'Vintage year' for Eurovision says Graham Norton

UK entry Josh Dubovie will be singing That Sounds Good To Me in Oslo

In amongst the love song to a robot and wistful yearning about an apricot stone, Eurovision host Graham Norton feels this year's UK entry could go down well as "disco sorbet".

Nineteen-year-old Josh Dubovie will perform That Sounds Good to Me at Saturday's final.

It's a track masterminded by Pete Waterman and Mike Stock, two thirds of the 80s hit machine Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

The trio dominated the charts 20 years ago with a distinctive electronic pop sound, working with the likes of Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Bananarama.

However, even without the Aitken element, criticism about the UK's Eurovision entry for 2010 focuses on its familiar Stock/Waterman sound.

It's a fact that hasn't gone unnoticed with Graham Norton, who will be providing the television commentary for the BBC from Oslo this weekend.

"Well look, I don't live in a bubble," he admits, "I am aware there is a mixed reaction to our entry this year on the blogs and the websphere."

Tough competition

Graham is trying to see the silver lining though, saying "the only hope we have I think, is it's such a relentless power ballad after power ballad, that I think in the middle of it all, people might want a bit of disco sorbet to cleanse their ballad palates."

Turkey's act maNga have already won an MTV Europe Music Award

There's some tough competition for the UK though, with other acts already well-established across Europe.

Turkey's maNga won best European act at last year's MTV Europe Music Awards, while Germany's Lena has already had a number one hit with her song Satellite.

Graham feels it can only be good for the Eurovision TV watcher, calling this year's crop a "vintage year".

He adds: "There are some genuinely good songs, and maybe I've gone mad, maybe I'm old, maybe white wine has pickled my brain, but I do think there's some excellent songs in it."

The TV presenter does concede though that "there's also some genius Eurovision classics in it as well".

That brings us back to the magic tree that grows from an apricot stone and the dancing robot - props that will feature in the second Eurovision semi-final.

Graham has one final tip: "Do look out for Greece... it's something like Girgio and Friends.

"If they're his friends, I'll eat my shoe."

The Eurovision Song Contest is on BBC One from 8pm on Saturday 29 May.