Homecoming gig like seeing an old pal - Sam Ryder

Sam Ryder, pictured in Chelmsford High Street, has been popping up with city centre performances across the UK

The UK's Eurovision runner-up Sam Ryder has said performing in his home county feels like an "old pal has come round".

The singer-songwriter, from Maldon, Essex, was at the HMV store in Chelmsford for a meet and greet, before serenading shoppers outside.

The 33-year-old has been popping up in city centres across the country as part of his efforts to land a Christmas number one album.

He said he would celebrate victory by building a Lego model Ghostbusters car.

Sam Ryder's single Space Man gave the UK a runner-up position at 2022's Eurovision Song Contest

Ryder's debut album is in the running for a Christmas number one spot

"[Performing in Essex] feels like a pal has come round who you haven't seen for a while," said Ryder, speaking to the BBC from the same HMV store where he bought CDs as a teenager.

"I'm always pleasantly surprised that people have turned up and actually left their houses of their own free will to come and say hi and get a record signed - that we've made - it just means the world."

Ryder, during his acoustic set in Half Moon Square in the High Street, performed a cover of Queen's Radio Ga Ga as well as a slow version of his Eurovision hit, Space Man.

Sam Ryder and his team sent 90-year-old fan Gwendoline Tebbit a video from their tour van before meeting her at HMV Chelmsford the following day

The Official Charts Company said the album, There's Nothing But Space, Man!, is one of the favourites for the number one spot on Sunday.

Asked how he would celebrate, he said: "I've bought a Lego Ghostbusters car, and I'm just going to sit down, turn my phone off, maybe put some carols on, and just have a quiet one."

Jennifer Steadman, 61, who knitted Ryder a space man figurine, and 90-year-old Gwendoline Tebbit were among the fans who queued up at HMV on Wednesday.

"I'm very proud of him - I play his music all day," said Ms Tebbit, who is also from Maldon.