Kieran, Liam win last two places in BGT final
Teenage drummer Kieran Gaffney and teenage singer Liam McNally have become the last two acts to make it through to the Britain's Got Talent final. Kieran, 13, won the public vote in Friday night's semi-final after wowing both audience and judges with a drumming routine to the Black Eyed Peas hit Pump It. Meanwhile 14-year-old Liam became the last person to win a place in Saturday's final after he found himself facing the judges' choice along with sibling dance trio A3. And after both acts had received one vote each from Piers and Amanda, Simon Cowell was left with the casting vote - and admitted he had a huge dilemma on his hands. "Both of you were better in your first auditions if I'm being honest with you," he said. "A3 You made some mistakes but I really really like you, Liam you were much better on your first audition, but I guess this could be the last time you could audition." "Based on what I said," he concluded, "I have to let Liam have a chance." Afterwards Liam - who won praise from the judges for his rendition of You Raise Me Up earlier in the show - said he was "speechless" to have reached the final. "It's been a big journey and I don't want to stop now, I want to keep going," he added. Kieran, meanwhile, said he felt "over the moon" to have won the semi-final. The teenager narrowly missed out after auditioning last year and almost failed to make the semi-final this year after returning as part of a group with his parents. However the judges gave him another chance as a solo performer. Earlier in the show Simon had called his performance "stunning. You didn't make it last year, you nearly blew it with your mum and dad, but you never once whinged or complained.You've come back as a man," he said. Five other acts - comedy dance troupe The Chippendoubles, pole dancer Alesia Vasmitzel, singing duo Father and Son, and dance groups Dance Flavourz and Myztikal - also took part in Friday's semi-final.
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.