On May 16, forty-six broadcaster will be airing Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light — the official Eurovision 2020 replacement show. But Eurovision fans in the UK will have another option in the BBC’s own replacement show Eurovision Come Together. It will show “what would have been in 2020” and will feature “classic” Eurovision performances on top of material from Eurovision 2020.

Veteran broadcaster and Eurovision commentator Graham Norton will host proceedings. Eurovision: Come Together will also feature interviews, although whether that means from this year’s acts or other kinds has not been confirmed.

What is official is that you have a shot at appearing in the show’s interval act. Here’s what the Beeb say in their press release.

“In this one-off special we’ll celebrate the most unforgettable performances in Eurovision history along with the greatest songs from the modern contest. In the meantime we want your help to create our very own ‘interval act’ performance.”

“Yes, we want the nation to come together to recreate some of the more memorable moments from the contest. We want to put smiles on everyone’s faces as we celebrate some of the greatest guilty pleasures and feel-good favourites.”

“So get creative. Customise props and costumes from whatever you can find in your homes, and put on a performance that captures the spirit of Eurovision.”

 

How can you take part?

“We’d like you to film yourself and your household (family members, partners, flatmates, etc.) to recreate any of the classic Eurovision performances listed [below]. Feel free to perform solo if you prefer, and leave your mark on Eurovision history!”

Buranovskiye Babushki – Party for Everybody (The Russian Grannies)

Cliff Richard – Congratulations

Keiino – Spirit in the Sky

Sunstroke Project – Run Away (Epic Sax Guy)

Scooch – Flying the Flag

Lulu – Boom-Bang-A-Bang

Jedward – Waterline

Koza Mostra ft. Agathon Iakovidis – Alcohol is Free

What do you need to submit?

– A video in a horizontal, 16:9, landscape format
– Each clip you submit should be at least 30 seconds. You don’t have to perform the entire song.
– Audio wise it’s fine for you to play the original Eurovision track in the background, but keep levels low.

The deadline is Friday, May 1.

You can upload your performances at this submission link.

39 Comments
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Sebastian
Sebastian
3 years ago

Eurovision 2020 is canceled, but Polish Eurovision fans are doing Internet Eurovision with the same participants. The jury will be international, and you can belong to online voting. I invite you ?
https://youtu.be/h4lxUnBwtfo

My Tears Are Getting Sober
My Tears Are Getting Sober
3 years ago

Look, I will watch both shows. I really need my annual dose of Eurovision and the more the better. Just a shame that this will get exceptionally low viewing figures and none of the other entries will be respected because of all the bias and disrespect from graham and his Eurovision team. I really want some of these songs to make the charts in the uk, and they do sometimes because of Eurovision. This programme will promote some of the songs, regardless of Graham’s jokes. I actually went on the BBC news page where it said Eurovision was cancelled. Looking… Read more »

Thomasina De Montford-Zhigou
Thomasina De Montford-Zhigou
3 years ago

So many angry comments from people whose countries have the cultural output of a mosquito fart. More Eurovision content is a good thing; IF the songs are undeniably good then people will get into Eurovision, and that’s great. IF the songs really can be joked about because a high amount of them are, well, special – then that’ll speak for itself.

Alex
Alex
3 years ago

BBC will keep getting bad results unless they change the BBC Eurovision team and their direction. You can have this stupid show any other night but not on the 16th! They are ridiculous and OGAE UK should do something about it, it’s never too late. They can move it on one of the semifinal slots.

James
James
3 years ago
Reply to  Alex

The sad thing is that this was to be the first full year of the new BBC HoD.

Isabeli
Isabeli
3 years ago

Guys, as sad as it is I agree with the fact that the UK never takes the Eurovision seriously. What is the point to be one of the 5 biggest financial contributors to the EBU? Anyway, my point regarding the Eurovision shows and in particular, this one is: Why bothering watching them on BBC? Since 2011 I have been watching the shows on the Eurovision youtube channel. No degrading and silly comments and you see the show 2 or 3 seconds ahead of what is being broadcasted on BBC (I did the comparison). So if you are a Eurovision fan… Read more »

Kim
Kim
3 years ago

Too many posts bashing the BBC and Graham Norton. His radio show is the one I’ve heard which plays ESC entries and he still plays Rise Like A Phoenix often. We just need to face facts that the contest is popular with the UK, the songs and entries aren’t.

James
James
3 years ago

The thing is, the other countries also have its own set of casual fans as well with a similar attitude towards the contest. From what I’ve observed from the other broadcasters, they don’t treat ESC the way BBC does. Instead of the delegation trying to improve the contest’s image to its viewers, it seems to be getting worse (except letting the another party choose a song and artist for them). We’ve seen Greg James be so negative about it on air when the entry first played in his BBC Radio 1 show, he had a UK “fan” and Scott Mills… Read more »

Kim
Kim
3 years ago
Reply to  James

The BBC won’t add extra ESC related programmes because there’s no demand for it apart from a small hard core population and it won’t be a ratings success. The anniversary Eurovision party held a few years was put on prime time and had the lowest ratings for that time slot. Less than a million viewers for a prime Friday slot.

N Fischer
N Fischer
3 years ago

Oh shush, put on your glad rags, have some cocktails, eat some scotched eggs and just have a good time. We don’t need seriousness all the time. Especially now!

Hellohi
Hellohi
3 years ago

This attitude the BBC has been set in for a long ..
Remember that in 2005 the 50th anniversary show “congratulations” was supposed to be initially hosted in UK .. it was later moved to DR as BBC direction for the show was to poke fun at it something EBU was not keen on ..

Barry
Barry
3 years ago

There was a chance to ‘Come Together’, namely Europe Shine a Light.

Hellohi
Hellohi
3 years ago

I knew as soon as this show was announced what it’s content would be and I am now correct ..soo predictable tbh .. another chance for them to bash the contest ….

Peter
Peter
3 years ago

Real fans watch the EBU show from Rotterdam: Europe Shine a Light. The Brits are once more going rogue alone. “Come together” is the apogy of irony. Shame on them.

Wiwiclown
Wiwiclown
3 years ago

The BBC want to appeal to the British public, who do see the contest as a joke/freak show. Sadly, they’re not going to appeal to the fans of the contest. They want views and revenue!

Liam Lindsay
Liam Lindsay
3 years ago
Reply to  Wiwiclown

It’ s sad cause it’s true. As a British ESC Fan all I want is to see the UK take it seriously like other countries, but you have a appauling image issue of the contest in the UK due to the so-called political nature of the contest, you have artists, songwriters and so on who want to do it but, their agents, managements and labels push the idea away from them, you have a commentator who ruthlessly rips on the entrants and the contest as a whole and so much more, it’s heartbreaking as a British fan to see this… Read more »

willchrisiam
willchrisiam
3 years ago

If you ever wondered what BBC thought of Eurovision, this about sums it up. *facepalm*

yodenman
yodenman
3 years ago

I like his chat show but he does tend to be overly critical of the contest and highlights the novelty acts and downright bad acts instead of the many great songs and artists. Of course all the UK acts are amazing and deserve to be top 10 every year. At least that’s what Graham and his biased BBC team always claim. I will watch this show because it’s eurovision related and I need to get my fix somehow. The main reservation I have is that it will be heavily UK biased. Please show all this years acts and treat them… Read more »

Kim
Kim
3 years ago
Reply to  yodenman

Graham was full of praise for many countries last year so I don’t understand why people say he ridicules too much.

yodenman
yodenman
3 years ago
Reply to  Kim

On the actual show half of his commentary is having a laugh at someone else’s expense. Yes he does occasionally praise someone but it’s not that often.

Tajikistan
Tajikistan
3 years ago
Reply to  yodenman

You can always watch the official EBU show on YouTube instead

yodenman
yodenman
3 years ago
Reply to  Tajikistan

Don’t worry I will watch both. You are missing the point. I want the BBC to be respectful to the artists. Showing all the joke acts only highlights their feelings about foreign acts.

mad-professor
mad-professor
3 years ago
Reply to  yodenman

There are no joke entries here though (apart from Scooch, but they were the last top 10 charting UK entry so they were always going to show up).

Kim
Kim
3 years ago

I wonder what direction the BBC will take if viewing figures for this show are higher than the actual contest from the last few years.

Denis
Denis
3 years ago

Come on it’s meant to be fun. Whats so wrong with fun? För most people this is what ESC is about, fun. We need to lighten up and have fun. ESC isnt onlyJohhny Logan and ballads..

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
3 years ago

This really “shines a light” (ho ho) on just how the BBC view Eurovision. The songs choices are mostly joke acts and acts from when the UK was actually competitive.

Alex
Alex
3 years ago

Alcohol if free is there.
And got 8 points from UK even tho their jury didn’t even have it Top 10. All thanks to UK televoting

FactCheck
FactCheck
3 years ago

Sorry, real fans of the contest will be with the rest of Europe, watching Shine a Light. Who cares about this program.

Denis
Denis
3 years ago
Reply to  FactCheck

Speak only for yourself! I wont watch it. I know many fans that wont watch it..

James
James
3 years ago
Reply to  Denis

List them.

Jofty
Jofty
3 years ago
Reply to  FactCheck

Couldn’t agree more, yet another waste of licence fee ?

AndersP
AndersP
3 years ago
Reply to  FactCheck

My impression of what you call “real fans” is they don’t like anything, so why bother trying to please them. I suppose it makes me a “fake fan”, I’ll watch both.

Kosey
Kosey
3 years ago

And herein shines a light into how the UK population views Eurovision. KeiiNO won the televote in the UK last year so it is no surprise that this is the song picked to represent 2019. And really is there anything wrong with having a bit of a fun?

Peter
Peter
3 years ago
Reply to  Kosey

There is, if you go rogue and do not allow tv viewers to watch the real European show where Europe comes together! Typically British exceptionalism all over again. The Brits really think they are God’s gift to mankind.

Rhys L
Rhys L
3 years ago
Reply to  Peter

No I think you mean ENGLISH.

Welsh, irish and Scottish are completely different

Kosey
Kosey
3 years ago
Reply to  Rhys L

Wales voted for Brexit.

Kosey
Kosey
3 years ago
Reply to  Peter

You can watch the EBU show on iplayer if you want to?

HarpyDarper
HarpyDarper
3 years ago

I was wondering how they would fill this show. I know it’s all a bit of fun, but I really rather they didn’t remind Joe Public of Scotch and Jedward (shudder….).

I’m still a bit mad none of the supiror choices where sent to Helsinki

ANDREW BROWN
ANDREW BROWN
3 years ago

No thanks to Graham Norton p**s take. Eurovision Shine A Light for me. The BBC can stick this with its poor song selections.