Eurovision 2021 is coming and the BBC has you covered

The world’s biggest music competition returns this May as the Eurovision Song Contest (Eurovision 2021), one of the longest-running and most-watched non-sporting events in the world, is broadcast live from Rotterdam across the BBC. There’s a vast range of options for you — we explore some of the highlights.

Eurovision 2021 — how it will work

It goes without saying there was no competition in 2021, and our entrant, James Newman is back with his song Embers (you can judge it for yourself in the official video.) The Uk automatically qualifies for the final due to historic success. Entrants come from all across Eurasia, as well as Morocco and Australia. The result of the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest will be determined by a 50/50 vote. 50% of the votes come from the televoting in each participating country and the other 50% of votes will come from a group of five music professionals from each of the 39 countries taking part.

BBC One coverage (and Radio 2)

The Grand Final coverage (hosted by Graham Norton) starts at 8 pm on Saturday 22 May. The contest itself 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.

BBC Four coverage

The semi-finals will be live on BBC Four, presented by Rylan Clark-Neal, Scott Mills and Chelcee Grimes. They run over two days: Tuesday 18 May and Thursday 20 May. Coverage starts at 8pm on both days. Other content includes:

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

Eurovision at 60 a documentary first shown in 2015

Abba at the BBC charts the meteoric rise of the band with some of their greatest performances at the BBC. We begin in 1974 with their Top of the Pops appearance; we even get to see the band entertaining holidaymakers in Torbay in a 1975 Seaside Special

BBC Radio 2

Apart from coverage of the grand final (noted above) there’s a lot of Eurovision 2021 related content in the build-up, far too much to list here (see below).

BBC Sounds

There’s a varied range of content again, including My Life in a Mixtape Eurovision Special with Loreen, the Swedish winner of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest with her song Euphoria.

BBC iPlayer

Not to be left out, there’s a lot of Top of The Pops and other Eurovision programming, as well as The Road To Rotterdam, a behind the scenes look at James Newman’s story.

You can find the full details in the BBC announcement.