Amanda Holden 'delighted' BGT filming has been postponed as it's 'not the same' without audience

8 January 2021, 08:08 | Updated: 8 January 2021, 08:10

Amanda Holden chats about missing Simon Cowell and the decision to postpone BGT filming

By Naomi Bartram

@naomibartram

Filming for the next series of ITV show Britain's Got Talent has been postponed due to Covid concerns.

Amanda Holden has said she is happy Britain’s Got Talent filming has been put on hold, because the show needs an audience to work.

The Heart presenter and BGT judge said it ‘doesn’t make sense’ to film the show without fans.

Speaking on Heart Breakfast with Jamie and Amanda, she explained: “We were due to start filming on the 18th January and then it was pushed to the 28th, and then we got the call yesterday.

“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 makes no sense not to have them.”

This comes after ITV announced BGT would be postponed yesterday, with Amanda and fellow judges Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams hopefully returning later this year.

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A statement from the channel reads: “The filming for the 15th series of Britain's Got Talent has been postponed from its proposed record dates in late January.

"With the announcement of the latest Government health guidelines and with our priority of safeguarding the well-being of everyone involved in our programmes we, together with the production teams at Thames and Syco, have taken the decision to move the record and broadcast of the forthcoming series.

"We will confirm revised dates in due course."

Speaking about the decision to cancel the show for the time being, Amanda continued: “I am delighted because [the lack of audience] affects the show and it affects the quality of the show.

“So much hard work goes on backstage and everyone’s really done a huge effort to make it the best show it could be, but it still affects it, so I would rather wait and make it the best it could be and put it on in the autumn.”

She then added: “I’ll miss Simon though, it’s going to have been almost two years since I’ve actually touched him.”

While TV and film productions are allowed to continue during the lockdown, with strict social distancing measures in place, the scale of the BGT production would make filming difficult under the current lockdown.

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