Declan Donnelly

Declan Joseph Oliver 'Dec' Donnelly (born 25 September 1975) is an English television presenter and actor, best known as one half of the English acting and TV presenting duo Ant & Dec, with the other being Anthony McPartlin.

Donnelly came to prominence in the children's drama series Byker Grove and as one half of the pop music duo PJ & Duncan. Since then, Donnelly and McPartlin have had a very successful career as television presenters, currently presenting I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! since 2002, Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway since 2002, Britain's Got Talent since 2007 and Text Santa since 2011.

Before then, the duo presented other ITV entertainment series such as PokerFace, Push the Button, Pop Idol and Red or Black?.

Early life

Donnelly is the youngest of seven children born to Irish parents Alphonsus (died 2011) and Anne Donnelly. He has three brothers, Martin, Eamonn and Dermott; and three sisters, Patricia, Moyra and Camalia. His parents hailed from Desertmartin , County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, but migrated to Newcastle, where they bought a house in 1950s. The family lived in the council estate of Cruddas Park for many years and all seven children were raised there. Donnelly's future double act partner Anthony McPartlin was raised in a nearby estate but the duo only met in 1989, on the set of Byker Grove.

Amanda Holden

Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English actress, singer and presenter, best known as a judge on ITV's Britain's Got Talent since the show began in 2007.

Holden played the role of Sarah Trevanion in Wild at Heart (2006–2008) and the title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award. More recently she has presented various television shows for ITV including Superstar (2012), This Morning (2014–2015) and Give a Pet a Home (2015).

Career

Television

Holden's first television appearance was as a contestant on the game show Blind Date in 1991.

From 2006 to 2008, Holden appeared as Sarah Trevanian in three series of ITV's Wild at Heart co-starring Stephen Tompkinson.

Holden's other TV credits include three series of the comedy Kiss Me Kate with Caroline Quentin and Chris Langham, three series of the ITV's The Grimleys, Celeb with Harry Enfield, BBC series Hearts and Bones with Damian Lewis, the Jonathan Creek episode "The Problem at Gallowes Gate" and a Boxing Day special Marple opposite Geraldine McEwan and John Hannah. She also co-starred with Bill Nighy and Tom Courtenay in Ready When You Are, Mr McGill, Jack Rosenthal's comedy drama.

Amanda Holden (writer)

Amanda Juliet Holden (born 19 January 1948) is a British musician, librettist and translator.

Education

Holden is the daughter of Sir Brian Warren and Dame Josephine Barnes, DBE. She was educated as Benenden School, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (where she gained a Master of Arts), Guildhall School of Music and Drama and American University, Washington (MA). She also has degrees from the Royal Academy of Music (ARCM and LRAM).

Librettist

She translated the libretto of Don Giovanni for Jonathan Miller in 1985. Her librettos include Bliss, for Brett Dean and The Silver Tassie, for which she was joint winner, with composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, of the Outstanding Achievement in Opera Laurence Olivier Award in 2001. She made a "highly acclaimed translation" of Puccini's Madama Butterfly for David Freeman's production at the Royal Albert Hall in 2011. Holden prepared the "deft" narration for a concert performance of the opera Der Freischütz presented by the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, London, in April 2012

Peter Dickson (announcer)

Peter Dickson (born 23 June 1957) is a British television announcer, radio presenter and voice-over artist. He is best known as the former voice of E4, as well as the announcer for The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent, The Price Is Right, Family Fortunes, All Star Mr & Mrs, Live at the Apollo, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow and Chris Moyles' Quiz Night.

One of the most prominent TV voice artists in the world today, Dickson has been the voice for hundreds of award winning television shows, radio programmes and advertisements.

Career

Dickson was educated at Belfast Royal Academy in his home city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He later graduated with a BA Hons degree in psychology from Queens University, whilst being a member of the University Air Squadron. He was a reporter and journalist at the BBC later moving to the presentation department at Radio Ulster. From there he moved on to BBC Radio 2 as a newsreader and music presenter; At 17 years old he was the youngest News reader in the history of the BBC.

Britain's Got Talent

Britain's Got Talent (often shortened to BGT) is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent franchise. The show is a Thames production (formerly Talkback Thames) distributed by FremantleMedia and is produced in association with Syco TV. The show is broadcast on ITV and its sister show Britain's Got More Talent is broadcast on ITV2. Anyone of any age with some sort of talent can audition for the show. Acts compete against each other in order to gain the audience support while trying to win the title of "The winner of Britain's Got Talent''. The original judging panel consisted of the show's creator Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan. Kelly Brook was brought in as a fourth judge in series 3, but was axed after one audition site. Morgan did not return for series 5 and Cowell was only present during the live shows, while David Hasselhoff and Michael McIntyre joined the panel. Alesha Dixon and David Walliams joined the panel in series 6 as replacements for McIntyre and Hasselhoff.

Britain's Got Talent (series 7)

The seventh series of Britain's Got Talent began airing on ITV on 13 April 2013 and ended on 8 June 2013. Ant & Dec returned to present the main show on ITV, while Stephen Mulhern returned to present spin-off show Britain's Got More Talent on ITV2. The judges were Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams, all of whom were judges for the sixth series.

The auditions took place in January and February 2013. Auditions began in Cardiff for two days (16 and 17 January) and then moved to London for four days (20–23 January). They then took place in Glasgow on 28 January and Manchester for two days (2 and 3 February), before concluding with three days in Birmingham (8–10 February). The live semi-finals began on 27 May and concluded on 1 June. The live final took place on 8 June 2013 and was won by Hungarian shadow theatre troupe Attraction.

Judges and presenters

After the final of the sixth series of Britain's Got Talent on 12 May 2012, head judge Simon Cowell said that he and the three other judges, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams, would all be returning for series 7, "if they will accept [his] invitation". Dixon confirmed her return for the seventh series on 26 July 2012. On 13 October, during an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, Walliams announced that he had signed on until 2014, in a deal reportedly worth £800,000. On 13 December, Cowell and Holden were confirmed to be returning to the show as well.

Britain's Got Talent (series 1)

The first series of Britain's Got Talent began on ITV on 9 June 2007 and ended on 17 June 2007. It was won by opera singer Paul Potts. The first five shows concerned the audition stages of the competition and the final four shows aired the live semi-finals and final. The show was hosted by Ant & Dec on ITV, while Stephen Mulhern presented spin-off show Britain's Got More Talent on ITV2. The judges were Piers Morgan, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell.

Background

The series was first intended to air in 2005 before America's Got Talent, but was postponed after original host Paul O'Grady transferred from ITV to Channel 4. Ant & Dec were later decided upon as replacement hosts. David Hasselhoff and Cheryl Cole were originally lined up as judges, but both resigned before the programme was due to air, meaning Holden and Morgan were brought in as replacements. Cowell later employed Cole as the replacement for Sharon Osbourne on The X Factor, as he felt she was better suited to the show. Hasselhoff later joined America's Got Talent and was a judge in the fifth series of Britain's Got Talent.