Amanda Holden has confirmed that Simon Cowell will be back on the Britain's Got Talent judging panel in the New Year.

The 61-year-old has spent most of the year in California - and in August, he broke his back in a bike accident at his Malibu mansion, ruling him out of the final stages of this year's BGT.

Auditions for the next series take place in January and, appearing on This Morning today, Holden confirmed that Cowell will be back in the head judge's seat.

"I have heard it from the horse's mouth. He phoned me in the last three weeks," she said.

"He's well, he's fighting fit, he can't wait to get started, so when we start auditions in January, he will be back."

Although he will return for the new series, Cowell will be absent for the Britain's Got Talent Christmas special, which is due to be filmed early next month once hosts Ant and Dec have completed work on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!