When Dawn and her daughter Abby walked onto the Britain’s Got Talent stage, they were not simply another singing act.
They were a mother and daughter who had decided to perform together.
Calling themselves Like Mother, Like Daughter, the pair hoped their combination of vocals and personality would impress the judges.
For their 2012 audition, they chose “She Said” by Plan B.
But the performance quickly took an unexpected turn.
Instead of becoming a straightforward success story, the audition divided the judging panel. Two judges hit their buzzers, while Simon Cowell became particularly interested in Abby and asked to hear what she could do on her own.
What followed made the audition far more complicated than either performer could have expected.
A Mother and Daughter Take the Stage
Like Mother, Like Daughter consisted of Dawn and her fourteen-year-old daughter Abby.
The duo came from Strood, Kent, and their act was built around the idea of combining a mother’s experience with her daughter’s younger energy. Dawn had considerable experience performing, while Abby was much less experienced on stage.
For Dawn, performing was something she had been doing for years.
According to the available contestant information, she had spent around two decades singing and had performed at pubs, clubs and other venues.
Abby, meanwhile, had a different role in the story.
She was the daughter who helped turn a mother’s long-time desire to appear on a major talent show into something they could attempt together.
Rather than auditioning separately, they decided to create something they believed would be unique.
They Chose “She Said”
For their audition, Dawn and Abby selected “She Said” by Plan B.
The song gave them an opportunity to create a performance that wasn’t a traditional mother-daughter ballad.
Instead, they brought a more contemporary style to the Britain’s Got Talent stage.
At first, the concept seemed straightforward.
Two family members.
One stage.
One song.
But the judges quickly began forming very different opinions about what they were seeing.
The Audition Takes an Unexpected Turn
As the performance continued, the judges’ reactions became increasingly difficult to read.
David Walliams and Alesha Dixon pressed their buzzers, signaling that they were not convinced by the act.
That immediately changed the mood in the theater.
For Dawn and Abby, the goal had been to prove that they worked well together.
Now, however, the judges were beginning to question whether the mother-daughter combination was actually the strongest part of the performance.
And Simon Cowell had a different idea.
Instead of simply judging the duo as a pair, he became interested in Abby’s individual ability.
That led to one of the most unusual moments of the audition.
Simon Cowell Wanted to Hear Abby Alone
Simon believed that Abby was stronger than Dawn and asked the judges to hear Abby perform separately.
That request changed the focus of the audition.
The act had entered the stage as a mother-daughter partnership, but suddenly Abby was being examined as an individual performer.
She went on to perform a rap solo.
At the same time, Dawn continued singing from backstage, creating an unusual situation that made the audition even more memorable.
It was not the conventional talent-show moment where everything builds toward four enthusiastic yes votes.
Instead, the judges were trying to work out what the act should actually be.
Was the strength in the mother-daughter connection?
Was Abby better as a solo performer?
Or was the entire concept simply not working?
Those questions became the center of the judges’ discussion.
Alesha Dixon Raised Another Question
Alesha Dixon also offered an important observation about the act.
She questioned whether the appearance was more connected to Dawn’s dream than Abby’s.
That comment added an emotional layer to the audition because the pair had arrived together with a shared goal.
From the outside, it was a sweet idea: a mother and daughter taking a major stage together.
But the judges were not only evaluating the family relationship.
They were evaluating whether the act belonged in the competition.
And they ultimately decided that it did not.
The Duo Didn’t Move Forward
Despite Simon’s interest in Abby, Like Mother, Like Daughter did not progress beyond the audition stage.
That means the supplied video’s dramatic title should not be interpreted as a Golden Buzzer or successful advancement.
There was no Golden Buzzer.
Instead, the memorable part of the audition was the conflict between the original concept and the judges’ changing opinions.
Dawn and Abby came in hoping to succeed together.
By the end, Simon was asking to see whether Abby could stand on her own.
That made their audition very different from the typical mother-and-daughter performance story.
Why This BGT Audition Still Gets Attention
Talent-show moments don’t always become memorable because someone wins.
Sometimes, it is the unusual interaction between the contestant and judges that keeps a performance alive years later.
Like Mother, Like Daughter is a good example.
The act began with a clear identity. Dawn and Abby wanted to showcase themselves as a family duo.
But once the song started, the judges began separating the two performers in their minds.
David Walliams and Alesha Dixon buzzed.
Simon Cowell focused on Abby.
Abby then got a solo moment.
Suddenly, an audition that had started as a mother-daughter performance had become a discussion about which performer was actually strongest.
That unexpected shift is what makes the clip interesting even more than a decade later.
Full Performance Information
The supplied video is published by the verified Britain’s Got Talent YouTube channel and is titled “Like Mother, Like Daughter sing Plan B She Said – Britain’s Got Talent 2012 – International version.” The description identifies the performers as Dawn and Abby and names Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden and David Walliams as the judges.
Watch the full performance here:
The most interesting part is how quickly the audition changes direction after the judges begin reacting to the performance.
What starts as a mother-and-daughter duet becomes a very different kind of audition once Simon asks to hear Abby on her own.
Related Stories
- Unusual mother-and-daughter auditions on Britain’s Got Talent
- Memorable Simon Cowell moments from BGT auditions
- Young performers who impressed Simon Cowell
- BGT auditions where the judges disagreed
- Unforgettable singing auditions from the early seasons of Britain’s Got Talent
Final Thoughts
Dawn and Abby walked onto the Britain’s Got Talent stage hoping to show what they could achieve together.
They chose Plan B’s “She Said” and introduced themselves as Like Mother, Like Daughter.
But the judges quickly saw the performance differently.
David Walliams and Alesha Dixon hit their buzzers, while Simon Cowell focused his attention on Abby and asked to hear her perform alone.
For a moment, the audition stopped being about a mother and daughter.
It became a question about whether Abby might have something special as an individual performer.
The duo ultimately did not make it through the auditions, but their appearance remains a fascinating BGT moment because of how dramatically the judges changed the direction of the performance.
They arrived as a family act.
They left with the judges asking a very different question:
What could Abby do on her own?
