Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
SHOW MUST GO ON!
Yes there’s a new judge and the make-up girls are in visors – but BGT’S Alesha and Amanda say the post-lockdown semi-finals will be the most emotional yet
Backstage at Britain’s Got Talent, things are eerily quiet. ‘It’s normally carnage,’ says Amanda Holden, who admits to being unsettled by the silence. ‘My dressing room is usually like Piccadilly Circus. The kids come down. My husband Chris is here. There are dogs everywhere. Guests come in and I’ll have a bottle of Champagne on the go. Getting ready is the fun bit isn’t it? Now, we’re still doing the full glamour but the make-up girls have their visors on. Only essential people are allowed. It’s… odd.’
It certainly is. BGT is the first of the big juggernaut Saturday night shows to return in our new normal. And nothing is remotely normal. The heats of the talent show were filmed pre-covid and aired as usual in the spring, but everything halted once the pandemic struck. How could you film the semi-finals of the show – which are normally live – with no audience? How could the acts (40 of them, for goodness’ sake) perform with social distancing rules in place?
Now the postponement is over and the show is back. Or a version of the show. A surreal version. There will be no studio audience, and it will be recorded rather than aired live (allowing the acts to be filmed separately, with eight contestants performing in each semi-final, in five shows across five Saturdays). The judges will choose one act to go through from each semi-final, with a second chosen via public vote when the episode airs.
There will be no Simon Cowell. He was always going to have to log in via Zoom, or some equivalent, because of clashes with the re-scheduled US version of the show, but last month he broke his back after a fall from his electric bike (how much drama can there be this year?) and has taken doctors’ advice not to take part. However, it’s likely he’ll be involved somehow...
Gone too is the usual judges’ desk. ‘We’ve got a huge desk now, to allow for social distancing,’ says Amanda. ‘I’ll need a stick to prod David [Walliams] with.’
And there will be a new (ish) face at that massive table. Former winner Ashley Banjo, from the dance troupe Diversity, will stand in for Simon. ‘Just as well the table is big, so we can keep David away from him,’ adds the ever-mischievous Amanda. ‘He’ll be fresh meat for David.’
There will still be a live final, we are told, going out in October. Quite how that will work is anyone’s guess but, according to Amanda, ‘it will, because we have very determined production teams’.
It’s all quite a bit to get your head around, but hurrah for Amanda, who sparkles like the light at the end of a very long tunnel. She assures me she’s still planning to pour herself into a selection of unfeasibly skimpy frocks, hoping normality will be maintained with the flow of complaints about the unsuitability of her attire. ‘I’m not getting the polo necks out just because it’s a funny year,’ she says. ‘Although it will be a bit weird getting dolled up and walking out without a studio audience. It will be just me and Alesha saying, “Nice frock, love,” to each other.’
Alesha’s infectious laugh is intact too. Another cause for celebration. ‘It will be different, but we can’t wait to get out there,’ she insists. ‘People need cheering up. We can do this!’ And there are upsides. The set has been revamped, and the glitz factor is high. ‘I’m so excited about the set, it’s all new. We have to embrace this.’
Catching up with the two BGT stalwarts is interesting. We last spoke just as lockdown started, when no one had any idea what form the impending tsunami would take. The relief that they and their families have come out the other side unscathed is palpable. But what about Simon’s near miss? Covid didn’t touch him, but his broken back sent them all into a tizz.
They both shudder. ‘I got a text in the middle of the night,’ Amanda says. ‘I just felt physically sick. We didn’t know how bad it was, just that he’d broken his back. I wanted him to be alive, but I also wanted him to be able to walk. It was a gut-wrenching time. I mean, I joke about Simon being our great leader, but he is.’
Alesha was reeling too. ‘It was so unexpected. My heart went out to him, and Lauren and Eric. We were all texting and calling, checking in with each other. It was really serious and we were just so nervous.’
Amanda says she’s sent Simon cashmere socks, Lego and even boxes of Butterscotch Angel Delight. ‘It’s his favourite!’ And the socks and Lego? ‘Well, the Lego was because I was thinking of things he could do with Eric while he’s recuperating. And I’ve broken my leg and I know how cold your feet can get. I’ve been joking that I’ll have to call him Mr Titanium, because he’s got the same rods in his back that I’ve got in my leg. We’ll both be sending the machines off at the airport. Seriously though, we’re just relieved he’s OK.’
They were already prepared to do the show without him there in person, but the accident changed everything. ‘I had this idea that even if we couldn’t have him here, we’d still hear his voice, like God,’ says Alesha. ‘And the bonus would be that we
could turn him off if we wanted.’ So do they think he’ll be back on his e-bike at some point? ‘I don’t think
Lauren will let him,’ says Amanda. ‘Maybe he’ll get a sidecar. He and Eric can be like Wallace and Gromit.’
It’s safe to say this lot will continue to entertain. Pity the poor BGT semifinalists though, whose ‘hopes and dreams have been on hold’, according to Alesha. ‘In a way it will have been an advantage. They’ve had extra time to perfect their acts, but it’s been so stressful for them, not knowing how things would pan out and if they’d get their big chance.’
We’ve met all the acts before, but Alesha reckons we’ll see them in a new light post-lockdown. ‘I think some performances will be even more emotional.’ She references Great Ormond Street nurse Beth Porch, who wowed with a track called You Taught Me What Love Is. It has since been released as a single to raise money for the NHS. ‘She was brilliant anyway, but in this climate I think people will be so moved.
There’s a sense that people will come back to the show and everything will have a different meaning. As a nation we’ve been through so much.’
Will we be a nation cheered, though? ‘Hopefully. I think people are ready for a good laugh,’
Alesha says. ‘There’s a fantastic comedian, Nabil, who got my golden buzzer. Acts like that will be the escapism that everyone craves.’
Other acts to watch include blind teenager
Sirine Jahangir, 12-year-old singer Fayth Ifil, mother-and-daughter duo Honey and Sammy, and contortionist Papi Flex. Of course, life wouldn’t be normal without a dog act on BGT, and the semi-finals feature Miracle, a rescue dog who was once destined for the dog meat trade in Thailand.
Alesha and Amanda have had mixed lockdowns. They chat today about how lucky they are, with large houses and gardens. ‘I do think this has been a leveller, though,’ Amanda says. ‘Everyone was in it together. You knew whatever frustrations you were feeling, you weren’t alone.’
She says she ‘went a bit nuts’ being housebound with Chris and their daughters Lexi, 14, and Hollie, eight. ‘I did a lot of ridiculous online shopping. I ordered half a ton of soil to make vegetable beds. Then, when lockdown had ended, all these lettuce and spring onion seedlings arrived. Of course, I hadn’t prepared the vegetable beds for them. I also bought plastic falcons to scare birds away from the grass seed, and when the shops opened the girls and I bought two rabbits. They wanted guinea pigs but rabbits live longer. They called them Princess and Beatrice. Nothing to do with Princess Beatrice. I don’t think they even know who she is.’
Amanda did go to work during lockdown (she has a radio show and continued to commute into central London), so Chris took control of the home-schooling. ‘Which was wonderful,’ she says. ‘I’d get home late morning and we’d have family time. One of the real joys was not having to rush them off to after-school activities. I loved being a mum who wasn’t constantly saying, “Hurry up, hurry up.” Now things are getting back to normal, I think some of those activities are not going to be reinstated.’
Alesha has younger daughters. Her two are aged 11 months and six years, and she admits things weren’t always rosy. ‘Pre-lockdown we had a cleaner, and she’s still not back. Luckily my mum lives with us, so we’ve been sharing the chores. I’m coming back to work for a holiday!
‘I’m not going to lie, it was full-on. Like this morning, I was looking after both of them and trying to wash the bedding and get on top of the housework. Some days I was trying to do all that and answer work emails and then you get to midday and think, “Oh my God, I haven’t had breakfast!” But whenever I felt overwhelmed, I would tell myself that these were good problems to have because getting to spend that time with the family was a blessing.’
Lessons have been learned, they both say. ‘I think as a nation we’ve learned not to take things for granted,’ says Alesha. ‘We understand that health is wealth. We understand the importance of our loved ones and spending quality time with each other. I think the audience is going to tap into that.’
She’s getting quite slushy. But you can trust Amanda to play for laughs. She hoots at the idea that their great leader Simon will be tuning in to watch the acts from his sofa ‘with his cashmere socks on, a bowl of Angel Delight in his hand’.