Simon Cowell returns for BGT semi-finals

Simon Cowell is back for Britain's Got Talent as eight acts compete in the first live semi-final. Among the acts are grandfather and granddaughter duo Ted Hall and Grace Bower from Scunthorpe but the thought of facing the show's supremo holds no fears for Ted. The 92-year-old said: "I'm scared, but not petrified. These hands have made parts for spitfires so there's nothing he can chuck at me that I can't handle." And he has very firm ideas about what he will spend the £100,000 prize money on if he wins, saying: "Give something to the poor. And I'd make sure all my friends had a drink with me." Also in the first show are glamorous dance act Girls Roc, dog trainer Donelda Guy and her border collies and stunt cyclist Joe Oakley. Cowell, who has flown back from the United States where he is filming the US X Factor, said he is looking forward to casting a critical eye over the acts. He said: "I actually want to get back in my seat now, I've seen enough... Let's hope they've found a winner." Among the other acts that qualified for the other live heats are 19-year Michael Collings who wowed the judges in the first show with his version of Fast Car, bell ringers Gay and Alan Cooper and 11-year-old autistic dancer James Hobley from Redcar.

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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.