The BBC have officially revealed that there will be a public national final on Friday 26 February! The show, entitled ‘Eurovision: You Decide’ will feature six songs all vying for the British ticket to Stockholm and will be broadcast on BBC Four at 1930 GMT, live from The O2 Kentish Town.
The 90-minute programme will be presented by Mel Giedroyc, who co-commentated the 2015 semi finals on BBC Three with Scott Mills. Mel, a self-confessed Eurovision fan, has also starred as one of the presenters in the Eurovision parody musical ‘Eurobeat: Almost Eurovision’ at the Edinburgh Festival and in London’s West End.
The show will also feature an expert panel who will offer their opinions on the songs and how they could be made to look and sound on stage in Stockholm.
The programme also sees the arrival of Eurovision on BBC which will also broadcast both semi finals of Eurovision 2016, moving from their previous home of BBC Three, which will become an online-only channel next month.
The last British National Final was in 2010, when the public chose Josh Dubovie to sing the pre-selected song ‘That Sounds Good To Me, which finished last, and the last time they chose the song was Andy Abraham’s ‘Even If’, in 2008, which also finished last!
The UK have had a string of disappointing results over the past few years and the BBC will be hoping that their will be a reversal of fortunes in 2016. The six competing songs and artists will be revealed at a later date, and tickets for the show will go on sale on Friday 22 January from www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision.
