Your country needs you! 2010, the British Eurovision national final, is about to take place. A total of six acts will compete to win the right of representing the United Kingdom next May in Oslo.

How to watch?

The show will be broadcast live on BBC One, starting at 20:30 local time (21:30 CET).

• An official webcast is available for residents of the United Kingdom here.

Participants

All six acts will sing a cover version of a famous song. Then, the jury will choose three of them to go through the second round, where they will perform the UK's 2010 Eurovision entry, composed by Mr. Pete Waterman. The winner will be decided via televote.

1. Alexis
2. Esma
3. Josh
4. Karen
5. Miss Fitz
6. Uni 5

Your opinion

An online poll will be launched on esctoday.com when the three qualifiers for the second round are known.

LIVE

The show has started with a video featuring last year's UK's national final and participation at the Eurovision Song Contest.

The host of the show, Grahan Norton, welcomes the audience. A video presenting the composer of this year's UK Eurovision entry, Pete Waterman, is being shown. The author is now on stage talking to Graham about the challenge that Eurovision is.

Jade Ewen, the 2009 Eurovision representative, is now talking about her experience. Pete Waterman, Jade Ewen and Bruno Tonioli will be tonight's judges.

Time for the performances!

1. Karen

Karen is performing a song by Kylie Minogue. She looks quite confident on stage, showing off her powerful vocal skills. She is accompanied by four female dancers, whose dancing routine seems to suit this song. Karen has been tipped as one of the hot favourites to win the British ticket to Oslo. The juror Pete Waterman praises her performances, as well as Jade and Bruno, with some advice should she qualify for the second round.

2. Alexis

Alexis surprises the audience with the song Never gonna give you up, by Rick Astley. No doubt, he is taking a challenge tonight. The guy is delivering a charming performance on stage, and his appearance helps him quite a lot. Alexis is joined on stage by five backing dancers -male and female- whose dancing routine seems a bit bonkers. The overall impression is quite remarkable. Both the public and the panelists warmly welcome Alexis' performance.

3. Uni5

Uni5 is a group of -obviously- five boys and girls hailing from different parts of the United Kingdom. Their style seems quite 'dance', as they deliver the most catchy performance of the night so far. They are alone on stage, without any backing dancers. The crowd seems to be quite happy with the Uni5 performance, as they cheer and applaud now and then. Their voices are quite well combined, creating an overall good impression. Pete Waterman seems not to like this performance, while Bruno points out some of their weaknesses.

4. Esma

The youngest act of the night is next up. The girl is performing one of Donna Summer's hits. She said in her presentation video that being the youngest in the race to represent the UK in Oslo wouldn't prevent her from showing what she is capable of, and no doubt she is proving a great artist. Her vocals are quite in tune, although the dancing routine does not add up to her performance. All three memebers of the jury praise her performance, being called "diva in the making" by Bruno. Esma seems to become one of the favourites to qualify for the next round. Will she?

5. Josh

Josh appears on stage alone, but soon is joined by four female backing dancers. Josh's vocals are quite good, and he proves it delivering a flawless vocal peformance. Nevertheless, the guy should train his dancing abilities, as he looks quite static. The overall impression is quite convincing, and so think the members of the jury.

6. Miss Fitz

Miss Fitz is an all-girl band formed by three Londoners. They have said in their presentation video that they want to enjoy themselves on stage. And they have chosen a song that allows them to do it: Better the devil you know, by Kylie Minogue. Their performance looks fresh, confident and catchy, which should help them achieve a good result tonight. Pete Waterman points out that sometimes the girls were out of tune, something they have to polish.

This concludes the individual performances of the first round. Now all 6 acts are performing together an ABBA medley.

Pete Waterman announces the three qualifiers for the second round:

• Esma
• Alexis
• Josh

These three acts will compete at the second round of the 2010 UK final, singing the 2010 Eurovision entry, That sounds good to me, composed by Pete Waterman.

1. Alexis

Alexis is now performing the 2010 UK Eurovision entry, which is an uptempo, pop tune with some dance elements. The guy, just like in his first performance of the night, looks very confident and he knows that he can make it to Oslo. At least, that is what he has expressed in the introduction video. Regarding his outfit, Alexis looks quite smart wearing a dark suit and black shirt, too. Theaudience welcomes his performance.

2. Esma

Esma, while performing the British entry, looks as sweet as she did in her previous performance. Her vocals sound a bit weaker this time, maybe she is nervous, which makes her forget part of the song, unfortunately. This could mean the end of her Eurovision hopes. The girl thanks the audience for supporting her despite the accident. Let's see what happens.

3. Josh

Just at the beginning of Josh's performance, we can clearly predict that tonight's battle will be decided between Josh and Alexis. Josh seems to have learned from his first performance, as he looks much more dynamic than before, dancing to the Eurovision tune confidently and flawlessly. The whole number makes an one of the best impressions of the night.

The voting lines will open shortly.

Now you can vote for your favourite act on our poll .

Now it's time for the first interval act of the show: Sugababes are now on stage performing Wear my kiss. Jade Ewen joined the popular British band last year, after her Eurovision participation.

Phone lines are now closed. The results will come out shortly.

The next interval act is on stage: the 2009 Eurovision winner, Alexander Rybak of Norway, performing Fairytale.

The winner of the UK selection and therefore the British representative at Eurovision 2010 is going to be announced.

JOSH WILL REPRESENT THE UNITED KINGDOM IN OSLO.