Simon Cowell forms plans for 'World's Got Talent'
Simon Cowell is planning the first ever World's Got Talent final, featuring acts from all around the globe, according to the papers. The Sun reports that the show, set to take place next summer, will feature contestants picked from more than 80 countries which now broadcast their versions of the show - and that the winner could pocket a cheque for one million pounds. The show is set to be held at London's Royal Albert Hall, but will be beamed around the world to a potential audience of 300 million viewers. Both ITV and US broadcaster NBC are reported to be interested in the idea, while Simon has admitted he has wanted to do it since Britain's Got Talent first launched in 2007. "This has been Simon's dream. It will be the biggest reality show the world's seen," a source told the paper. "There is a huge wealth of talent out there. The best acts cross language barriers. "Look at last year's winners Diversity - anyone from any country would be impressed by what they do." Winners from recent foreign editions of the show have included opera singers, dance groups, contortionists and circus performers.
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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.