BGT winner known as Lost Voice Guy first comic to win in show's history

37-year-old funnyman Lee Ridley from Consett took the winner's title in the final of Britain's Got Talent.

He has cerebral palsy and uses a machine called a Lightwriter to speak. Lee is known as Lost Voice Guy and is the first comedian to win the show in its 12-series history.

Lee studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire and worked for Sunderland City Council’s communications team, the BBC and local newspapers before going into comedy full time.

He caught his first big break at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, where he first performed in 2013. A year later, he scooped the BBC new comedy award, previously won by comedy legends Alan Carr and Peter Kay.

On the back of the prize, Ridley earned a BBC Radio 4 sitcom, Ability.

Lee's win has been backed by big North East names who took to Twitter to congratulate him.

The praise didn't stop there!

Winning the series means Lee picks up the £250,000 prize and a spot on the Royal Variety Performance.

On winning, he joked he was very excited to perform in front of the Queen, saying: “I’ve loved her since she sang Bohemian Rhapsody.”