ITV Britain's Got Talent fans share complaint over…

ITV Britain's Got Talent fans share complaint over 'cringe' change as show return hit by blow

Britain's Got Talent fans were left making the same 'cringe' complaint as the show returned for a double helping over the weekend. The 16th series of the hit ITV talent show kicked off on Saturday night before being back on-screen on Sunday night as Bruno Tonioli made his debut on the judging panel alongside Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Simon Cowell.

The quartet headed to London's Palladium and The Lowry in Salford earlier this year for the audition stages of the competition as they looked for the next talented star who will get the opportunity to before in front of the royal family - and possibly the new King Charles - at the Royal Variety Show later this year. And there's also the small matter of the £250,000 prize fund.

Viewers got their first taste of what to expect from the series with the double airing of BGT over the weekend - including a children’s dance group from Uganda who bagged the series’ first golden buzzer, which sends the act straight through to the competition’s live semi-final, from former Strictly star Bruno.

The first episode also featured a 13-year-old magician from Ireland, a Japanese comedian who travelled with an interpreter to the competition, a Darth Vader-dressed keyboardist and a recorder player who used his nose to play his instrument. Meanwhile, Sunday night saw Simon Cowell hit his golden buzzer for 13-year-old opera singer, Malakai.

But it wasn't the acts themselves that just got viewers talking as some fans were quick to complain about the opening of both episodes as they begged for change. Sunday night's episode saw Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly 'loose' the judges and ended up on Coronation Street. The duo found themselves wandering the world's most famous street, just across the bridge from The Lowry where Manchester auditions were based.

In a comical sketch for the popular ITV talent show, Ant asked "so where are they judges then?" and Dec admitted he'd installed a tracker on head judge Simon's phone. As they walked along with famous landmarks on the Trafford Wharf Road set in the backdrop, including The Kabin and Nick Tilsley's bistro, they literally bumped into Weathefield icon Sally Metcalfe, played by Sally Dynevor.

Meanwhile, the judges were seen sitting around a table at Roy's Rolls all dressed up ready for the auditions. They looked at home in Roy Cropper's cafe as Shona Platt brought over a plate of toast and spaghetti letters with just the letters 'BGT' which saw Simon approve: "Just how I like it."

The judges were seen on the cobbles (ITV)

But while some loved the BGT stars' trip to the most famous cobbled street, others were less than impressed. One tweeted "Me thinking the intro skit couldn’t get any worse than yesterday’s #bgt #BritainsGotTalent " as a second said: "I usually love #BGT but what is with the cheese overload this year?"

It came after the return of Britain's Got Talent was hit by a bit of a blow. Saturday night's opening episode drew in around half a million fewer viewers than last year, when the show came back on air for the first time since the pandemic. ITV said the first episode of the 16th series had an average of 5.5 million viewers based on overnight figures.

The peak viewing figure of the premiere of the talent show on Saturday at 8pm was 6.2 million viewers. The broadcaster said it was ITV1’s highest rated programme of the year based on overnight figures.

During a similar time slot on BBC One on Saturday, quiz show Pointless Celebrities aired at 7.35pm drawing 2.2 million viewers on average based on overnight ratings. The corporation also said that soap Casualty from 8.25pm took in an audience of 1.8 million viewers on average.

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