BBC, the British national broadcaster has announced today its plans for Eurovision 2018, unveiling the hosts, dates, venue and ticket sales regarding the 2018 British Eurovision national final, Eurovision: You Decide.

Hold your horses, as the British Eurovision national final moves from London to Brighton next year!

BBC Two, BBC Studios and BBC Music have today announced that Eurovision: You Decide, the national song selection show for the UK entry, will be held on Wednesday 7 February 2018, live from the world-famous Brighton Dome, the site of ABBA’s 1974 Eurovision Song Contest win with Waterloo.

The hosts

Joining the BBC Eurovision family is 2015 Eurovision Song Contest winner Måns Zelmerlöw, who will co-host the fantastic night of television and song alongside self-confessed Eurovision superfan Mel Giedroyc, who returns to host the proceedings.

Eurovision: You Decide will broadcast live on BBC Two and tickets are on sale from today (Thursday 16 November).

Måns Zelmerlöw says:

I’m really, really looking forward to hosting Eurovision: You Decide together with Mel this year. I’m sure we’ll have a great show and I would love to see the UK achieve a great result in Eurovision 2018. I can’t wait to be part of the You Decide journey and make both You Decide as well as the Eurovision Finals, a part of every UK home.

Mel Giedroyc says:

My favourite time of year has come round again! I can’t wait to hear the songs and meet the artists. And what a thrill to host proceedings with THE hero of my time – the Måns Zelmerlöw all live from the Brighton Dome. It will be a night to remember!

Guy Freeman, Editor, Special Events and Formats, BBC Studios says:

We are so happy to be able to bring the show to such an iconic Eurovision venue. It will be the perfect home for what is shaping up to be a very exciting contest.

Eurovision: You Decide – The show

The 90-minute show will feature performances of six brand new songs.

The artists will compete for the honour of representing the United Kingdom at the Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal.

The performers will take to the stage in a bid to impress both the viewers at home and a professional jury at Brighton Dome.

After each performance, a panel of experts will be on hand to provide their critique about the songs and the artists, and give their view on how the songs could translate to the Eurovision stage in Lisbon for the Grand Final next May.

The winner will be revealed on the night after the results from the live public vote have been combined with the results from the professional jury.

The six competing songs and artists will be revealed to the public in January 2018.

Also confirmed, BBC Four will broadcast both live semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 on Tuesday 8 and Thursday 10 May. The Grand Final itself will be broadcast on BBC One on Saturday 12 May 2018.

The UK at Eurovision

The United Kingdom debuted at the the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957 and has won the competition 5 times (1967, 1969, 1976, 1981 and 1997). The country has hosted the contest 8 times (1960, 1963 1968, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1982 and 1998), thus holding the record of the being the country to have host competition most times.

In 2017, Lucie Jones flew the British flag at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv with Never give up on you.