The eighth series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 12 April to 7 June 2014; because of England's international friendly with Peru, the show took a break on 30 May to avoid clashing with live coverage of the match. Auditions were held in Northern Ireland instead of Scotland for this series, with hosts Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as Ant & Dec) having to stand in for Simon Cowell, after illness forced him to be absent during a day of auditions. It was also the first series in the show's history to have a buzzer used during the live final, and was the first to include the "Golden Buzzer" – a format introduced to the programme, which had begun to appear within the Got Talent franchise since it was first introdu