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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Katie Fitzpatrick

BGT golden buzzer act backed by Princess Diana sees massive demand after audition as Simon Cowell admits he knew who they were

Saturday night's golden buzzer act on Britain's Got Talent moved viewers to tears with their stunning performance of Naughty Boy's Wonder featuring Emeli Sande. Theatre company Chickenshed received a standing ovation and the coveted golden buzzer from judge Alesha Dixon in the third episode of the new series (April 22).

After the golden confetti rained down on them, sending them straight through to the semi-finals of the ITV talent show, head judge Simon Cowell told Chickenshed that he had been waiting years for them to do Britain's Got Talent. He admitted he had known about them for 'a long time time' as he heaped praise on their powerful audition in the hope of winning a place on stage at the Royal Variety Performance.

"I've known about Chickenshed for a long time and I've always wondered when's the year you're going to come on Britain's Got Talent," he said.

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He told them: "The work you do actually is incredible and this performance summed up everything you do." He added: "That's why we have a golden buzzer."

After the show there was massive demand for Chickenshed's website as visitors were told: "You are now in line. Thank you for your patience." They were told: "We are experiencing a high volume of traffic and using a virual queue to limit the amount of users on the website at the same time."

Chickenshed won hearts (ITV)

Chickenshed, in North London, is an inclusive theatre company for 'absolutely everyone' which started out in 1974. Musician and composer Jo Collins met teacher and director Mary Ward. Sharing a belief that everyone should be able to perform and create, they set up a theatre company after being offered space in a disused chicken shed. Supporters over the years include its royal patron the late Princess Diana. She and trustees Lady Jane Rayne-Lacey and her daughter The Hon Natasha Rayne raised funds to enable Chickenshed to build its current theatre in Southgate.

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