance troupe Youth Creation.

The event consisted of several shows held across various UK cities during the Summer months, with site locations including: Cardiff, Liverpool, Birmingham, Belfast, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Nottingham, London and Manchester.

It was hosted by comedian Paddy McGuinness, and featured performances by that year's finalists of Britain's Got Talent: Spelbound, Twist & Pulse, Kieran Gaffney, Tobias Mead, Tina & Chandi, Paul Burling, Christopher Stone, Janey Cutler, Liam McNally and Connected.

Hosted by Mulhern, it featured performances by the finalists of that year's Britain's Got Talent: Jai McDowall, Ronan Parke, New Bounce, Razy Gogonea, Michael Collings, Paul Gbegbaje, Steven Hall, James Hobley, Les Gibson and Jean Martyn.