From King Charles to Eurovision Royalty - the Countdown Is On!
On this week's Douze Points we look at the official Eurovision launch event, featuring this year's hosts Hannah Waddingham, Alesha Dixon and Julia Sanina.
Plus, we reveal some of the BBC's Eurovision coverage across May, including exclusive shows and tie-ins with some of their most popular shows.
And finally, what does the coronation of King Charles have to do with Eurovision? Find out by listening now!
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Transcript
Hello, and welcome once again to Douze Points. I’m Steven Perkins, and I’m here every Monday to talk excitedly about all things Eurovision-related.
Before we go any further, I’d just like to remind you that for all the latest updates on both Bingewatch and Douze Points, you can follow us on Twitter at Bingewatch underscore Pod, where you can also get in touch if there’s anything you’d like to tell us - preferably Eurovision-related, although if you just want a gossip, I’m up for that too.
I can barely contain my excitement because we have less than a month to go until the contest is upon us, and the United Kingdom is really gearing up to host for the first time in 25 years - it’s honestly all I can do not to run around the streets screaming “it’s coming home, it’s coming home” at the top of my voice, but so far I’ve managed to keep it in, and I think the people in my neighbourhood are very happy about that.
I’ve been pretty busy this week as I’ve been to Liverpool and back in my day job for the BBC’s official Eurovision launch event, and if there’s one thing that I took away from it, it’s that the people in charge of organising this year’s contest at the BBC are so excited, and care so much, that I think this year’s Eurovision is going to be absolutely sensational.
And best of all, the launch meant that there are loads more stories to tell about Eurovision, so here’s a quick rundown of the major headlines:
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May’s a pretty big month for major events in the UK because not only are we hosting Eurovision, but you’ve probably also noticed that it’s the official coronation of King Charles III the weekend before. Frankly, I’m amazed there are any Union Jack flags left for sale anywhere in the country at this point. Anyway, the two events are sort of crossing over because this Wednesday, just a few days before his big do, King Charles and Camilla the Queen Consort will be visiting the Liverpool Arena to officially turn the lights on and reveal this year’s Eurovision Stage. They’ll be sticking around long enough to chat to some of the presenters and commentators for this year’s show - and I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the two of them meet Rylan.
Presenters Hannah Waddingham, Julia Sanina and Alesha Dixon have reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to honouring Ukraine at this year’s event. Speaking at Wednesday’s launch, this is what the three of them had to say:
Presenters Hannah Waddingham, Julia Sanina and Alesha Dixon have reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to honouring Ukraine at this year’s contest. Speaking at Wednesday’s launch event, Alesha said that this year’s Eurovision is ‘so much more than a competition’, and promised to imbue the contest with a sense of joy and love this year, with Julia adding that Eurovision is very important to the people of Ukraine, and that even last year when people were watching from bomb shelters, they were still voting and cheering on Kalush Orchestra - and Hannah confirmed that stories like that are the reason she signed up to be part of this year’s hosting team.
ce her second-place finish in:Meanwhile, the BBC have confirmed even more tie-in programming for this year’s contest - in the week leading up to the Grand Final, both BBC Breakfast and The One Show will be relocating to Liverpool to bring us a snapshot of the vibes in the city. Scott Mills will also be joining forces with --who else – EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy for the BBC iPlayer special Get Your Eurovision On, where the pair will be revisiting some of the most memorable Eurovision moments from the last 20 years and looking forward to this year’s contest. There will also be a Eurovision Super-Saturday on BBC Radio 2 with a whole day’s worth of Eurovision-related programming - including at 1pm, Steve Wright doing a countdown of the Top 40 UK Eurovision entries of all time, as voted for by the public - finally getting their chance to vote for the UK entries. Of course, the contest rules that we’ve never been able to vote for our own entries - so it’s nice that anyone in the UK with a deep-seated yearning to show their support for Love City Groove or Joe & Jake has finally had their moment.
won the contest for the UK in:That’s it for this week - we’ll be back next week with a deeper dive into the history of The Big Five at Eurovision, as well as more hot headlines.
As the contest gets closer, we’ve got lots of exciting things planned and maybe even a few special bonus episodes, so now would be a brilliant time to hit subscribe on your podcast platform to ensure you don’t miss an episode, and maybe even leave us a glowing review if you’re feeling generous. Until next time: goodnight Europe, and good morning Australia.
