The second series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 12 April to 31 May 2008. Following the success of its first series, ITV commissioned the programme for additional episodes, with more venues used for auditions than in the previous series, and the number of semi-finalists, semi-final rounds, and finalists increased by production staff. Both the judges from the first series – Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan – and Ant & Dec returned to co-host the second series, along with Stephen Mulhern returning to front the second series of Britain's Got More Talent on ITV2.

The second series was won by street dancer George Sampson, with dance duo Signature finishing in second place and opera singer Andrew Johnston third. During its broadcast, the series proved to be a greater ratings success, averaging 10.2 million viewers. ITV was forced to defend the programme during its second series, after viewers criticised the involvement of a professional group in the contest.

Series overview Following open auditions held the previous year, the Judge's Auditions took place early in 2008, within London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Blackpool. With the success of the previous series, the production team decided to expand the show's filming schedule to include more episodes. This led to the addition of two more episodes for auditions and two more live episodes for semi-finals, in turn leading to a direct increase in the number of semi-finalists that the judges could move beyond the auditions stage of the competition. Both the judges and the presenters who took part in the first series agreed to return for the second series, leading to no significant changes in the panel or hosts.

Of the participants that took part, only forty made it past this stage and into the five live semi-finals,Top 40 Acts with eight appearing in each one, and ten of these acts making it into the live final. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:

Key: | | |

ParticipantAge(s) GenrePerformance TypeSemi-FinalResult Andrew Johnston 13 Singing Boy Soprano 2 Third Place Andrew Muir 24 Singing Singer 4 Anya Sparks 42 Dance Dancer 5 Bang On! 34 & 27 Music Percussion Duo 2 Boogie Babes 8–12 Dance Dance Group 4 Boogie Wonderland 12–21 Dance Dance Group 1 Caburlesque 22-26 Dance Cabaret & Burlesque Dance Group 5 Charlie Green 10 Singing Singer 3 Charlie Wernham 13 Comedy Stand Up Comedian 4 Cheeky Monkeys 8 & 9 Dance Junior Dance Duo 2 Craig Harper 35 Singing / Comedy Vocal Impressionist 5 Dean Wilson 18 Singing Musical Theatre Singer 1 Deans of Magic 46 & 38 Magic Erotic Magic Duo 3 Diva Las Vegas 20-48 Singing / Dance Singer & Dance Group 5 Escala 23–26 Music String Quartet 5 Faryl Smith 12 Singing Singer 4 Flava 17–28 Dance Hip Hop Dance Group 2 George Sampson 14 Dance Breakdancer 3 Harlequin Stage School 8–13 Dance Irish Dance Group 4 Hoop La La 22, 23 & 24 Variety Hula Hoop Trio 3 Iona Luvsandorj 27 Acrobatics Contortionist 2 Irresistible 21–23 Singing Singing Trio 3 James Stone 52 Singing Singer 4 Jeremy Lynch 20 Variety Football Freestyler 4 Kate & Gin 16 & 6 Animals Dog Act 1 Kay & Harvey 56 & 71 Singing / Music Singer & Keyboardist 2 Madonna Decena 32 Singing Singer 5 Mandy Ellen Dancers 10–24 Dance Dance Group 2 Mary Halford March 6–9 Dance Dance Group 3 Michael Machell 57 Music Keyboardist 1 Nemesis 18–22 Dance Hip Hop Dance Group 5 Per Diem 24 & 23 Singing / Music Singing & Guitarist Duo 5 Phil Blackmore 34 Danger Balancer & Juggler 1 Sauris Nandi 64 Magic Magician 2 Signature 29 & 34 Dance Bhangra Dance Duo 1 Sophie Mei 20 Dance Belly Dancer 1 Strike 22 & 19 Variety Martial Arts Duo 3 Tracey Lee Collins 44 Singing Drag Singer 1 Urban Gypsies 35–50 Dance Belly Dance Group 3 Vizage 34 & 30 Singing / Magic Singer & Quick Change Duo 4

Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this series. The latter value pertains to the age of the dog, as disclosed by its owner.

Semi-final summary Buzzed out | Judges' vote |

Semi-final 1 (26 May) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult Boogie Wonderland 1Dance Group Eliminated Kate & Gin 2Dog Act Michael Machell 3Keyboardist Eliminated Dean Wilson 4Musical Theatre Singer Sophie Mei 5Belly Dancer Eliminated Tracey Lee Collins 6Drag Singer Eliminated Phil Blackmore 7Balancer & Juggler Eliminated Signature 8Bhangra Dance Duo

Semi-final 2 (27 May) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult Mandy Ellen Dancers 1Dance Group Eliminated Iona Luvsandorj 2Contortionist Eliminated Cheeky Monkeys 3Dance Duo Kay & Harvey 4Opera Singer & Keyboardist Eliminated Bang On! 5Percussion Duo Eliminated Flava 6Hip Hop Dance Duo Sauris Nandi 7 Magician Eliminated Andrew Johnston 8Boy Soprano

Semi-final 3 (28 May) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult Irresistible 1Singing Trio Eliminated Strike 2Martial Arts Duo Mary Halford March 3Dance Group Eliminated The Deans of Magic 4Erotic Magic Duo Eliminated Charlie Green 5Singer Urban Gypsies 6Belly Dance Group Eliminated Hoop La La 7 Hula Hoop Trio Eliminated George Sampson 8Breakdancer

Semi-final 4 (29 May) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult James Stone 1Singer Eliminated Charlie Wernham 2Stand Up Comedian Eliminated Harlequin Stage School 3Irish Dance Group Eliminated Andrew Muir 4Singer The Boogie Babes 5Dance Group Eliminated Vizage 6Singer & Quick Change Duo Eliminated Jeremy Lynch 7Football Freestyler Faryl Smith 8Singer Cowell pressed Holden's buzzer during Vizage's performance.

Semi-final 5 (30 May) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VoteResult Caburlesque 1Cabaret & Burlesque Dance Group Eliminated Madonna Decena 2Singer Eliminated Anya Sparks 3Dancer Eliminated Craig Harper 4Vocal Impressionist Diva Las Vegas 5 Singer & Dance Group Eliminated Nemesis 6Hip Hop Dance Group Per Diem 7Singing & Guitarist Duo Eliminated Escala 8String Quartet

Final (31 May)

Finalist Order Performance Type Finished Cheeky Monkeys 1Dance Duo Finalist Andrew Muir 2Singer Finalist Kate & Gin 3Dog Act Finalist Nemesis 4Hip Hop Dance Group Finalist Strike 5Martial Arts Duo Finalist Andrew Johnston 6Boy Soprano 3rd George Sampson 7Breakdancer 1st Faryl Smith 8Singer Finalist Escala 9String Quartet Finalist Signature 10Bhangra Dance Duo 2nd

The results did not declare any other position than that of the winner, 2nd place, and 3rd place.

Ratings

Episode Air Date Total Viewers(millions) ITV 1Weekly rank Viewer Share Auditions 1 12 April 9.44 6 37.0% Auditions 2 19 April 10.96 1 43.3% Auditions 3 26 April 9.86 3 41.3% Auditions 4 3 May 9.12 5 39.1% Auditions 5 10 May 8.17 6 37.9% Auditions 6 17 May 9.11 2 37.5% Auditions 7 24 May 8.27 5 37.2% Semi-final 1 26 May 11.33 4 42.0% Semi-final 2 27 May 9.29 9 35.3% Semi-final 3 28 May 10.03 6 35.9% Semi-final 4 29 May 10.13 5 41.9% Semi-final 5 30 May 11.86 2 50.0% Live final 31 May 11.52 3 51.1% Live final results 13.88 1 55.1%

Criticism The second series of Britain's Got Talent faced criticism for the involvement of professional performers in the contest. Media outlets revealed evidence that the group Escala, who took part in the contest in 2008, had previously been involved as guest performers for a wrap party on The X Factor in 2007. ITV refuted allegations that this was unfair conduct against other participants, by arguing that the programme's researchers applied the same process and treatment to everyone who auditioned, and that the contest was open to anyone regardless of their experience with the talent they chose to perform with.Scala Are Bunch Of Real Pros

References