Britain's Got Talent / Mike Norman / 16 May 2010 /

Mike Norman reviews the latest performances from the Britain's Got Talent auditions and singles out a young street-dance duo that have the potential to go all the way.

It's a bit ironic that Britain's Got Talent started on the same weekend as this year's London Marathon because, just like the guy who started that event in a straight jacket, we're just about half way through.

Olivia Archbold - the teenage singer - remains the act that stands head and shoulders above everyone else from what we've seen so far (well actually she doesn't, because members of dance troupe Spellbound literally do stand on heads and shoulders, but you know what I mean). Archbold will be available to back at around [10.0] (if traditional bookmakers prices are anything to go by) once Betfair open an outright winner market and that could be a great investment.

During the last few weeks of auditions there has been a handful of performances that have impressed - The Chippendoubles, Hayashi, Janey Cutler and Paul Burling especially - but only one has impressed in terms of being good enough to actually win the show, street-omedy act Twist and Pulse.

Twist and Pulse consist of best friends Glen and Ashley and they're primarily a street-dance act, though with a bit of comedy thrown in, hence the street-omedy tag they've given themselves. Call me critical if you like, but I think it helped enormously that Glen and Ashley were both eight foot tall and a bit on the skinny side because their geek-like looks appeared to lower expectations somewhat (a bit like a certain woman from...err...err...a collections of villages). But as soon as they started dancing they had the audience on their feet; and those few comedy moments were a very welcome surprise element.

I'm very confident Twist and Pulse will make the final, though I agree entirely with Simon Cowell's sentiments that they can still improve. But that only serves to make them even more likely to be potential winners, because unlike the acts who are great but have no room for improvement, Glen and Ashley can go a long way if they can produce a performance bigger and better than their audition.

One of the acts that I mentioned earlier that you certainly wouldn't think have room for improvement are the Chippendoubles. Basically they are a group of celebrity lookalikes that entered the stage in disguise so to hide their identity. The strength of their act was the surprise element however, and not that the David Beckham lookalike could do a few volleys or that the Ricky Gervais lookalike could dance like David Brent. So it begs the question, what are they going to do next?

Unless Beckham can start doing tricks with an abacus - like count - or Gervais can get people to laugh without just looking at him, then I think the Chippendoubles could be in trouble at the semi-final stage.

Of the others I mentioned, 36-year-old English lecturer Hayashi took to the stage armed with a samurai sword and two terrified assistants, then proceeded to nearly kill one of them by taking off his head. His act was to chop cucumbers, whilst blindfolded, which were strapped to his assistant's head and hands. The act was certainly death-defying and very chilling, but somehow I don't think ITV will allow Cowell's suggestion of beans to be used next to make the act more dangerous; just one slip there and believe me, you won't need the bean juice to act as a blood effect!

Janey Cutler - the 80-year-old singer - was a massive hit with the audience and judges but I'm not a fan. True, she had a magnificent voice for her age, but in terms of having enough quality to win the show she's a bit like our country's new government - falls a long way short of being convincing!

Paul Burling is a man who I hope will go a long way. He is a guy who has done the clubs and holiday camp circuit for over 20 years now as an impressionist, and he probably deserves a decent break judged by his performance. The problem with impressionists is that you have to be very good at whom you're impersonating, and you also have to be funny. Burling was both, his Harry Hill impression being one of the highlights of the last two weeks.

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