Thoughts on Graham Norton and the Eurovision Song Contest

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Right, I’m not sure how I feel on this one… this one being Graham Norton confirmed as the new commentator for the BBC’s coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest, replacing Terry Wogan.

This isn’t the first time the commentator has changed – before Wogan the mighty Dave Lee Travis was the voice from the contest to the people of the UK – but after 35 years in the seat, Wogan was regarded as the man, much as Murray Walker was for Formula 1 coverage in the UK. And like Walker, perhaps people were a bit more forgiving of Wogan in the latter years.

The UK population has a strange relationship with Eurovision. As in many European countries, there are huge numbers of fans, and those fans that I’ve spoken to are generally of the opinion that it was time for a change. Unfortunately the choice of Graham Norton hasn’t been well received by the fans. But the rest of Europe take the Song Contest seriously, from the general public, printed press, and the mainstream media and TV channels. Unlike the majority view in the UK which sees to be “let’s laugh at the foreigners, because we’re so much better- why haven’t we won?”

The rest of the UK simply can’t get past the idea that it won’t be Wogan in Moscow in 2009. Having done it for so long there’s little for people to hold onto in comfort. Strangely the Eurovision fans are ahead of the game here, with Paddy O’Connell’s commentating on the semi-finals to show another way. Radio 2 fans have Ken Bruce doing the show over FM, so there is precedent for a non Terry Wogan show in the UK, it’s just not something many have considered.

Watching Twitter throughout Friday has been an almost textbook case of the stages of grief. We had Denial (I can’t believe Wogan’s gone); Anger (Oh not Graham Norton, that will kill the show); Bargaining (Could we not have someone else that’s already there, like Paddy O’Connell); and Depression (I’ll never watch Eurovision again, it’s over). I suspect we’ll shortly see Acceptance, probably as the UK National Final with Graham Norton goes on air in January 2009.

Norton needs to ask James Allen (the ITV Formula 1 commentator) what it’s going to be like to replace a national treasure; it’s got to be one of the toughest gigs in UK Media, because you have to serve three different demographics. The aforementioned fans (who admittedly could switch to the live streaming show that the ESC organisers provide, although in previous years this has had no commentator at all); the general public who are just flipping through the channels; and the people for whom Eurovision is some sort of camp and sarcastic time to laugh at the rest of the world… and then wonder why we haven’t won.

I’ve spent a good 24 hours before posting this (apologies if you got hit by one of my rants in private IM or on the twitter stream). I’ve mentioned before that I think the BBC needs to ‘re-imagine’ it’s coverage of Eurovision so the contest gains respect in the UK this year (so finishing in the top half of the table, 1st to 13th) so they can make a full on winning attempt in 2010. The choice of Andrew Lloyd Webber was intriguing and promised a good song. I was (and still am) worried that a YouTube hunt for a talented amateur may not not provide us with a singer or group that can handle a stadium environment in the the three minutes they have on stage and on the screens.

Putting Graham Norton, an acknowledge big name in Light Entertainment should guarantee some continuity in style from Terry Wogan’s commentary, but that might be the biggest problem the UK has in Eurovision – the pavlovian audience all agree with the Irishman that we’re far better than Europe when in fact we’re still stuck in the past and Europe has moved on without us. I want to be wrong, but I am afraid that when it comes to making their mind up, the BBC have decided that they want the same mix as the last 35 years when the UK public tunes into the contest.