Simon Cowell ... Naughty but nice? Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The Guardian
From Pop Idol in 2001, when he first made his name, Simon Cowell has made a career out of humiliating life's losers, using his role as talent show judge to turn derision into an art form.
Ridicule has since become the lingua franca of popular TV, with The X Factor, Dragon's Den, The Apprentice, Shipwrecked and most obviously Big Brother mocking the weirdos who cannot be groomed into acceptable automatons (an urge which teachers now claim is copied by playground bullies). But has Cowell - perhaps inspired by a brush with death, a visitation from Mother Theresa or maybe a weekend stay in a Romanian orphanage - suddenly found his conscience troubling him? His new show, Britain's Got Talent, suggests so.
The show offers £100,000 and a slot at the Royal Variety Performance to its winner, who can be of any age and whose act may consist of anything from throwing knives at their spreadeagled, revolving wife to attaching clothes pegs to their face and neck. It is a joyful celebration and validation of Britain's eccentrics and the surprising qualities that are hidden beneath their easily mocked exteriors.
Highlights so far have included Paul, the fat, sweating, stuttering bloke whose Nessun Dorma made most of the live audience cry; Craig, the effeminate, make-up clad teenage boy whose only ally is his granny (his parents are ashamed of him) knocking 'em dead with his twirling baton act; and Scott, the awkward, spotty, pallid teenager who broke into a breakdance that could have seen him star in a Run DMC promo. The live studio audience have adapted quickly to this new atmosphere of acceptance and encouragement. Their warmest receptions are saved for those acts who would be immediately rejected from The X Factor - those whose shiny suits don't quite fit, whose nerves are crippling or whose glasses keep slipping down their nose.
Whether he's had an attack of scruples or just fancies showing us how powerful he is by moving the goalposts, Cowell's new approach is heartening to watch. And the public seems to agree. Britain's Got Talent recently beat Big Brother into its worst ratings trough yet - 6.4m compared to 2.6m. Whether it signals a change of attitude towards our fellow man, or merely marks a flash of compassion in a sea of misanthropy, we can only wait and see.
