Britain's Got Talent series 8

Britain's Got Talent
Series 8
Presented byAnt & Dec (ITV)
Stephen Mulhern (ITV2)
JudgesDavid Walliams
Alesha Dixon
Amanda Holden
Simon Cowell
WinnerCollabro
Runner-upLucy Kay
Release
Original networkITV
ITV2 (BGMT)
Original release12 April (2014-04-12) –
7 June 2014 (2014-06-07)
Series chronology
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Series 7
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Series 9
List of episodes
Judges and Presenter(s) for Britain's Got Talent Series 8

The eighth series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 12 April to 7 June 2014; because of England's international friendly with Peru, the show took a break on 30 May to avoid clashing with live coverage of the match. Auditions were held in Northern Ireland instead of Scotland for this series, with hosts Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as Ant & Dec) having to stand in for Simon Cowell, after illness forced him to be absent during a day of auditions.[1] This series was the first in the programme's history to introduce the "Golden Buzzer" format to the competition  – an element that was being introduced to the Got Talent franchise since it was first introduced on Germany's Got Talent in 2012.[2][3]

The eighth series was won by boy band Collabro, with opera singer Lucy Kay finishing in second place and singing and rapping duo Bars and Melody third. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 9.8 million viewers.

  1. ^ McGarry, Lisa (7 February 2014). "Look how much David Walliams is missing sick Simon Cowell!". Unreality TV. Archived from the original on 8 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  2. ^ "BGT judges feeling a golden buzz". Express & Star. Midland News Association. 12 February 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  3. ^ Wightman, Catriona (17 January 2014). "Britain's Got Talent: Is a golden buzzer a good idea? – vote". Digital Spy. Retrieved 17 January 2014.