The Hawkstone Farmers' Choir have been crowned the winners of Britain's Got Talent 2026, beating drone display act Celestial to the title in a closely contested final at the Hammersmith Apollo. In doing so, they became the first choir in the show's history to lift the trophy — a milestone that had eluded countless singing groups across nearly two decades of the competition.
It was a night full of emotion. A tearful Jeremy Clarkson, who founded the choir as part of a marketing campaign for his Hawkstone lager brand, was spotted in the audience as the announcement was made. Choir leader Katryna Shell captured the moment perfectly, telling the nation live on ITV: "We are the first ever choir to have won Britain's Got Talent. This is for all the farmers out there."
From banned beer ad to national treasure
The story of the Hawkstone Farmers' Choir is one of those only-in-Britain tales that feels almost too good to be true. The choir was assembled by Clarkson for an advertising campaign promoting his Cotswolds-based Hawkstone brewery — the resulting ad, featuring farmers belting out a very colourful version of the opera classic "Flower Duet" with pints in hand, was promptly banned from TV and radio, but found enormous popularity online.
What nobody expected was for the group to stay together, let alone become a vehicle for something far more meaningful. The choir has since used its platform to raise awareness around mental health in farming, an issue that cuts deeply across rural Britain. The group is dedicated to raising awareness for mental health and suicide prevention in an industry often defined by isolation and intense financial pressure and has pledged to donate a significant portion of its winnings to mental health charities supporting the farming community.
"Farming has had such bad press so it is really nice to have something positive."
— Choir member, speaking after the final
Amanda Holden pressed her golden buzzer for the group during their audition, a moment that set the tone for a competition run that captured the public's imagination at every turn. Clarkson himself said the performance "made my heart sing" and that he "actually welled up" watching it.
Was Celestial robbed?
Not everyone was celebrating. Celestial — a UK-based collective of drone artists, animators and tech specialists — had dazzled throughout the competition, turning the night sky into their stage with an incredible drone show, using Greenwich Park and the London Thames as their canvas. For many viewers, their final performance was the visual highlight of the entire series, and social media lit up with fans insisting the wrong act had taken home the trophy.
The debate speaks to one of BGT's oldest tensions: the balance between spectacle and heart. Celestial offered something genuinely futuristic and technically astonishing. The Hawkstone Farmers' Choir offered something altogether more human — a group of working farmers, non-professional singers, united by a love of the land and a desire to break the silence around rural mental health. On the night, the British public chose the latter.
History made, £250,000 pledged to charity
As winners of BGT, the Hawkstone Farmers' Choir will receive £250,000, which they will donate to a number of charities including Mind. During the live show, they urged people to seek support if they are struggling with their mental health.
It marks the first time a choir has won the show in its 19-series history — a remarkable achievement for a group that, by their own admission, are farmers first and performers second. Whether or not you think Celestial deserved the win, it is hard not to be moved by what the Hawkstone Farmers' Choir represent: community, resilience, and the quiet defiance of people who work the land simply refusing to be forgotten.
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