The fifth series of Britain's Got Talent began on 16 April 2011 and ended on 4 June 2011. The winner of the show was Jai McDowall, who received £100,000 and a place at the 2011 Royal Variety Performance. The judges were David Hasselhoff, Amanda Holden, Michael McIntyre and Simon Cowell. Cowell only attended the live shows as he was busy launching The X Factor USA. The show was hosted by Ant & Dec on ITV, while Stephen Mulhern presented Britain's Got More Talent on ITV2.

Auditions took place in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff, and Birmingham. Liverpool also hosted auditions for the first time. This was the first year that both Britain's Got Talent and Britain's Got More Talent were shown completely in high definition, as in series 4 only the live shows were shown in HD, while Britain's Got More Talent remained in standard definition throughout.

For the first time since Britain's Got Talent began, there was a permanent change to the judging panel. In October 2010, Piers Morgan announced he was leaving the show due to hosting his new talk show Piers Morgan Tonight in America and he was unable to do both. In December 2010, Simon Cowell confirmed that he would only be present at the live shows as he would also be busy in America launching The X Factor USA. Therefore, comedian Michael McIntyre and former America's Got Talent judge David Hasselhoff were added to the panel with Amanda Holden. There were also guest judges planned for the auditions due to the success of the guest judges on The X Factor, but no guest judges appeared during the auditions. Hasselhoff was unable to attend the London auditions, so The X Factor judge Louis Walsh took his place.

Britain's Got Talent (sometimes shortened to BGT) is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent series. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's Thames (formerly Talkback Thames) and creator Simon Cowell's production company SYCOtv. The show and its sister show Britain's Got More Talent are broadcast on ITV. Anyone of any age with some sort of talent can audition for the show. Acts compete against each other in order to gain the audience support while trying to win the title of "The winner of Britain's Got Talent". Each year, on the morning of the first show of the new series, Britain's Got Talent has a special program titled "Most Talented", featuring interviews of the winners from the previous series and their progress since winning.

Throughout the show, contestants must perform in front of the judges, and each year initial auditions have been held in front of a live audience. Auditions precede live shows, where the final 40 contestants (45 in 2012) perform nightly for a week in order to impress the British public. There have been six winners to date: Paul Potts, George Sampson, Diversity, Spelbound, Jai McDowall and Ashleigh and Pudsey. The winner of each series is given the opportunity to perform at the Royal Variety Performance in front of members of the British Royal Family, including Queen Elizabeth II. The winner also receives a cash prize, which from series 1 to 5 was £100,000, but was increased to £500,000 in series 6. Britain's Got Talent is known as one of Britain's biggest television talent competitions and has also proven popular throughout Europe. The series 3 live final brought in 17.3 million viewers, (a 64.6% audience share). On 18 October 2010, ITV announced that Cowell had signed a new three-year contract renewing Britain's Got Talent until 2013.

Simon Phillip Cowell (born 7 October 1959) is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol. He is also the owner of the television production and music publishing house Syco.

As a judge, Cowell is known for his blunt and often controversial criticisms, insults and wisecracks about contestants and their abilities. He is also known for combining activities in both the television and music industries, having promoted singles and records for various artists, including television personalities. He was most recently featured on the fifth series of Britain's Got Talent and the first season of The X Factor USA.

In 2010, the British magazine New Statesman listed Cowell at number 41 in a list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010".

Cowell was born in Lambeth, London and brought up in Elstree, Hertfordshire. His mother, Julie Brett (née Josie Dalglish), is a former ballet dancer and socialite, and his father, Eric Selig Phillip Cowell (1918–1999), was an estate agent developer and music industry executive. Cowell's father was from a mostly Jewish family, though he did not discuss his background with his children (Cowell's paternal grandmother had immigrated from Poland). Cowell's mother was from a Christian background, and is of part Scottish descent. He has one brother and three half-brothers and a half sister; younger brother Nicholas Cowell, half-brother John Cowell, half-brother Tony Cowell, half-brother Michael Cowell and half sister June Cowell.