According to Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl, the EBU could be close to getting BBC to come back to the Contest.
The rumour started at a press conference last December, ahead of the 2021 Junior Eurovision Contest in Paris. Martin Österdahl took the Eurovision planet by surprise when he explained that the EBU is working hard to bring all of the “Big Five” to the Junior Contest. And that the United Kingdom could well be close to rejoining.
It’s possible we can get the BBC to join.
Martin Österdahl
The “Big Five” are five countries which are automatically selected for the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. The first four currently take part in the Junior Contest but the UK has not since 2006. After three participations, British broadcaster ITV decided to withdraw because of poor audience ratings.
The United Kingdom in the Junior Eurovision Contest
Yet, the UK received good results in the Junior Contest. Tom Morley came third with “My song for the world”, and Cory Spedding came second with “The best is yet to come”.
In 2018 and 2019, Welsh broadcaster and EBU member S4C decided to take part in the Junior Contest representing Wales. BBC Alba also showed interest in competing for Scotland in 2019, but eventually decided to take part in Eurovision Choir instead. Neither nation participated in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, if the United Kingdom returned to the Junior Contest, nations in the country, like Wales and Scotland, could not participate as the EBU would give the country priority.
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