EUROVISION: BBC ANNOUNCE SCHEDULE FOR 2021 CONTEST

In celebration of the biggest music competition in the world, the BBC is promising plenty of Eurovision content across TV, radio and online.

Director of Entertainment, Kate Phillips says "Eurovision is coming back with a boom bang a bang to the BBC this year! After a year without the live contest, we can’t wait for it to return bigger and better. We’ll be celebrating Eurovision across the BBC on all our platforms, from TV, radio and online. Over on BBC Four, coverage will go beyond the semi-finals, where viewers can watch some classic Eurovision moments from across the years. Radio 2 continues to be the home of Eurovision on the airwaves, and Radio 1 Newsbeat brings an exclusive documentary to iPlayer following James Newman and his journey to Rotterdam! Not forgetting the Grand Final over on BBC One, plus so much more brilliant Eurovision content not to be missed this May on the BBC!"

Grand Final Saturday 22 May, 8pm, BBC One

Graham Norton will provide the commentary on BBC One for Europe’s biggest party night of the year.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2021, will be hosted by Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit, Edsilia Rombley and Nikkie de Jager (also known as NikkieTutorials) and broadcast live on BBC One and BBC Radio 2. The qualifying acts from the semi-finals will join hosts Netherlands plus the Big Five countries France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom in the Grand Final of the 65th Eurovision Song Contest from The Ahoy in Rotterdam.

This year we will see interval performances from Dutch DJ Afrojack featuring Glennis Grace and Wulf as they will perform Music Binds Us a specially commissioned piece for the Grand Final. Current reigning Eurovison winner from 2019, Duncan Laurence, will be performing his winning song Arcade. Plus we will a multi act performance entitled Rock the Roof, a collaboration featuring six former Eurovision winners - Lenny Kuhr (1969), Teach-In (1975), Sandra Kim (1986), Helena Paparizou (2005), Lordi (2006) and Måns Zelmerlöw (2015).

Voting procedure

Semi-Finals Tuesday 18 May, 8pm, BBC Four

The semi-finals will be live on BBC Four, presented by Rylan Clark-Neal, Scott Mills and Chelcee Grimes.

In the first semi-final, the first group of countries will compete for a place in Saturday’s Grand Final.

The 16 countries competing are: Lithuania, Slovenia, Russia, Sweden, Australia, North Macedonia, Ireland, Cyprus, Norway, Croatia, Belgium, Israel, Romania, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Malta.

Thursday 20 May, 8pm

The second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 will feature 17 different acts taking to the stage in the hope of securing a place in Saturday’s Grand Final.

Competing this evening are: San Marino, Estonia, Czech Republic, Greece, Austria, Poland, Moldova, Iceland, Serbia, Georgia, Albania, Portugal, Bulgaria, Finland, Latvia, Switzerland and Denmark. Viewers in the United Kingdom are able to vote in this semi-final once all of the nights acts have performed.

The A-Z of Eurovision

Rylan Clark-Neal narrates a guide to all things Eurovision in this compilation of highlights, as he takes a sideways look at the greatest singing contest on the planet.

Moving through the alphabet, Rylan will be taking us from A, which is of course for Abba & Azerbaijan but also animals - featuring the Italian gorilla suit man and Azerbaijan’s artist dancing with a horse’s head through Z is for Zelmerlöw, Måns Zelmerlöw to be precise. The only Eurovision performer to have won the contest, hosted the contest and taken part in an interval act.

The A-Z of Eurovision, first broadcast in 2020 and produced by BBC Studios, will feature all the disasters, the costume changes and memorable musical moments from 65 years of Eurovision.

Eurovision at 60

First shown to celebrate the Eurovision Song Contest’s 60th anniversary in 2015, BBC Four joins the celebrations with an appreciation of the joy, fun, scandal and intrigue that has defined the Eurovision Song Contest.

It’s a story of pioneering songs, singers and programme makers; complex and extraordinary technology, laborious voting and a bit of naughtiness. Above all, it can be argued that Eurovision is a symbol of tolerance. As Graham Norton says of Conchita Wurst’s 2014 win: “The people had spoken… and they were nicer and more tolerant people than their governments let us think.”