Coronavirus: BBC to replace Eurovision and Glastonbury with compilation shows

Returns of ‘The Graham Norton Show’ and ‘Have I Got News for You’ also announced, albeit with likely changes

The BBC have announced a string of entertainment programming to combat the coronavirus blues, including replacements for this year’s cancelled Eurovision and Glastonbury Festival.

May will see regular Eurovision commentator Graham Norton host Eurovision: Come Together, a special programme featuring performances from events of the past.

It will also feature a glimpse at “what would have been” if the 2020 event wasn’t cancelled, including a performance from this year’s UK representative James Newman.

In June, instead of the originally scheduled Glastonbury Festival, the BBC will screen The Glastonbury Experience. The BBC describes the weekend’s worth of events as one that celebrates “the best in music across radio, television and online with amazing performances for you to enjoy in the comfort of your home”. More details will be released closer to the time.

A summer event series hosted by former footballer and TV presenter Peter Crouch has also been announced. Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer is described as a live entertainment show designed to “give the ensconced British public a little bit of all the big summer events that have been taken away”.

Maya Jama and Alex Horne will co-host the show, which will utilise “communication technology and the host’s showbiz-heavy phonebook” to run smoothly.

The corporation also confirmed that BBC One standards Have I Got News for You and The Graham Norton Show will both return to screens this summer, albeit with yet-to-be-announced changes.

In its summer scheduling press release, the corporation confirmed that Have I Got News for You regulars Paul Merton and Ian Hislop will be “sitting in their usual seats, come what may (although we can’t quite be sure where those seats will be” – indicating the potential use of conferencing technology may be used instead of a studio and live audience.

Likewise, The Graham Norton Show will return “not quite as usual”, the BBC said.

Have I Got News for You will return 3 April, while The Graham Norton Show will return 10 April.

Eurovision: Come Together screens Saturday 16 May in place of what would have been Eurovision itself.

The Glastonbury Experience will be broadcast to coincide with the 24 to 28 June originally pegged for Glastonbury Festival 2020.