The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 Semi-Finals will take place on Tuesday 12 and Thursday 14 May, with 35 countries competing for a place in the Grand Final on Saturday 16 May. Each Semi-Final features 15 countries, with the top 10 from each advancing to join five pre-qualified nations: France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and last year's winner Austria.
Both Semi-Finals begin at 8pm BST and will be broadcast live from Vienna. BBC One and BBC iPlayer will air the shows, hosted by Rylan and Angela Scanlon, while Sara Cox provides commentary on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds. Graham Norton will present the Grand Final on 16 May.
In the first Semi-Final, Italy's Sal Da Vinci performed 'Per Sempre Sì' and Germany's Sarah Engels sang 'Fire', but UK viewers could not vote. The show opened with a film celebrating '70 Years of Love' and featured a 70-member choir performing 'L’amour Est Bleu'. The interval act saw hosts Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski joined by Australia's 2025 representative Go-Jo.
The second Semi-Final on 14 May includes France's Monroe with 'Regarde !' and the UK's LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER with 'Eins, Zwei, Drei'. Hosts Austria also perform with COSMÓ's 'Tanzschein'. UK audiences can vote in this Semi-Final; details are available on the official Eurovision website or bbc.co.uk/eurovision.
All three live shows offer Audio Description on BBC iPlayer and BBC One, as well as British Sign Language interpretation via the Red Button and iPlayer, with subtitles available throughout.
