The winner is the winner ukraine won with 631 points, beating sam ryder� s 466. And here they are, ukraine, the winner. Congratulations, guys. A growing political crisis meant 2023s contest couldnt be hosted in ukraine. I hand you the trophy, lift it up. You deserve it and if you want to Say Something this is the moment. Thank you so much. Thank you for supporting ukraine. This victory is for every ukrainian. | cheering this is the story of how eurovision came to the uk. Being in that arena and witnessing that energy. This tangible energy of light. Its incredible. Ukrainians and key have watched and celebrated at home, a country that had changed for ever. Today we are live in ukraine as russia invades in a Major Military assault by land, sea and air. Screaming in february 2022, the world woke up to the news that russia was doing the unthinkable, invading their country. Since then, people have been forced to leave their homes. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives. And then an Arrest Warrant was issued against russian president Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes. On the day the war broke out, countries across the world started condemning russias actions. But the European Broadcasting Union, who run the Eurovision Song Contest, didnt take immediate action. After broadcasters called for the country to be banned, they soon changed their mind. Back on the ground in ukraine, men from across the country were called up to the front line, including ukraines 2022 winners, kalosh orchestra, and they were on tour when russia invaded. Translation the day the war began we are returning from tour, from the city of dnipro. We came across the explosions. We had them ourselves. Cheering but the war in their country continued and just a month later. Some news about the Eurovision Song Contest. The European Broadcasting Union, which essentially runs the contest, has said it is in talks with the bbc to potentially host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in the uk. After concluding that next years contest cannot be held in ukraine. Hello, it is daniel. A little while ago i spoke with the ebus boss, martin osterdahl. It is a long and proud tradition of the Eurovision Song Contest that if you win it, you hosted. It comes with a set of requirements that need to be met. Of course, the security and safety elements are key for us for all the stakeholders involved and clearly this year it was evident that we unfortunately could not take the event to ukraine. And then it was offered to the bbc to host instead. But the initial statement that we got from ukraine suggested, they said they wanted the decision to be looked at again. So it suggested they were not consulted on the first decision . They were consulted on that first decision. But there was a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of interest in trying to find a way to still host this in ukraine. We were, from our side pretty realistic about the prospects but we wanted to engage in further conversations before the final decision was made. The then Prime Minister boris johnson, fresh from a trip from kyiv, then weighed in on who should host the contest. I know we came second, i would love it to be in this country, but the fact is, they won and they deserve to have it. I believe they can have it, i believe they should have it. I believe kyiv, or any other safe ukrainian city would be a fantastic place to have it. I very, very much hope the European Broadcasting Union will recognise that. Because i dont think its right. This thing is a year away. It is going to be fine by the time the Eurovision Song Contest comes round and i hope the ukrainians get it, because they deserve it. But things in the country didnt improve and it became official eurovision was coming to the uk. Some Breaking News just into us at the bbc, the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted in the United Kingdom and behalf of this years winning broadcaster, which was ukraine. I am really excited about 2023. I have been working closely now with the bbc team during the host city selection. I think we are going to be in a wonderful place, regardless of where we end up in the end. I think the uk is blessed with a lot of talent and a lot of great venues and a lot of great cities. I think the eurovision is in very good hands with the bbc and the uk. Interestingly, the Eurovision Song Contest is experiencing a real boost and a real boom at the moment, in terms of the popularity of the contest on the popularity of the brand. I think there is a couple of reasons for this. The contest has evolved a lot and the members that are taking place from these 40 Different Countries are working with it harder today, the general level of quality in the contest has certainly increased since i started working with this 15 years ago. So the contest is taken more seriously, it has become better. We have also been helped by some huge musical successes through the contest and we are not only talking about abba, Celine Dion Way back when, but in recent years with duncan lawrence, snap, from armenia last year. There really is this eurovision dream, you can make it big over one night, you can become an international star. So the hunt for the next location to make a star began. British cities threw their hats into the ring and a list was drawn up. Scott, the shortlist is in an envelope, it is in front of you. Are you ready . This is such an honour. Lets do this. All right, we know there are seven cities on the shortlist. 0k. Scott is opening the gold envelope. Who are they . In alphabetical order, the seven cities shortlisted to host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest are birmingham. Glasgow. Leeds. Liverpool. Manchester. Newcastle. And sheffield. And that is it. That was really tense. Those are the seven cities who could be hosting Eurovision Next year. There are many people listening right now, leaping up and down. The shortlisted cities were whittled down to two places, glasgow and liverpool. The time has come, graham norton, can you reveal which city will host the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 . Building the drama, i want to rip it open. The city that will host the 67th Eurovision Song Contest in 2023 is. Liverpool congratulations. Cheering and applause congratulations to liverpool, lets go to kevin to see how the news is going down there. It is incredible, isnt it my goodness, what a feeling, i what a feeling, what a feeling. Live from liverpool is the Handover Ceremony and the official allocation draw of the 67th Eurovision Song Contest. Those preparations got under way and at the start of 2023, the host city took the reins. Cheering and applause there it is. The eurovision is officially in liverpool. I am really proud to be able to Host Eurovision for liverpool, but especially proud to do it on behalf of ukraine. Liverpudlian fans got ready to host, but not all locals got the memo. The Eurovision Song Contest is coming here. Is it . I didnt know, sorry. So this is news to you . Yes. Breaking news. Prepare yourself. I cant smile because i have had too much botox. We have a massive fan base for the Eurovision Song Contest in the United Kingdom. It rates the normally on the bbc. It rates the phenomenally on the bbc. It is not a surprise for us that the United Kingdom secretly loves the eurovision. It hasnt perhaps been as pronounced as it is now. I think sam ryder did a fantasticjob and we are experiencing a resurgence in the uk, which is fantastic. Sam ryder was going to be hard to follow, but in march we found out he would be stepping into their shoes in competing for the uk. I am so excited and it is a Dream Come True and for it to be in liverpool, iconic setting. I hope you guys like the song. Cant wait to see you. When you said you were leaving. 25 year old may muller is from london and she said she got into song writing because her train wi fi failed and she needed something to do. Everyone to see all your friends how cruel you were to me instead i wrote a song. She is most excited about being part of the eurovision community. Its about everyone coming together despite what is going on in the world and supporting each other. I think that is what makes it so special. It is quite an empowering feeling to be a part of that, especially this year on behalf of ukraine, it makes a special occasion even more special. Instead i wrote a song typically speaking, it takes one or two days for an event to build. For eurovision, the build time is five weeks and that really speaks of the scale and spectacle of eurovision 2023. We feel really emotional because it is about pride as well as civic pride for liverpool, as a country on behalf of ukraine and standing in solidarity with them and their people. The whole thing is an embrace, it looks like open arms the uk and liverpool embracing ukraine and working king charles and Crean Camilla opened the stadium. The royals even met the uks entrant. We have been watching with great interest. The stage is huge and took 8 miles of cabling for the lighting everything is captured with more than a 150 microphones. There have been more than 50,000 tickets sold across the events during eurovision week with the arena filled with 6000 fans for each show. Though the royals will be back in the uk, ukrainian president zelensky would have preferred the contest to stay closer to home. Translation l have Great Respect for the United Kingdom, its an amazing country. My opinion from the start has been that if we cant Host Eurovision, it should take place in one of the countries that share a border with us such as slovakia or poland or any other countries which our people can reach easily, something nearby. Since the news broke that the contest was coming here, we have had a few different Prime Ministers but the invite for the current one, rishi sunak, seems to have gotten lost in the post. Will you be there . I probably wont be there but we are planning to host an event in Downing Street with ukrainian families. The reason we are hosting it is because of the situation in ukraine. It would be a nice idea to bring ukrainian families here to watch the evening. Thats a good source of pride for the entire country that we are able to do this. Are you an eurovision fan . I dont have much time for any of those things at the moment but im looking forward to it. Theres a whole week of it, semifinals. There is but it should be good. I hope there is time for me to open up a bit of Downing Street for ukrainian families. Sequence . Not one by me but hopefully. Thousands from All Over The World are going. This is the culmination of everything that i am about. I tried to get tickets, ive had some before but not been able to get flights, i couldnt afford in 98 for birmingham, too young for 82. This is my year. This is my year so liverpool, here we come. Im having an amazing time. Im worried i am peaking too soon. We havent even got there yet and im ready having the best time of my life. Ona train how often do we get to say that in this country . Not very often. This is the official Opening Ceremony of this years Eurovision Song Contest. Sandwiched between slovenia to my right and cyprus to my left. All 37 acts from the 37 countries participating have now arrived in liverpool. They are walking this red carpet which is actually turquoise for sponsorship reasons. Around 3000 tickets were made available to ukrainian people displaced by the war so they could celebrate in liverpool. Ifeel a bit. Worried and a bit nervous. Worried about what will be there. From one side it is a festival of life and joyful life, so i have mixed feelings that i am being here happy but my soldiers are fighting and sitting in. Yeah. I have mixed feelings. With the war in ukraine still ongoing, there are concerns about if ukraine wins again. We have seen a lot of good and difficult times in europe over the timespan, we have managed to overcome difficulties and overcome geopolitical problems in our continent and i am sure we can continue to do that. I think the collaboration in the ebu and eurovision is. The fact we can help each other out in this way is a testament of our strength together. Got a heart of steel. None of this is phasing ukraines contestant. We are honoured to represent our country in these hard times. All the people who chose us and voted for us. We take all of that and show the world our message. We will show how ukraine can be different and how strong ukrainians are and we hope we can inspire people around the planet to look at the ukrainians fighting for theirfreedon, land and families. Together in electric dreams. I would like everyone to feel that we in the uk have done ukraine proud. That is what i would love. How are you doing liverpool . It is time to kick off the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. We are all nervous and tired and happy but we wont totally rest until we finish what will hopefully be another great live show tomorrow night. This is the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Hello there. The next six to ten days look fairly benign all thanks to High Pressure, so i think that a lot of places will be dry but there will still be a few showers dotted around here and there. Now, the weekend has started on a warm note, sunny for many, but through sunday, certainly monday, tuesday, to the start of next week things will be turning cooler. And this is the reason for it, this cold front. That rain band pushing into the north and west on sunday will introduce this cooler air mass, but its still quite warm ahead of it. So this is the picture for sunday, cloudier day for scotland and northern ireland, then outbreaks of rain. Behind it to brightens up, turns cooler with a few blustery showers ahead of it. There will be a few showers around through the midlands any grey cloud turning back to the coast, and we should see some sunny spells, another fairly warm afternoon, 21 will be the high. Low to mid teens, though, in the north and west behind at Weather Front. That Weather Front continues to spread across the country during sunday night. Monday almost get squeezed out because of these areas of High Pressure developing. But you will notice the feel of things on monday. Were into that cooler air mass, as you can see from the blue hue there. So for monday, a lot of dry weather around. A fairly keen north north westerly breeze, that will feed in showers towards northern scotland, a few showers dotted around northern and Eastern England running down in towards east anglia the southeast in the afternoon. The best of the sunshine towards the south and the west. But temperatures at best will only be around 15 degrees. The most you are looking at around 10 13 or 14 celsius. Much cooler, certainly for this time in may. High pressure still with us on tuesday where we have Weather Fronts to the north of the uk, so that will bring further showers to northern scotland, perhaps northern ireland. The odd one in towards england and wales, most of these will be towards more central and eastern areas, probably the best of the sunshine, the drier weather, will be towards the south west. So we could make 16 or 17 degrees here through tuesday afternoon, mostly the mid to low teens, again, below par for this time in may. Into wednesday, High Pressure still with us. A lot of dry weather around. This feature still running into the north west of the uk will bring thicker cloud and more recent outbreaks of rain. That is mainly to the north west of scotland, perhaps northern parts of northern ireland. Elsewhere, variable cloud, some sunny spells, probably best of it again towards the south west where we could be up to 17 or 18 degrees. But for the majority, again, its the mid teens. Wednesday into thursday, could be a wetter day with this low pressure system moving into the north and west of the uk. So more Weather Fronts on the chart there. So there will be more cloud out across the northern half of the country, outbreaks of rain for scotland, northern ireland, and then into thursday afternoon could move across the irish sea into wales and western england. So probably the better chance of staying dry would be towards the east and southeast, temperatures disappointing, particularly where it stays cloudy around the mid teens, maybe up to 17 degrees. Then the outlook as we end the week, pushing into the new week and the following week, High Pressure dominates the scene. Keeps most of these Weather Systems at bay. We will start to import some slightly warmer air on an easterly wind off the near continent. So you will see from the Air Mass Chart towards the end of the week, the weekend, into the following week we keep these blue colours, the colder air, away from us. Maybe tap into something warmer from the near continent. So a largely settled outlook because of High Pressure around. A few showers around, those temperatures slowly recovering, though, as we push deeper into next week with increasing amounts of sunshine. Take care. Live from london, this is bbc news. 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