Britain's Got Talent: auditions reach Scotland!

Britain's Got Talent: auditions reach Scotland!
Britain's Got Talent: auditions reach Scotland! (Image credit: Ken McKay)

The Britain's Got Talent 2010 auditions have reached Scotland for the first time this series, with some of the best and worst acts from Glasgow. Among those who impressed the judges this week was 80-year-old grandmother Janey Cutler. The retired cleaner, who had to be helped on stage, won herself a standing ovation from both audience and panel with her rendition of the Edith Piaf song Je Ne Regrette Rien. "When Ant brought you on stage I didn't know what to expect," Amanda Holden told her, "but I didn't expect you to have a set of lungs like that." Piers was also amazed by the pensioner, asking simply, "Where have you been?" Also landing a place in the next round was dog trainer Heather Smith and her performing pooch Maddie, female dance troupe Zodiac Dance Company and husband wife singing duo Ophelio - who made it despite dividing the judges with their electropop performance. "That was arguably one of the worst things I've ever heard on one of these shows," Simon told the pair - but Piers and Amanda disagreed. "I believe in giving people like you a second chance," Piers declared before voting them through. At the London auditions, variety act The Chippendoubles also wowed both judges and audience with their performance, which they began dressed as masked monks - only to whip off the cloaks and masks to perform impersonations of celebrities including Ricky Gervais, David Beckham and Will Smith. However it was the final monk who was unmasked - a Simon Cowell lookalike - who brought the house down. "I don't know who the last one was," Simon joked, "because he doesn't look anyone like anyone. But this was in a way one of my favourite acts." Others who made a splash in London included English lecturer Hayashi, who left the judges gasping after he performed daring stunts with a Samurai sword while blindfolded. "It was terrifying, it was dangerous...very exciting," Amanda told them, while Piers called the act "compelling". Meanwhile dance troupe Mystikal gave the judges a dilemma when they incorporated singing into their act - which left the trio unimpressed. "If you want to continue you need to sort out who among you can sing and who can't," warned Amanda. However the panel gave them a second chance and voted them through to the next round. But it wasn't such good news for everybody - including James Boyd, who fell at the first hurdle last year after attempting to break the world record for the most number of Ferrero Rocher chocolates eaten in one minute. This year he attempted to break another record, by eating nine After Eight mints in one minute without using his hands - but once again the judges failed to see the appeal, especially after James only managed five chocolates. "That was even worse than the Ferreros," sighed Simon, before he sent the 34-year-old packing.

Patrick McLennan

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.