Simon Cowell has revealed the future of Britain’s Got Talent – after the show was cancelled by ITV days before filming started 18 years ago.

The music mogul, 64, told MailOnline he intends on making the TV juggernaut for years to come and hopes the show will surpass 20 series.

Ahead of the 17th season, which begins on Saturday, Simon explained because Britain’s Got Talent attracts acts from all over the world and has the ability to create ‘life changing’ moments for it’s contestants, he sees no end date, especially as the talent only gets better.

It comes after hosts Ant & Dec decided to finish Saturday Night Takeaway after two decades, with BGT only three years away from reaching the same milestone.

But Simon has no plans to stop making the programme as he recalls the early days of the series and how it was ‘cancelled’ before being given one last lifeline by TV bosses in 2007.

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Simon Cowell has revealed the future of Britain’s Got Talent – after the show was cancelled by ITV days before filming started 18 years ago

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The music mogul told MailOnline he intends on making the TV juggernaut for years to come and hopes the show will surpass 20 series (pictured with Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden in 2007)

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Ahead of the 17th season, Simon explained because Britain’s Got Talent attracts acts from all over the world and has the ability to create ‘life changing’ moments for it’s contestants (pictured 2023)

He said: ‘This show has a very interesting story about when we first started because we did the pilot here and it was rubbish and then luckily, we sold it to America and it was a hit and then thank God, ITV bought it… but three days before we were due to film, they cancelled it.

‘So, we went up to Birmingham, because I didn’t tell anyone, thinking we have 24 hours and if it doesn’t work in the first day, we’re toast and thank God the first day went well.

‘I always thought, if we could get three or four years out of this it would be amazing and then you reach 10 years and go that’s a milestone…

‘Because so many people come from all over the world to compete and it’s not just winning the show it’s having that viral moment that can literally change your life overnight… these clips sometimes get hundreds of millions of views… that’s why people are going to come back year after year after year and hopefully keep competing and get better.

‘That’s what I’m seeing, is that the acts are actually thank God getting better and because the show has all ages, I think it’s going to be here for a long, long time.’

The former X Factor boss believes Britain’s Got Talent has ‘evolved’ because it’s now on a global scale, with this year’s series welcoming contestants from the likes of America and South Korea.

But Simon still expects to be wowed by original acts and has little tolerance for participants who bring him a worse version of what he’s seen on stage before.

He added: ‘Firstly I like to be surprised, secondly you want them to be great and third you don’t want a worse version of what you have seen before because it’s boring.

Britain’s Got Talent launched with Ant & Dec as hosts back in 2007 with Simon revealing the show almost didn’t make it on TV due to having a ‘rubbish’ pilot (pictured in 2007)

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The former X Factor boss believes BGT has ‘evolved’ because it’s now on a global scale, with this year’s series welcoming contestants from the likes of America and South Korea

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Simon still expects to be wowed by original acts and has little tolerance for participants who bring him a worse version of what he’s seen on stage before (pictured in 2023)

‘This show has evolved now where you have acts coming from all over the world to compete so I think that makes it more exciting, where you have British acts competing with acts from all over the world because that’s real life, you go on YouTube now and it’s acts from all over the world so that’s why I really enjoyed this series.’

Simon reveals he flew back to the UK from America early to support Ant & Dec during the last ever Saturday Night Takeaway.

And he was blown away by the show’s high standard, which he said was like watching multiple performances at once, as well as the number of celebrity guests who took part in the final live broadcast.

He said: ‘I literally flew back from America early because I knew it was going to be the last one and I sat in the dressing room watching the show thinking ‘my God, it was like a million shows in one’ I have never seen so many well known people in my life in one night because we’re good friends.

‘I was talking to them afterwards and they were very emotional but I went if you’re going to go out on a show like this then you’re going to go out on a high, and boy did they go out on a high.’

Being part of the last ever show gave Simon the chance to reunite with former X Factor co-star Cheryl, who was the guest announcer with Girls Aloud.

Revealing he would work with Cheryl again, Simon also confessed to ‘missing’ his friend and ex-colleague, while complimenting her judging style.

He added: ‘She hasn’t changed at all. I miss her. We had great fun working together… so it was a bit of a reunion. Definitely, I would work with her again in the future with the right show because I think she was a really, really good job. Our sons Eric and Bear have met and they get on well.’