Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa has been replaced as the Eurovision 2025 spokesperson due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
The 32-year-old actor was due to read out the UK jury votes at the Grand Final on Saturday but has now been replaced by singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
A BBC statement from Thursday evening said: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, unfortunately Ncuti Gatwa is no longer able to participate as Spokesperson during the Grand Final this weekend.”
It continued: “However, we are delighted to confirm that BBC Radio 2’s very own Friday night Kitchen Disco Diva Sophie Ellis-Bextor will be presenting the jury result live from the UK.”
The BBC has not given any more information on the reason for Gatwa’s withdrawal.
In previous years the UK spokesperson role has been taken on by Catherine Tate, Amanda Holden and AJ Odudu.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor said: “I love Eurovision” and called being tasked with delivering the UK’s jury score as “a privilege”.
“I am very much looking forward to delivering the iconic douze points from the United Kingdom!”
The announcement from the BBC about Gatwa came during the second Eurovision semi-final, in which UK entry Remember Monday performed.
Lauren Byrne, Charlotte Steele and Holly-Anne Hull performed What The Hell Just Happened, but were safe from elimination due to the UK’s automatic qualification in the competition.
The countries that qualified on Thursday for Saturday’s final Luxembourg, Finland, Latvia, Malta, and Greece.
They join the UK, France, Germany and Switzerland alongside the countries that qualified at Tuesday’s semi final – Spain, Italy, Norway, Albania, Sweden, Iceland, Netherlands, Poland, San Marino, Estonia, Portugal, and Ukraine.
Ireland, which is currrently the joint-record holder with Sweden for the most Eurovision wins, after taking the tropy seven times, failed to qualify on Thursday evening.
Norwegian singer Emmy, who represented the country, did not get enough votes with Laika Party, about a Russian space dog.
She hoped to replicate the success of last year’s entrant, Bambie Thug, who became the first Irish competitor to reach the grand final since Ryan O’Shaughnessy in 2018.