| Bgcolour: |
| ||||||||
| Module1: |
| ||||||||
| Network: | ITV ITV2 (BGMT) |
The second series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 12 April to 31 May 2008. Following the success of its first series, ITV commissioned the programme for additional episodes, with more venues used for auditions than in the previous series, and the number of semi-finalists, semi-final rounds, and finalists increased by production staff. Both the judges from the first series – Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan – and Ant & Dec returned to co-host the second series, along with Stephen Mulhern returning to front the second series of Britain's Got More Talent on ITV2.
The second series was won by street dancer George Sampson,[1] with dance duo Signature finishing in second place and opera singer Andrew Johnston third. During its broadcast, the series proved to be a greater ratings success, averaging 10.2 million viewers.[2] ITV was forced to defend the programme during its second series, after viewers criticised the involvement of a professional group in the contest.
Following open auditions held the previous year, the Judge's Auditions took place early in 2008, within London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Blackpool. With the success of the previous series, the production team decided to expand the show's filming schedule to include more episodes. This led to the addition of two more episodes for auditions and two more live episodes for semi-finals, in turn leading to a direct increase in the number of semi-finalists that the judges could move beyond the auditions stage of the competition. Both the judges and the presenters who took part in the first series agreed to return for the second series, leading to no significant changes in the panel or hosts.
Of the participants that took part, only forty made it past this stage and into the five live semi-finals,[3] with eight appearing in each one, and ten of these acts making it into the live final. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:
| | |
| Participant | Age(s) | Genre | Act | Semi-Final | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Johnston | 13 | Singing | Boy Soprano | 2 | ||
| Andrew Muir | 24 | Singing | Singer | 4 | ||
| Anya Sparks | 42 | Dance | Dancer | 5 | ||
| Bang On! | 34 & 27 | Music | Percussion Duo | 2 | ||
| Boogie Babes | 8–12 | Dance | Dance Group | 4 | ||
| Boogie Wonderland | 12–21 | Dance | Dance Group | 1 | ||
| Caburlesque | 22-26 | Dance | Dance Group | 5 | ||
| Charlie Green | 10 | Singing | Singer | 3 | ||
| Charlie Wernham | 13 | Comedy | Stand Up Comedian | 4 | ||
| Cheeky Monkeys | 8 & 9 | Dance | Junior Dance Duo | 2 | ||
| Craig Harper | 35 | Singing / Comedy | Singing Impressionist | 5 | ||
| Dean Wilson | 18 | Singing | Musical Theatre Singer | 1 | ||
| Deans of Magic | 46 & 38 | Magic | Erotic Magic Duo | 3 | ||
| Diva Las Vegas | 20-48 | Singing / Dance | Singer & Dance Group | 5 | ||
| Escala | 23–26 | Music | String Quartet | 5 | ||
| Faryl Smith | 12 | Singing | Singer | 4 | ||
| Flava | 17–28 | Dance | Hip Hop Dance Group | 2 | ||
| George Sampson | 14 | Dance | Dancer | 3 | ||
| Harlequin Stage School | 8–13 | Dance | Irish Dance Group | 4 | ||
| Hoop La La | 22, 23 & 24 | Variety | Hula Hoop Trio | 3 | ||
| Iona Luvsandorj | 27 | Acrobatics | Contortionist | 2 | ||
| Irresistible | 21–23 | Singing | Singing Trio | 3 | ||
| James Stone | 52 | Singing | Singer | 4 | ||
| Jeremy Lynch | 20 | Variety | Football Freestyler | 4 | ||
| Kate & Gin | 16 & 6 | Animals | Dog Act | 1 | ||
| Kay & Harvey | 56 & 71 | Singing / Music | Singer & Keyboardist | 2 | ||
| Madonna Decena | 32 | Singing | Singer | 5 | ||
| Mandy Ellen Dancers | 10–24 | Dance | Dance Group | 2 | ||
| Mary Halford March | 6–9 | Dance | Dance Group | 3 | ||
| Michael Machell | 57 | Music | Keyboardist | 1 | ||
| Nemesis | 18–22 | Dance | Dance Group | 5 | ||
| Per Diem | 24 & 23 | Singing / Music | Singing & Guitarist Duo | 5 | ||
| Phil Blackmore | 34 | Danger | Balancer & Juggler | 1 | ||
| Sauris Nandi | 64 | Magic | Magician | 2 | ||
| Signature | 29 & 34 | Dance | Bhangra Dance Duo | 1 | ||
| Sophie Mei | 20 | Dance | Belly Dancer | 1 | ||
| Strike | 22 & 19 | Variety | Martial Arts Duo | 3 | ||
| Tracey Lee Collins | 44 | Singing | Drag Singer | 1 | ||
| Urban Gypsies | 35–50 | Dance | Belly Dance Group | 3 | ||
| Vizage | 34 & 30 | Singing / Magic | Singer & Quick Change Duo | 4 |
| |
| Semi-Finalist | Order | Buzzes and Judges' Vote | Result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boogie Wonderland | 1 | |||||
| Kate & Gin | 2 | |||||
| Michael Machell | 3 | |||||
| Dean Wilson | 4 | |||||
| Sophie Mei | 5 | |||||
| Tracey Lee Collins | 6 | |||||
| Phil Blackmore | 7 | |||||
| Signature | 8 | |||||
| Semi-Finalist | Order | Buzzes and Judges' Vote | Result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mandy Ellen Dancers | 1 | |||||
| Iona Luvsandorj | 2 | |||||
| Cheeky Monkeys | 3 | |||||
| Kay & Harvey | 4 | |||||
| Bang On | 5 | |||||
| Flava | 6 | |||||
| Sauris Nandi | 7 | |||||
| Andrew Johnston | 8 | |||||
| Semi-Finalist | Order | Buzzes and Judges' Vote | Result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irresistible | 1 | |||||
| Strike | 2 | |||||
| Mary Halford March | 3 | |||||
| The Deans of Magic | 4 | |||||
| Charlie Green | 5 | |||||
| Urban Gypsies | 6 | |||||
| Hoop La La | 7 | |||||
| George Sampson | 8 | |||||
| Semi-Finalist | Order | Buzzes and Judges' Vote | Result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Stone | 1 | |||||
| Charlie Wernham | 2 | |||||
| Harlequin Stage School | 3 | |||||
| Andrew Muir | 4 | |||||
| The Boogie Babes | 5 | |||||
| Vizage | 6 | |||||
| Jeremy Lynch | 7 | |||||
| Faryl Smith | 8 | |||||
| Semi-Finalist | Order | Buzzes and Judges' Vote | Result | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caburlesque | 1 | |||||
| Madonna Decena | 2 | |||||
| Anya Sparks | 3 | |||||
| Craig Harper | 4 | |||||
| Diva Las Vegas | 5 | |||||
| Nemesis | 6 | |||||
| Per Diem | 7 | |||||
| Escala | 8 | |||||
|
| " class="unsortable | Finalist | data-sort-type="number" style="width:1em;" | Order | Finished |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheeky Monkeys | 1 | 10th | ||
| Andrew Muir | 2 | 6th | ||
| Kate & Gin | 3 | 8th | ||
| Nemesis | 4 | 9th | ||
| Strike | 5 | 7th | ||
| Andrew Johnston | 6 | 3rd | ||
| George Sampson | 7 | 1st | ||
| Faryl Smith | 8 | 4th | ||
| Escala | 9 | 5th | ||
| Signature | 10 | 2nd |
See main article: article and List of Britain's Got Talent episodes.
| Episode | Air Date | Total Viewers (millions)[4] | ITV 1 Weekly rank | Viewer Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auditions 1 | 12 April | 9.44 | 6 | 37.0%[5] |
| Auditions 2 | 19 April | 10.96 | 1 | 43.3%[6] |
| Auditions 3 | 26 April | 9.86 | 3 | 41.3%[7] |
| Auditions 4 | 3 May | 9.12 | 5 | 39.1%[8] |
| Auditions 5 | 10 May | 8.17 | 6 | 37.9%[9] |
| Auditions 6 | 17 May | 9.11 | 2 | 37.5%[10] |
| Auditions 7 | 24 May | 8.27 | 5 | 37.2%[11] |
| Semi-final 1 | 26 May | 11.33 | 4 | 42.0%[12] |
| Semi-final 2 | 27 May | 9.29 | 9 | 35.3%[13] |
| Semi-final 3 | 28 May | 10.03 | 6 | 35.9%[14] |
| Semi-final 4 | 29 May | 10.13 | 5 | 41.9%[15] |
| Semi-final 5 | 30 May | 11.86 | 2 | 50.0%[16] |
| Live final | 31 May | 11.52 | 3 | 51.1%[17] |
| Live final results | 13.88 | 1 | 55.1% |
The second series of Britain's Got Talent faced criticism for the involvement of professional performers in the contest. Media outlets revealed evidence that the group Escala, who took part in the contest in 2008, had previously been involved as guest performers for a wrap party on The X Factor in 2007. ITV refuted allegations that this was unfair conduct against other participants, by arguing that the programme's researchers applied the same process and treatment to everyone who auditioned, and that the contest was open to anyone regardless of their experience with the talent they chose to perform with.[18]