Carlisle's Collabro star has spoken of his excitement as the group embarks on a new journey as a four-piece.

Matt Pagan, from the St Ann's area of the city, shot to fame with the operatic boyband when they took the Britain's Got Talent crown in 2014.

They wowed Simon Cowell and judges on the ITV talent show, and have gone on to have best-selling albums and performed around the world.

Collabro launched as a five-piece but, in a shock move, member Richard

Hadfield quit last month.

Remaining members Jamie Lambert, Michal Auger, Thomas Redgrave and Matt performed as a foursome for the first time at Soccer Aid 2016 earlier this month.

Matt told the News & Star that he is optimistic about the future.

"We're moving forward as a four and we're very excited," he said. "There are a lot of exciting things coming up, with international stuff and it's just amazing.

"Things are really good right now."

Richard's departure prompted some of the first negative news stories Collabro has experienced, and Matt, 22, admitted he had to find a way to deal with it.

"With anything you're going to get negative comments, and what I do is turn the negatives into positives. With every negative one on Facebook and Twitter, we've got masses of supportive messages.

"The fan base is amazing and they are very supportive of us."