Hannah Waddingham will host this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, alongside Alesha Dixon and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina.
The trio will present the two-semi finals on 9 and 11 May with Graham Norton joining them for the grand final on 13 May 2023.
Waddingham said to the BBC is was “a great privilege” to be involved and that “It’s one of the world’s greatest music festivals. But this year, perhaps more than ever, it is such a great honour to be standing shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine, a country which has carried itself with such strength and unity.”
The UK is hosting on behalf of 2022 winner Ukraine, which is unable to stage the event due to Russia’s ongoing invasion. Over 160 million people are expected to tune in to watch the competition globally.
Hannah will host the UK’s most prestigious theatre Awards – The Olivier Awards – on Sunday 2 April at the Royal Albert Hall. Nominated for three Olivier Awards – for Spamalot, A Little Night Music and Kiss Me, Kate – Waddingham is a great champion of musical theatre and has also appeared in productions of The Wizard of Oz, Into The Woods, Lautrec, The Beautiful Game, Rod Stewart’s Tonight’s The Night and Grease.
The BBC also confirmed BBC Radio 2 presenters Scott Mills and Rylan will be the semi-final commentators for the BBC.
Ukrainian broadcaster Timur Miroshnychenko, who hosted Eurovision in Ukraine in 2017, will also be involved in the live shows, as well as hosting the opening ceremony.
The Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast on the BBC in the UK.
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