Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley has won high praise for her stint giving out the UK jury vote for the Eurovision Song Contest.
The show aired on Saturday May 11 and the UK’s Olly Alexander didn’t fair too well. Despite his position on the leaderboard not impressing fans, they were wholeheartedly happy with Joanna.
Joanna Lumley ‘absolutely fabulous’ on Eurovision
Appearing almost in character as her infamous Ab Fab alter ego, Patsy Stone, Joanna had the classic beehive hairstyle Patsy was known for and a glass of fizz in her hand.
She opened her part by saying: “Bon Soir Europe. I am Joanna Lumley and this is the United Kingdom calling.
“It was a great honour for the UK to host Eurovision in Liverpool last year on behalf of Ukraine.”
She then paid homage to her famous quote from the Jennifer Saunders classic: “Sweety, darling”.
Joanna said: “But nobody does it better than you, Sweden, so cheers Sweedies, thanks a lot, you are absolutely fabulous.”
Those watching at home, who were already discussing disappointment over Olly’s performance, were more than a little thrilled with Joanna’s appearance. They called it the “best part” of the night.
“Best part of Eurovision. Patsy forever,” said one.
Another added: “Hehe yeah she was fabulous! Funny, sophisticated and quirkily British!”
“Best part of the whole evening. Well done Joanna,” agreed a third.
A fourth joked: “She was absolutely fabulous, as always.” Meanwhile, someone else added: “Look at her! Bloody fabulous woman.”
“Love Dame Joanne Lumley she’s absolutely amazing in everything she does love love love her,” said one more.
Olly Alexander finishes 18th in Eurovision
Elsewhere on the night, Switzerland were crowned the winners of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest. They had been a firm favourite from the outset and led after both the jury and public votes.
Despite the UK’s entrant Olly Alexander being a well-known superstar, he seemingly did not impress the voting bodies. Although the juries awarded him 46 points, putting him on the left-hand side of the leader board, the voting public gave him zero points.
Those watching at home came up with a number of theories as to why the UK did not do well. They ranged from the routine and staging being too raunchy to Olly’s vocals being below par and a potential microphone malfunction causing sound issues. One even suggested it was “sabotage”!
“What is wrong with the sound suddenly EUROVISION sabotage,” said someone on X. Another also questioned: “Hmm why is the sound different for Olly Alexander and the UK?”
Olly has yet to post to his social media accounts following the contest, but on the night he took the news of his nil points from the public in good spirits.
Eurovision controversy
The competition was hit by controversy ahead of airing on Saturday. The governing body, the EBU announced that Dutch act Joost was disqualified from the competition.
Their statement said: “The Dutch artist Joost Klein will not be competing in the Grand Final of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
“Swedish police have investigated a complaint made by a female member of the production crew after an incident following his performance in Thursday night’s Semi Final. While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the Contest.”
The EBU came were under fire over the decision. When the Eurovision boss was making an announcement live on the night he could barely be heard over the boos of the crowd.
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