Britain’s Got Talent turned Blackpool into a giant open‑air stage at the weekend, and it was an 800‑strong drone display over Stanley Park that ended up stealing the show, although some fans questioned why it did not receive the prized 'Golden Buzzer'.
How the Blackpool drone show lit up BGT
Somerset‑based drone artists Celestial closed the opening episode of the new Britain’s Got Talent series (yes, it's somehow still going) with what the show billed as the UK’s largest ever drone display, using 800 synchronised drones above Blackpool’s Stanley Park.
The judges and audience were led outside the Winter Gardens to watch as the sky filled with shifting images celebrating “the best of British”, from James Bond silhouettes and Freddie Mercury, to a cheeky moment that had viewers asking whether they’d just seen Marge Simpson.
Set to music and narration, the routine wove in a speech by King Charles about serving the nation, turning the light show into a patriotic tribute that was described as both technically spectacular and emotionally charged.
Judge Amanda Holden admitted she felt on the verge of tears, while Alesha Dixon said it made everyone “forget that it’s drones” and simply feel proud to be from Britain.
The act earned four 'yeses' from Simon Cowell, Holden, Alesha Dixon and new judge KSI, with Cowell telling the group he could not see “how anyone can beat that” and warning they already had a serious shot at winning the series.
For Blackpool, the sequence doubled as a nationwide tourism advert: VisitBlackpool has since confirmed it was the biggest drone display ever staged in the UK, and has been sharing footage of Stanley Park “looking absolutely wonderful” under the illuminated formations.
Local tourism bosses have called it the town’s “worst‑kept secret”, widely rumoured beforehand, but only revealed to millions of viewers once the episode aired on ITV1 and ITVX.
Why a drone show counts as ‘talent’
Drone shows like Celestial’s are created by a team of programmers, animators and pilots who design each movement in specialist software before uploading flight paths to every individual drone.
For the Blackpool performance, the group say they spent months developing and testing the sequence so that all 800 aircraft could take off, form complex shapes and land safely in time with music and the King’s speech.
Supporters argue that the real talent lies in the creative concept, deciding how to tell a British story in the sky, and the mathematical precision needed to choreograph hundreds of points of light without collisions.
Celestial already have experience producing large‑scale shows around the world, but BGT marked their first time bringing that expertise to a British primetime talent contest, and they have framed the audition as a way of inspiring young people to see coding and digital design as creative careers.
What audiences thought
The drone show has sparked a wave of reaction online, much of it from locals delighted to see Blackpool shot from above and lit up on national TV.
One viewer said: “Saw clips of this on TikTok few months ago but surprised they didn’t get golden buzzer, the amount of work and precision deffo should win.”
A viewer from abroad commented: “This was a straight golden buzzer...if I was part of their nation, would have felt so much proud of this moment.”
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Another added: “I was choked watching this audition, proud to be British.”
Capturing the feeling shared by many, one wrote: “It was amazing, felt like New Year’s Eve watching it on TV, brilliant, well done.”
However, not everyone was convinced as one sceptic said: “Technology not talent, how can a computerised automated drone swarm be classed as talent? It was just a drone show like all the others that go on all over the world.”
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