Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Moscow awaits as Jade Ewen competes in the 54th Eurovision Song Contest. Jade is flying the flag for the UK having won Your Country Needs You – the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's search for the act to perform the UK entry, It's My Time, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren.

Jade will take to the stage in the enormous Olympiyski Indoor Arena in front of 15,000 Eurovision fans and perform to a potential worldwide television audience of more than 100 million viewers.

Graham Norton makes his debut as commentator for the night's events as he brings his own inimitable style to this year's Eurovision Song Contest, live on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One, and in High Definition on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ HD, at 8.00pm on Saturday 16 May.

Since winning the public vote on Your Country Needs You, Jade has been busy promoting the UK entry around the UK and Europe. By the time she gets to Moscow she will have been to 13 countries and visited nearly 20 cities to make the Eurovision fans across the continent aware of the song. She has worked with West End choreographer – and Strictly Come Dancing judge – Arlene Phillips on the staging of her performance, as well as rehearsing with mentor Andrew Lloyd Webber to perfect her vocal performance.

A mix of 42 countries will compete this year and, for the second time in the history of the contest, 20 of the 25 countries represented in the final will be decided through two semi-finals, broadcast live on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Three at 8.00pm on Tuesday 12 and Thursday 14 May.

Ten countries from each semi-final will go through to Saturday's final along with the big four – the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain – together with last year's winners, Russia.

Paddy O'Connell returns for his sixth year to give commentary on the semi-finals, joined for the second time by co-presenter, Sarah Cawood.

Of the 42 songs, 23 will be sung in English, while 19 will be sung in at least one other language. Ten of the songs will be performed in more than one language. Andorra, Belgium, Slovakia and Estonia hope to qualify from the semi-finals for the first time.

Eurovision entries range from Denmark's song, which is co-written by Ronan Keating – who also co-hosted the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest – to Israel's Noa & Mira Awad, a united Arab/Israeli act. Poland's representative will be Lidia Kopania who has already been compared to both Barbra Streisand and the 1988 Eurovision winner, Celine Dion.

The Eurovision Song Contest is executive produced by Phil Parsons, and produced by Helen Tumbridge. The Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals are produced by Andrew Cartmell.

PA/JD