Simon Cowell hopes BGT will ‘be here for a long, long time’

Simon Cowell thinks ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ (‘BGT’) will remain a TV staple for “a long, long time”.

The 64-year-old entertainment mogul will be returning to his judging seat on the ITV1 programme alongside Amanda Holden, 53, Alesha Dixon, 45, and Bruno Tonioli, 68, when the show returns on Saturday night (20.04.24) and has reflected on the achievements of the show almost 17 years after the first series aired.

Speaking to BANG Showbiz and other media outlets, he said: “I always thought, ‘If we can get three or four years out of this, it would be amazing’, and then you reach ten years and you go, ‘that’s a milestone’.

“I think because so many people now come from all over the world to compete, and it’s not just winning the show, it’s having that viral moment which can literally change your life overnight.

“I think that’s why people are going to come back year after year after year and hopefully keep competing and get better, because that’s what I’m seeing is that the acts are getting better, and because the show has all ages, I think it’s going to be here for a long, long time.”

The former 'X Factor’ judge then revealed that he didn’t always know ‘BGT’ would be a smash-hit, and admitted the team only had “24 hours” to turn the show around after the failed pilot episode.

He explained: “This show has a very interesting history about when we first started, because we did the pilot here and it was rubbish.

“Then, luckily we sold it to America and it was a hit. Then, thank god, ITV bought it, but three days before we were due to film, they cancelled it.

“So, we went up to Birmingham - because I didn’t tell anyone [about the failed episode] thinking, ‘we’ve got 24 hours. If it doesn’t work in the first day, we’re toast’, and thank god, the first day went well.”