Ronan: 'Rihanna should be a judge on BGT'

Ronan: 'Rihanna should be a judge on BGT' (Image credit: AP/Press Association Images)

Britain's Got Talent star Ronan Parke thinks Rihanna would make a brilliant addition to the show's judging panel. The 13-year-old - who was runner-up to Jai McDowell on the last series of the ITV1 talent contest - said the US star would be the ideal replacement for Michael McIntyre, who has left the show after just one series. "I went to see her last night in concert and she was absolutely amazing," Ronan said of US chart-topper Rihanna. "I think she'd be a really, really good judge. I think she'd be really fair." Ronan - whose self-titled debut album is released on October 24 - also gave his seal of approval to former X Factor judge Dannii Minogue, who has been tipped for a seat on the panel. "She was a really good judge on the X Factor, so why not?" he added. The singer also admitted he still got the jitters when he met Britain's Got Talent and X Factor mogul Simon Cowell. "I was scared of him! I get really, really starstruck," he confessed. "The last time I saw him was quite a while ago now, I met him in the Sony offices. He was wandering round, he came over to me and he was just really, really lovely. "He just had a normal conversation with me and was kind to everyone." SUBSCRIBE to TV Times magazine NOW and you could save up to 29%

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.