The original Britain’s Got Talent had a completely different host and name
It had a huge change.
The latest series of Britain’s Got Talent is well underway, with auditions from across the country airing on ITV as the variety show returns.
Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly joined judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, Bruno Tonioli and KSI as they begin their hunt for the nation’s greatest talent.
But Britain’s Got Talent started off with a very different set of stars, and even another name.
The series was originally due to launch in 2005, with Paul O’Grady at the helm.
He hosted the pilot (which never aired until clips reportedly featured in a 2012 documentary titled The Talent Show Story) alongside then-judges Simon, Fern Britton and Piers Morgan.
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Paul O’Grady originally hosted the Britain’s Got Talent pilot (Picture: PA)However, O’Grady was involved in a ‘row’ with ITV and ‘banned’ from their studios, telling The Daily Mirror in 2010: ‘I did the pilot for Britain’s Got Talent – which was originally going to be called Paul O’Grady’s Got Talent.
‘But I told the producers they were having a joke if they thought I would front a show with that title.
‘The original panel of judges was going to be Simon Cowell, Fern Britton and Piers Morgan. I was the host.
‘Then when I had the row with ITV I was banned from the studios.
The Lily Savage star had a row with ITV (Picture: PA)‘I remember I rang Simon and told him he had a huge hit on his hands, but there was no way I could do it. I said, if I am banned I have to be banned from everything.
‘I can’t be a hypocrite and come in and do this. I had to bow out.’
The Lily Savage star added that he didn’t regret what he did, saying: ‘Not in the slightest. Good luck to them.’
Of course, without O’Grady, the show couldn’t be named Paul O’Grady’s Got Talent, and in 2007, following the success of America’s Got Talent, ITV announced British series Got Talent, with Ant and Dec as hosts.
Ant and Dec took over as hosts (Picture: Tom Dymond/Shutterstock)The judging panel saw Simon and Piers alongside Amanda Holden, with the first season airing in June 2007.
Talking about the original line-up, which later saw the likes of Michael McIntyre, David Hasselhoff and guest judges Louis Walsh and Kelly Brook, commissioner Claudia Rosencrantz told Metro: ‘I did the pilot of it and in the pilot we had Piers Morgan.
‘I liked the fact that Piers Morgan was unpredictable and kind of very tabloid in his views so I thought he’d be quite an interesting person to have one on a panel, very different anyone that’s been on any other panel.
Fern Britton was originally one of the judges (Picture: Tim Whitby/Getty Images)‘And I had Fern Britton on the panel, the original pilot we did. She laughs so much, and she’s a great laugher. And when Fern laughs she literally just cries and I like that, it made me laugh.
‘And then Simon Cowell insisted on being on the pilot. I said, “But that’s not helpful because it’s going to limit me and when I can play the show, because there’s gonna be a great show. It’s gonna be fabulous.” And he said, “I’ll just do the pilot.”‘
‘So then we did this pilot, and I remember going down to watch it and oh my god, I laughed so much I was nearly sick,’ Claudia continued.
Britain’s Got Talent continues next Saturday on ITV1.
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