BGT widens ratings gap with The Voice

Britain's Got Talent has beaten The Voice in the latest ratings battle for the second week in a row.

Ashleigh and her dog Pudsey are through to the BGT final

The ITV1 show attracted an average audience of 9.8 million on Saturday night, while its BBC One rival drew 8.2 million viewers.

On Sunday, Britain's Got Talent triumphed over The Voice again with its first live semi-final reaching 9.5m viewers.

The Voice's results show drew an audience of 6.6m.

Neither shows clashed on either Saturday or Sunday.

Britain's Got Talent recently moved to a later slot after The Voice consistently beat the programme in a head-to-head clash.

There have been repeated clashes between the two channels over the past few months.

But last month, Britain's Got Talent's head judge Simon Cowell congratulated BBC One controller Danny Cohen and The Voice via Twitter on the show's ratings success.

<bold>Two losers</bold>

The controller of BBC One, Danny Cohen, says media reports of a rivalry between the two shows are not true.

"I'm a fan of ITV's entertainment shows," he admitted.

"Simon Cowell and others have said very nice things about The Voice. We want viewers to enjoy both shows.

"I don't think we should get too involved with rivalry or who's beating who or who's slightly ahead of who."

A teenager and her performing dog and a Welsh choir went through to the finals of Britain's Got Talent.

Hannah Berney and Ruth-Ann St. Luce were voted off The Voice.

Meanwhile, police were called in by the BBC last week after racist comments were posted on Twitter about The Voice contestant, Ruth Brown.

The racist comments have now been removed.