Eurovision will be making a “Strictly” appearance this weekend during Strictly Come Dancing’s latest themed week titled “BBC 100” which celebrates 100 years of the BBC.

In this coming weekend’s episode, we will see each of the couples take to the Strictly ballroom floor, either dancing to a theme tune from an iconic BBC programme or in tribute to one of the BBC’s most loved services. And as a celebration of the BBC’s long history broadcasting Eurovision, one of the dances will be performed to an iconic Eurovision song.

Previous themed weeks have included Movie Week, Musicals Week and Halloween Week.

 
 
 
 
 
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Flying the flag for Eurovision are Fleur East and her professional dancing partner Vito Coppola. They will be representing the contest with a Jive to ABBA’s ‘Waterloo’, which saw the Swedish supergroup win the competition when it was held in Brighton back in 1974. Curiously, Fleur has been rumoured to represent the UK in previous editions of the contest.

Sarah James, Executive Producer for Strictly Come Dancing says: “We know how much viewers love the Strictly themed weeks so it’s fantastic to be able to announce a new one, celebrating the BBC’s centenary.“

Eurovision songs have often sprung up in Strictly routines. Only last weekend, two legendary Eurovision songs were used in performances.

Actor Kym Marsh and her partner Graziano Di Prima danced a Samba to a version of Domenico Modugno’s “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu“, better known as “Volare” which finished 3rd for Italy in 1958. Comedienne Ellie Taylor and partner Johannes Radebe performed a Viennese Waltz Lulu’s “Boom Bang a Bang” which secured the United Kingdom’s second Eurovision win in 1969.

Here are the rest of the runners and riders, including the theme they will be dancing to for “BBC 100”:

Ellie Simmons and Nikita Kuzmin – “The Apprentice” theme tune, Sergei Prokofiev’s ‘Montagues and Capulets’ 

Ellie Taylor and Johannes Radebe – “Casualty” theme

Helen Skelton and Gorka Marquez – “Blue Peter” theme

Jayde Adams and Karen Hauer – Victoria Wood’s ‘The Ballad of Barry and Freda (Let’s Do It)’

Kym Marsh and Graziano Di Prima – Sweet’s ‘Ballroom Blitz’. (Representing the original “Come Dancing”)

Molly Rainford and Carlos Gu – “Grange Hill” theme

Hamza Yassin and Jowitza Przystal – Imagine Dragons’ track ‘On Top of the World’, representing the BBC’s nature programming

James Bye and Amy Dowden – “EastEnders”‘ ‘Julia’s Theme’ and its main theme

Tony Adams and Katya Jones – “Grandstand” theme

Tyler West and Dianne Buswell – “Doctor Who” theme by Segun Akinola

Will Mellor and Nancy Xu – “Line of Duty” end credits music.

The Eurovision Song Contest celebrated its 60th birthday in 2016. After a meeting of the newly formed European Broadcasting Union in 1955 in Monaco, a new European music competition was born. In 1956, the Eurovision Song Contest made its debut from which came live from Switzerland to tiny audiences watching in black and white. Originally, Eurovision drew their inspiration from the famous Italian Sanremo Festival.

The BBC actually had a large technical input into the project, but unfortunately missed the deadline to enter a song in its first year.

Over 66 years, the BBC has laid claim to a number of Eurovision ‘firsts’:

  • The BBC was first to produce the contest in colour in 1968 from The Albert Hall
  • The only broadcaster to stage the contest in a TV studio (BBC Television Centre, 1963)
  • The only broadcaster to date to televise the contest whilst being in the grip of a strike (1977)

Will you be watching Strictly this weekend? Do you think this will give Fleur a platform to perform for the UK in Liverpool? Do you think it is about time for Eurovision to have it’s own themed week on Strictly? Let us know in the comments.

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Jofty
Jofty
1 year ago

She should perhaps do a turn to What’s The Pressure but might get confused…..

zee
zee
1 year ago

As a Eurovision/Strictly stan rooting for Team Fleurito this series, I CAN’T WAIT FOR NEXT WEEK!!!

HarpyDarper
HarpyDarper
1 year ago

Intriguing stuff!
Fluer is one of those names that will always crop up as someone the UK will select, just like Alisha Dixon, Lisa-Scott-Lee/Steps etc. but will probably never happen. Obviously she’s very talented, and I think it would have been a good move to send her to Rotterdam with a song by James Newman, as he is good at writing and producing, and she is good at performing and connecting to an audience