Your favourite Eurovision entry? It’s time for Making Your Mind Up
IT may have given us some absolute pop classics over the years, but for many avid viewers the Eurovision Song Contest is about more than just music. It’s also about camp, the costumes, the conspiracy theories about why the UK does so badly, not to mention the cutting commentary, which used to be provided by Terry Wogan and now comes courtesy of Graham Norton.
And for some people, it was just a good excuse to get their friends over for a party.
So, although we all understand why, many of us were still gutted when it was announced that for the first time in its history, this year’s final wouldn’t go ahead.
The good news is that the
BBC and the Eurovision powers-that-be are still intending to give us a night of Europop fun. And even if you can’t be in the same room as your mates or family to pass judgement on the lyrics, there’s always messaging, video calls and social media.
As Graham says: “Eurovision offers a real escapism for people, which is something we need more than ever throughout these times.
“This year people at home can celebrate the amazing spirit of the event and hopefully get the chance to take their mind off the current situation for a few hours.”
He’s kicking off the evening with Eurovision: Come Together, which gives viewers the chance to choose their favourite ever performance from an eclectic shortlist put together by experts and celebrity superfans.
Speaking of superfans, viewers will be able to recreate some classic moments at home (which could lead to trouble if anyone attempts the Bucks Fizz skirt-ripping move from Making Your Mind Up).
Graham will also be chatting to the man who should have been flying the flag for the UK in Rotterdam, James Newman.
James will be in evidence after 8pm too in
Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, which, like the contest itself, will be broadcast across Europe. Although it’s not a competition, it will feature all 41 songs that would have been battling it out, and is presented by the Netherlands’ Chantal Janzen, Edsilia
Rombley and
Rylan Clark-Neal
Jan Smit, who had been lined up to host the ceremony.
Once again, viewers can feel a part of it all, this time by raising their voices in a virtual singalong to Johnny Logan’s winning song for Ireland in 1980, What’s Another Year, which takes on a new poignancy in the current situation.
If that still isn’t enough, you can then switch over to BBC2 for The A-Z of Eurovision hosted by
Rylan Clark-Neal, who shares Graham’s belief that this is just what we all need right now.
He says: “It’s so sad that Eurovision 2020 had to be cancelled, but it’s understandable and it doesn’t mean we can’t still escape to the Eurovision bubble. We’re so excited to keep up the tradition of many years of this amazing event.”
And by the end of TOTP2 Goes Eurovision maybe even the biggest Eurovision agnostics may agree...
Eurovision: Come Together is on BBC1, Saturday at 6.25pm followed by Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light at 8pm. The A-Z of Eurovision is on BBC2 at 10pm.