BGT announces open auditions at The Oval

Britain’s Got Talent will be giving hopefuls another chance to try out for the show by holding open auditions at The Oval in London next month. Last year more than 6,000 people turned up to audition at The Oval’s open day and two of 2012’s semi-finalists auditioned at The Oval – singer Hope Murphy and circus performer, Billy George. BGT bosses are expecting a similar number of hopefuls when they throw the doors open at 9am on Saturday, January 19 and have promised that the event will not close until every act has been seen. Britain’s Got Talent series producer Matt Banks says: “We’ve already seen thousands of acts, but we want to make sure we find the best talent around and this Open Day allows even more people to audition. “After such a huge year for Great Britain in 2012 we want to keep Britain proud for 2013 by bringing a series packed with talent to ITV1.” Ashleigh and Pudsey won Britain's Got Talent in 2012 and after a hugely successful series, the same team will be reuniting next year. Multi-award winning hosts Ant & Dec will be joined by judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams. *People who wish to enter can register to audition at www.itv.com/talent or just turn up on the day.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.