Steve Pratt asks why we continue to endure Eurovision, better known as Britain’s Not Got Talent?

ISN’T it about time we went boom-bang-abang and knocked the Eurovision Song Contest on the head. It’s all very well saying it’s not the winning, but the taking part, that counts, but the annual public humiliation of the UK entry is getting weary.

Commentator Terry Wogan and his successor Graham Norton have always showed a healthy disrespect for the competition. Now the BBC is even making programmes saying how bad it is and instigating a Hall of Shame for disgraceful entries.

The BBC has tried everything, even resorting to seeking the sympathy vote by sending an ageing crooner last year, perhaps because he could save it money by using his bus pass to get there.

But no, here we go again with Britain’s Not Got Talent. Try not to get too excited. Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest is expected to do well. The 20-yearold appears to be channelling our own Sandie Shaw (winner in 1967 with Puppet on a String).

She’s the runaway favourite, and votes from her nation’s close neighbours are expected to push her to victory. Why not save everyone a lot of time and trouble and give her the prize now?

Norway’s I Feed You My Love has been described as a cross between Daft Punk and Metallica, while Marco Mengoni is Italy’s X Factor champion. And then, of course, there’s the UK’s Bonnie Tyler.

We’ve been holding out for a Eurovision hero since Katrina and Waves were our last winners back in 1997.

The BBC chose the song, a track from Tyler’s upcoming album, called Believe In Me and it is, I would suggest, not very good. But surely she can beat Humperdinck’s 25th place last year.

Tyler, the raspy-voiced Welsh singer behind the multi-platinum-selling 1980s power ballad Total Eclipse Of The Heart, has fans in France, Belgium and Germany, so perhaps that’ll help swing votes her way tonight as this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is being staged in Malmo, Sweden.

But the singer is worried about one rather unfortunate problem: her song, Believe In Me, may be just too credible to win. “It has been said to me, ‘You’re not going to win this, your song is too good.’ Which is crazy, huh?” says 61-year-old Tyler.

Crazy indeed. The singer, who had her first hit with Lost In France in 1976, was approached by the BBC after a radio producer heard Believe In Me and thought it would be a perfect contender for Eurovision.

“Firstly it was like, ‘Wow, Eurovision!’ I’d been asked 30 years ago and I couldn’t do it because I was so busy with Total Eclipse Of The Heart, which was number one and the album was number one,” recalls Tyler.

“I just thought about it for a minute and thought, ‘This is a great opportunity to represent the UK’.”

Despite the high hopes for the song, Tyler is aware of the stiff competition she faces from other entrants, citing Russia, Denmark, Germany and Holland’s entries as her current favourites. Then there’s the whole drama surrounding alleged tactical voting and the UK’s seemingly impossible task of picking up any points these days.

On this matter, Tyler is pragmatic: “You know with Eurovision, you can’t guarantee it’s all about the song.”

“I’m going to give it my very best shot. I think we’ve got a good chance of getting a good score... I hope.”

Dramatic performances and garish costumes may be popular with Eurovision voters but Tyler, who says she’s going “Bonnie Tyler” in style, has something else up her sleeve. “About 120 million people watch Eurovision and I have a lot of friends in Europe,” says the singer.

“Maybe that’s why the BBC asked me, because maybe they thought there’s a good chance. We have got a good song, but you never know what can happen in Eurovision. It’ll be a great experience, I’m sure about that.”

The Welsh songstress is pouring her boundless energy into finding inventive ways to encourage fans to vote for the UK. “If you’re British and you can’t vote for me, ask your Facebook friends from foreign countries to support our country because they can’t vote for their own, you see?” she says.

The Eurovision Song Contest: BBC1, 8pm