Bosses at the X Factor have confirmed that the final of the upcoming series will move from its traditional London base to the Manchester Central Centre.

Show sponsors TalkTalk will be giving away 10,000 tickets to the final, which will feature this year’s judging panel Gary Barlow, Nicole Scherzinger, Tulisa and Louis Walsh. Walsh said: “Our live final is going to be another major event – so The X Factor 2012 has everything! I believe it’s going to be our best series yet.”

The last series of the show has been criticised by both show boss Simon Cowell and Gary Barlow, who called the contestants ‘lazy’. As expected, though, all of the judges are being extremely enthusiastic about this year’s run, which starts this Saturday at 8PM on ITV1.