Catherine Tate to announce points from UK at Grand Final of Eurovision Song Contest this weekend

Who will take on the important responsibility of revealing which countries the UK will be awarding points to this year at the Grand Final of the Eurovision Contest this Saturday (May 13) in Liverpool?

Step forward comedian and actress Catherine Tate who joins previous presenters AJ Odudu, Amanda Holden, Nigella Lawson, Mel Giedroyc, Richard Osman and Alex Jones.

"It’s very exciting to be announcing the iconic 'douze points' at Eurovision," she said. "It’s just a foot in the door really as next year I hope to be the UK entrant!"

This year's contest marks the first time that the UK spokesperson will announce the national jury scores from the very same arena where the contest is taking place.

The Eurovision Song Contest is being held in Liverpool on behalf of last year's winners Ukraine, who were unable to host themselves due to the ongoing conflict in the country.

The UK was chosen as it came second last year with Sam Ryder's Space Man, which was the country's best result since 1998, when the competition was held in Birmingham and Imaani sang Where Are You?.

It will be a big night for fans of Tate as it has also been teased that the BBC will drop a new trailer for the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials during the broadcast, which sees her reprise the role of companion Donna Noble.

Later this year, the actor will also star in a new BBC sitcom titled Queen of Oz, where she plays a disgraced member of a fictional royal family who is sent away to rule Australia.

The bulk of the hosting work at the Eurovision grand final will be carried out by Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham, Britain's Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon and Ukrainian singer-songwriter Julia Sanina.

Tate, 53, has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show (2004–2007), as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and seven BAFTAs.

She then starred as Joanie Taylor ("Nan") in the BBC One comedy series Catherine Tate's Nan (2009–2015) and in the film The Nan Movie (2022).

In 2011, she began a recurring role as Nellie Bertram in the US version of The Office, and was a regular until the series ended.

She played the role of Miss Sarah Postern in the BBC One sitcom Big School (2013–2014) and voiced Magica De Spell in the animated series DuckTales (2017–2021).

In 2022, Tate starred as one of six characters in the Netflix comedy series, Hard Cell, which she also co-wrote and co-directed.

The UK’s entrant for this year’s contest is Mae Muller, 25, with her self-penned track about a cheating ex-boyfriend entitled ‘I Wrote A Song’.

The popstar once accompanied girl band Little Mix on tour as a support act.

Fifteen countries will compete for 10 places in Saturday night's grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The contest will be broadcast live on BBC One from 20:00 BST.