Why is the UK advancing to the Eurovision semi-finals?

This week, the 68th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Malm, Sweden, following Loreens' historic second win 12 months ago. This year, the UK is represented by Years & Years singer and Its A Sin star Olly Alexander and his pop hit Dizzy.

In case you didn't know, Eurovision lasts for a week. 37 countries will compete across two semi-finals, making up the 26 that will compete in the grand final on Saturday night.

But Britain need not worry about this at all. Along with Germany, France, Italy and Spain, it is one of the Big Five highest-paid members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). As a result, these countries always automatically qualify for the finals, along with last year's winning country. After all, is it only fair for the host country to participate in its own competition?

Ollie Scarf//Getty Images

So England will always be in disarray, no matter where they end up on final night.

But while the semi-finals are not a big deal in this country, they have become more of a spectacle since England hosted the competition on behalf of Ukraine last year. Due to growing interest in Saturday's final, both semi-finals this year will remain on BBC One after being broadcast on BBC Three or Four.

And changes to the contest mean there's even more incentive to engage UK viewers this year, with six automatic qualifiers performing live in the semi-finals for the first time.

The change was announced by Swedish broadcaster SVT in March and Ebba Adielsson, executive producer of this year's contest, said: Because now you have a chance to actually perform on the semi-final stage.

Matt Healy//BBC

“It’s also a win for both stadium audiences and home viewers as they will be able to see all of this year’s competing acts live before the grand final.”

Martin sterdahl, Chief Inspector of Eurovisions, added: “Finally, we got to see Europe's biggest countries and hosts perform their songs to perfection in the semi-finals. The Five and hosts will now perform their songs live on the Eurovision stage twice.”

So while Britain are fortunately guaranteed a place in the final, Olly will be in the line-up for tonight's first semi-final (7 May) alongside Germany's Isaak and hosts Sweden's Marcus and Martinus.

Then, the second semi-final on Thursday 9 May will see Spain's Nebulossa, Italy's Angelina Mango and Frances Slimane all perform live, along with performers hoping to join them in the final.

getty images

Fittingly, in tonight's first semi-final, Britain will play just behind neighbors Ireland, who are aiming for their first qualification since 2018 despite having won seven Eurovision games.

Non-binary artist Bambie Thug is bringing his own brand of Ouija pop to the Eurovision stage with his song Doomsday Blue, and with so much hype surrounding their incredible performance, it looks like Ireland's run of bad luck will be broken this evening. .

Meanwhile, the British delegation arrived in Malm with an innovative and ambitious performance that stood out for the final. There's been some interesting stuff revealed online over the past few days, but tonight's semi-final will be your first chance to see Ollys play in full, so you can't miss it.

So even if you've never seen the Eurovision semi-finals before, why not get in on the action before Saturday?

The Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 8pm on Tuesday 7 May and Thursday 9 May, with the final airing on Saturday 11 May.

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Content Creation Intern, Digital Spy

After graduating with an English degree from the University of Exeter, Erin completed a PPA accredited Masters in Magazine Journalism from Cardiff University. She recently joined the Digital Spy team and writes both news and features.

Erin loves all things TV, from comedies and dramas to reality TV and dramas.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a60717800/eurovision-uk-semi-finals/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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