ITV confirms that Britain's Got Talent is cancelled this year

Britain's Got Talent
(Image credit: WireImage)

The show won't go on in 2021...

Britain's Got Talent 2021 has officially been axed, as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Initially they had hoped they'd be able to hold auditions in the summer, with live finals ready for the end of the year.

Filming on Britain's Got 2021 had already been postponed. And now they've made the difficult decision to cancel the new series, due to health and safety concerns. One of these concerns was the fact that some acts are groups, and need to be close to one another in order to perform.

In a statement, the producers said: "Despite everyone at ITV, Thames and Syco doing their best to make it happen, and with our absolute priority of safeguarding the well-being and health of every person involved in the programme from judges, hosts and contestants to all of the crew and audience, the decision has been made to – unfortunately - move the record and broadcast of the 15th series of Britain's Got Talent to 2022."

“BGT is known for its diversity of talent with big dance groups, wonderful choirs and lavish orchestras at its heart, and it has become clear that not only is it not possible to film auditions with these types of acts in a secure way but also that they are not able to adequately rehearse and prepare safely."

They added, "Safety has to come first and, as a result, the recording of the show can’t currently go ahead as planned.”

Earlier this month, judge Amanda Holden spoke about how she couldn't see the show going ahead without the contributions of the live audience. Some programmes have managed to adjust without a studio audience, but the judge didn't believe it would work.

Amanda said: "I think out of every show on television Britain’s Got Talent needs the audience. We need you guys, because we call them the fifth judge and it just makes no sense not to have them behind us."

Despite the sad news, producers are hoping that they can resume as normal in 2022.

Britain's Got Talent 2021 has been officially dropped (for full details of what is on check our TV Guide).

Lucy Buglass
Senior Staff Writer

Lucy joined the WhatToWatch.com team in 2021, where she writes series guides for must-watch programmes, reviews and the latest TV news. Now she works for our sister site TechRadar in the same role. Originally from Northumberland, she graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Film Studies and moved to London to begin a career writing about entertainment.

She is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and has a huge passion for cinema. She especially loves horror, thriller and anything crime-related. Her favourite TV programmes include Inside No 9, American Horror Story, Stranger Things and Black Mirror but she is also partial to a quiz show or a bit of Say Yes to the Dress