The third series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 11 April to 30 May 2009. The judging panel of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan returned from the previous series; a fourth judge, Kelly Brook, was added, but removed from the series shortly after filming began.
The third series was won by street dance troupe Diversity, with singer Susan Boyle finishing in second place and saxophonist Julian Smith third. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 13.3 million viewers, with the figures partly helped by the notable performances of Boyle during her time in on the show, with her audition on the third series considered the most iconic moment in the programme's history. The programme faced criticism during the third series for airing an unsuitable performance conducted in an audition, while Boyle's well-being became a major concern for producers following the final.
Series overview
Following open auditions held the previous year, the Judges' auditions took place across January and February 2009, within Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, London and Cardiff. Prior to the auditions, Kelly Brook was announced as a permanent fourth judge. However, after six days of filming the Manchester auditions Brook was removed from the series. She was credited as a guest judge when her appearance was broadcast.
The third series proved popular amongst viewers for the performances of Susan Boyle, whom deemed her their favourite amongst the participants despite becoming the runner-up in the competition. Her performances made her internationally famous, launching her career as a singer, with her audition performance, involving her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical Les Misérables, being later posted to YouTube and earning around 100 million views within five days of its posting.
Of the participants that took part, only forty made it past this stage and into the five live semi-finals, 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 2 Grand 76 & 12 Singing Singing Duo 4 Aidan Davis 12 Dance Street Dancer 5 Ben & Becky 18 & 16 Dance Dance Duo 3 Brit Chix 23–26 Singing / Music Rock Band 4 Callum Francis 12 Singing Singer 4 Darth Jackson 37 Dance MJ & Darth Vader Dancer 1 DCD Seniors 14–21 Dance Dance Group 5 Diversity 13–25 Dance Street Dance Group 1 DJ Talent 30 Singing Rapper 2 Fabia Cerra 35 Dance Burlesque Dancer 4 Faces of Disco 24 & 30 Comedy / Dance Comic Dance Duo 1 Flawless 20–31 Dance Street Dance Group 2 Floral High Notes 43 & 46 Singing / Variety Opera Singer & Florist 3 Fred Bowers 73 Dance Breakdancer 4 Gareth Oliver 28 Comedy Ventriloquist 2 Good Evans 6–42 Singing Singing Group 5 Greg Pritchard 24 Singing Opera Singer 5 Harmony 14 & 16 Singing Singing Duo 3 Hollie Steel 10 Singing Singer 5 Hot Honeyz 16–25 Dance Dance Group 2 Jackie Prescott & Tippy Toes 40 & 2 Animals Dog Act 4 Jamie Pugh 38 Singing Opera Singer 2 Julia Naidenko 24 Dance Belly Dancer 1 Julian Smith 40 Music Saxophonist 4 Third Place Kay Oresanya 31 Variety Human Saxophonist 3 Luke Clements 36 Variety Fruit Juggler 5 Martin "Gos" Matcham 35 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist 5 MD Showgroup 9–17 Dance Dance Group 3 Eliminated Merlin Cadogan 35 Danger Escape Artist 2 Natalie Okri 10 Singing Singer 1 Nick Hell 26 Danger Sideshow Performer 1 Peter Coghlan 48 Dance Drag Dancer 2 Shaheen Jafargholi 12 Singing Singer 3 Shaun Smith 17 Singing Singer 2 Stavros Flatley 13 & 40 Dance Dance Duo 3 Sue Son 24 Music Electric Violinist 1 Sugar Free 16–23 Dance Dance Group 4 Susan Boyle 48 Singing Singer 1 The Barrow Boys 18–27 Dance Wheel Barrow Dance Trio 3 The Dreambears 29–34 Dance Dance Trio 5
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 (24 May) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VotePercentageResult Diversity 1Street Dance Group36.2% Sue Son 2Violinist2.2% Darth Jackson 3MJ & Darth Jackson Dancer1.0% Natalie Okri 4Singer6.7% Julia Naidenko 5Belly Dancer0.9% Nick Hell 6Sideshow Performer0.3% Faces of Disco 7Comic Dance Duo0.6% Susan Boyle 8Singer52.1%
Semi-final 2 (25 May) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VotePercentageResult DJ Talent 1Rapper4.7% Merlin Cadogan 2Escape Artist6.3% Hot Honeyz 3Dance Group1.1% Jamie Pugh 4Opera Singer2.5% Peter Coghlan 5Drag Dancer2.2% Gareth Oliver 6Ventriloquist7.4% Shaun Smith 7Singer37.1% Flawless 8Street Dance Group38.7%
Semi-final 3 (26 May) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VotePercentageResult Harmony 1Singing Duo5.5% Kay Oresanya 2Human Saxophonist0.7% Ben & Becky 3Dance Duo2.6% Shaheen Jafargholi 4Singer26.3% The Barrow Boys 5Wheel Barrow Dance Trio1.3% MD Showgroup 6Dance Group12.7% Floral High Notes 7Opera Singer & Florist0.5% Stavros Flatley 8Dance Duo50.4%
Semi-final 4 (28 May) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VotePercentageResult Sugar Free 1Dance Group0.4% Jackie Prescott & Tippy Toes 2Dog Act1.1% Callum Francis 3Musical Theatre Performer10.8% Fred Bowers 4Breakdancer3.9% Brit Chix 5Rock Band0.5% Julian Smith 6Saxophonist56.7% 2 Grand 7Singing Duo24.6% Fabia Cerra 8Burlesque Dancer2.0%
Semi-final 5 (29 May) Semi-FinalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzes and Judges' VotePercentageResult The Dreambears 1Dance Trio1.5% Good Evans 2Vocal Group2.2% Luke Clements 3Fruit Juggler0.4% Hollie Steel 4Singer26.0% Martin Matcham 5Singer & Guitarist0.9% Aidan Davis 6Street Dancer50.6% DCD Seniors 7Dance Group8.6% Greg Pritchard 8Opera Singer9.8% Hollie Steel's original performance was stopped after she broke down, however she was allowed to perform again after Aidan Davis.
Final (30 May)
Finalist Order Performance Type Percentage Result Flawless 1Street Dance Group3.6% 8th Shaheen Jafargholi 2Singer3.8% 7th Aidan Davis 3Street Dancer6.5% 5th 2 Grand 4Singing Duo1.0% 10th Hollie Steel 5Singer3.9% 6th Stavros Flatley 6Dance Duo16.3% 4th Shaun Smith 7Singer3.4% 9thSusan Boyle 8Singer20.2% 2nd Diversity 9Street Dance Group24.9% 1st Julian Smith 10Saxophonist16.4% 3rd
Ratings
Episode Air Date Total Viewers(millions) ITV1Weekly rank Viewer Share Auditions 1 11 April 11.21 1 45.1% Auditions 2 18 April 12.95 1 50.6% Auditions 3 25 April 13.21 1 52.3% Auditions 4 2 May 11.30 1 47.2% Auditions 5 9 May 11.98 1 48.4% Auditions 6 16 May 11.09 1 41.0% Auditions 7 23 May 12.62 2 51.1% Semi-final 1 24 May 12.93 1 49.2% Susan Boyle shows 13.6m she's Got Talent Semi-final 2 25 May 14.66 3 51.6% Semi-final 3 26 May 13.56 5 49.9% Semi-final 4 28 May 13.11 6 51.2% Semi-final 5 29 May 13.84 4 57.3% Live final 30 May 16.36 2 71% Live final results 18.29 1 67.6%
Criticism & incidents The third series saw Britain's Got Talent face criticism for the involvement of burlesque dancer Fabia Cerra. The primary concern of the complaints that were raised were over the unsuitable nature of her performance being shown on a programme aimed at a family audience. Although Ofcom investigated the matter, ITV argued in their defence that production staff had done their utmost to edit all footage to censor all inappropriate scenes of her audition, making use of editing to avoid showing anything that would breach the regulator's broadcasting codes.
However, the involvement of Susan Boyle required greater attention from the programme's staff, most particularly in the live rounds as she grew in fame with her performances. Media attention on Boyle that brought forth a number of questionable claims, forced the finalist to check into the Priory psychiatric clinic in London to recover, leaving producers the task of ensuring she had privacy from the continual media intrusion into her private life. The increasing amount of attention from the general public, over her care and well being, led to the producers asking for assistance from the Press Complaints Commission, who issued instructions to press editors to adhere firmly to the code of press conduct in regards to its rules on privacy - this included not allowing unauthorised photography to take place and respecting Boyle's entitlement to privacy while she recovered from her involvement in the programme.Editors Code of Practice
References