Britain's Got Talent postpones live shows

\'Britain\'s Got Talent\' has postponed its live shows.

The ITV talent competition has become the latest show to announce delays to its programming as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, as the series - which was created by Simon Cowell - has been forced to push back the live shows as the UK goes into lockdown to try and limit the spread of the illness.

A source told The Sun Online: "They have no idea when the live shows will take place as it depends on government guidelines and advice.

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"At the moment they would like them to happen in September, but that will entirely depend on how quickly things are back to normal."

\'Britain\'s Got Talent\' - which is hosted by Ant and Dec, and sees Simon, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, and David Walliams sit on the judging panel - will still air the auditions as normal in the coming weeks, as they were filmed across the country in January and February this year.

The decision to postpone the live shows comes as ITV representatives last week claimed they were "working with production colleagues" to finalise plans for the next portion of the series.

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In a statement, they said: "The \'Britain\'s Got Talent\' audition shows are due to be broadcast in the next few weeks as planned.

"We are also working with our production colleagues to see how we can make the \'BGT\' live shows work in an ever-changing situation and we will update on this in due course."

The news also follows announcements that fellow ITV show \'Ant and Dec\'s Saturday Night Takeaway\' would film for the first time without a live studio audience, and the broadcaster would also postpone the upcoming live episodes of \'The Voice\'.

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Carolyn McCall, ITV\'s CEO, said: "This week has seen an escalation in the impact of the coronavirus with the Government ramping up measures and recommendations that are having profound implications for people and organisations across the UK.

"All businesses are being deeply affected and ITV is no exception, but as a Public Service Broadcaster we remain committed to doing everything we can to continue to provide news, drama, entertainment and factual programmes to our viewers to keep them informed about this crisis and to offer them an escape from it."