The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 starts its live run on Tuesday 12 May with the first of two semi-finals, as 35 competing countries begin the fight for 20 places in the Grand Final. The second semi-final follows on Thursday 14 May, with the Grand Final set for Saturday 16 May.
Each semi-final will feature 15 countries, and only the top 10 from each show will advance. The five pre-qualified countries — France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Austria — go straight to the final, where they will join the 20 qualifiers on Saturday night.
The will carry both semi-finals at 8pm BST across One and iPlayer, with Rylan and Angela Scanlon presenting on both nights. Sara Cox will oversee proceedings on Radio 2 and Sounds, while Graham Norton will front the Grand Final on One and iPlayer.
The first semi-final has one major broadcast wrinkle for UK viewers: they cannot vote on Tuesday night. Italy and Germany, both pre-qualified for the final, will still perform and vote during that show, and the night will open with a film called 70 Years of Love before a 70-member choir launches proceedings with a tribute to L’amour Est Bleu. Hosts Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski will also present an interval musical performance, and Go-Jo, who represented Australia in Basel, Switzerland in 2025, will join the interval act.
Thursday’s second semi-final is different. France and the United Kingdom are the Big Four countries performing and voting in that show, and Austria will also appear as the host country. UK audiences can vote in that semi-final, making it the only live round in which they have a say before the final on Saturday.
The broadcaster is also building in access features across all three live shows. Live Audio Description will be available on iPlayer and One broadcasts, while live British Sign Language interpretation will run on the Red Button and iPlayer. Subtitles will be available throughout One coverage and the signed iPlayer streams, ensuring the contest reaches audiences across TV, radio and digital platforms. For viewers, the contest’s path is now clear: two nights of eliminations, 20 qualifiers, and one Grand Final that will decide the winner in Vienna after the contest first hosted there in 1967.
