How TV talent shows reflect cultural identity and market Britain to international audiences.

British TV talent shows have been huge in the UK for over 50 years now, dominating TV sets all across the nation since Carroll Levi's Discoveries back in 1957. However shortly after, possibly the two most influential shows of our time that would depict the way TV talent shows were produced were furthermore released; Opportunity Knocks and New Faces. Their format and structure has been apparent in recent talent shows in order to create a connection with a British audience and relate closely to Britain's Got Talent's ability to connect with an international audience. These shows had the Simon Cowell's and Cheryl Coles, and sparked off voting systems that contributed to the minute proportions of sanity that are coherent in TV shows to date. But is this the key to their success... Britain's Got Talents ability to include performers that originate from another country is a factor that allows them to connect to a global market. Although obviously stated in the title 'Britains' Got Talent, the show is open to anyone from any country, as we have seen over the years various memorable contestants take to the stage to share a part of their culture and what makes them proud to be a part of their country, the best example being English Cypriot's Dimitrios and Lagi of Stavros Flately who shared with the world their Greek/Irish comedy dance. This factor of the show is critical in appealing to a much wider audience as there is an international appeal where an audience can have a cultural relation with contestants who represent their country in a broadcasting situation. Another aspect that TV talent shows used in order to appeal to international audiences is to use judges and presenters who are vital towards the celebrity appeal in their country. For example, the X-Factor consistently chop and change their judging panel every year in order to sustain interest in the credentials of the show, injecting new faces towards the television shows image. However there will always be a cultural diversity in the panel in order to appeal to a variety of audiences. As pictured below, we have the judging panel of the X-Factor which features the quirky Louis Walsh (Irish born), Kylie Minogue's popstar sister Danny Minogue (Australian born), former WAG Cheryl Cole (Newcastle born) and the leader of the pack Simon Cowell (Hertfordshire born). This technique is widely used talent show broadcasting as exemplified also by Britain's Got Talent featuring prolific English television faces as well as international icons such as German-born American David Hasselhoff and American glamour-model Carmen Electra. By reaching out to foreign audiences, this then allows the franchise to broaden, and become coherent across multiple nations- expanding upon the interest in the show. There has been successful mirroring of shows in the USA that have featured on UK television, in

exchange for the UK version to be screened in the USA. This exchange of shows allows a transfer of cultural information as the Americans can gain an insight to the personalities and lifestyles of the British public.