Britain’s Got Talent
ITV, Saturdays, 8pm
We’re in the middle of an amazing time for TV drama right now. It’s tough to find the time to keep up with such riveting series as Broadchurch, Line Of Duty and Big Little Lies. Yet, as superb as those scripted shows are, I don’t think I’ve been put through the emotional wringer by any of them to quite the extent I was by Saturday’s series premiere of BGT. Seriously. (As Simon Cowell would say, followed by a wink and a thumbs up). Opening with angelic-looking eight-year-old Ned, who turned out to be the Frankie Boyle of the primary school set, the producers pulled the rug out from under us from the very start. And, as hard as it is to create surprises in the talent-show genre, they kept on coming. Jess, the nervous singing impressionist, was properly funny and had stunning vocal skills; Mahny and her dog Robbie’s “Doga” (dog yoga) turned into an onstage doggie fest with Simon clutching onto Squiddly and Diddly for dear life, and was one of BGT’S giddiest sequences ever. Then came the emotion of the Missing People’s Choir. BGT is often accused of being manipulative, but this was genuinely tender and heart-breaking, giving dignified people whose loved ones have gone missing a powerful voice. Never has the phrase “singing your heart out” felt so apt. Then there was the finale: 15-year-old Sarah’s rendition of And
I Am Telling You I’m Not Going, which reminded me of Aretha Franklin belting out (You Make Me
Feel Like) A Natural Woman in front of President Obama in 2015 (Youtube it!). If the rest of this series can maintain a mere fraction of the drama of this opener, we’re in for one hell of a BGT ride.