Britain's Got Talent (series 1)

When production on the show resumed, Morgan was brought in as a judge, having been an original choice during the show's initial conception.

After Simon Cowell pitched to ITV his plans for a televised talent competition, production was green-lighted for a full series after a pilot episode was created in mid-2005. However, a dispute broke out between Paul O'Grady, the original choice as host for the programme, and the broadcaster, that resulted in O'Grady signing up to another broadcaster. His decision resulted in production being suspended, and did not resume until in the wake of the success of the first series of America's Got Talent. When it did resume, production staff focused on a schedule of ten episodes to begin with for the first series of Britain's Got Talent, with major auditions for potential acts held within the cities of Manchester, Birmingham, London and Cardiff. The initial choices for judges changed to begin with following O'Grady's decision to switch broadcasters, with it eventually finalised on Cowell, Piers Morgan, and Amanda Holden.

Of the participants who auditioned to be in the contest for this series, only 24 made it into the three live semi-finals, with eight appearing in each one, and six of these acts moving on into the live final. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:

  Winner |   Finalist |   Semi-finalist

Semi-final 1 (14 June)

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote			Result
		Cowell	Holden	Morgan
MD Productions	1				Eliminated
Damon Scott	2				Advanced (Won Judges' vote)
Mel's Klever K9’S	3				Eliminated
Dominic Smith	4				Eliminated (Lost Judges' vote)
Luke & Charlotte	5				Eliminated
Caroline Boyes	6				Eliminated
The Free Runners	7				Eliminated
Paul Potts	8				Advanced (Won Public vote)

Semi-final 2 (15 June)

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote			Result
		Cowell	Holden	Morgan
Kombat Breakers	1				Advanced (Won Judges' vote)
Victoria Armstrong	2				Eliminated
Jack Reeve	3				Eliminated
Jake Pratt	4				Eliminated
The Mini-Mezzos	5				Eliminated
Crazeehorse	6				Eliminated
Craig Womersley	7				Eliminated (Lost Judges' vote)
Bessie Cursons	8				Advanced (Won Public vote)

Semi-final 3 (16 June)

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote			Result
		Cowell	Holden	Morgan
Cheeky Bits	1				Eliminated
Mike Garbutt	2				Eliminated
Doctor Gore	3				Eliminated
Tony Laf	4				Eliminated (Lost Judges' vote)
Scott Holtom	5				Eliminated
Crew 82	6				Eliminated
The Bar Wizards	7				Advanced (Won Judges' vote)
Connie Talbot	8				Advanced (Won Public vote)

The first series of Britain's Got Talent found itself marred with controversy over two participants - Richard Bates, and Kit Kat Dolls- that auditioned for the competition, after they were found to have breached rules that required personal details and information that was not "untruthful, inaccurate or misleading".[10] Bates was removed at the request of Lancashire Police, after they revealed that he had not disclosed being on the UK's Violent and Sex Offender Register at the time of filming for an offence he had committed in 2005,[11] while the Kit Kat Dolls were disqualified after three of their members were discovered to be secretly working as prostitutes during an undercover investigation by the News of the World.[12]

When the live rounds took place, viewers criticised the programme for the involvement of magician Doctor Gore. Their complaints focused on the nature of his performance and their presentation, which they deemed as unsuitable for a family-orientated programme that would be watched by young children. Production staff claimed in their defence that the performance was thoroughly reviewed before it was broadcast, but the investigation of regulator Ofcom ruled against Britain's Got Talent for breaching its broadcasting code with regards to protecting young children from unsuitable material.[13][14]