Europap...

Having unexpectedly enjoyed the event last year, I opted for a quiet night in last night, providing an excuse to empty a few dubiously dated cans of beer from the cupboard, throw a curry in the microwave and settle in front of the box to watch the Eurovision Song Contest.

I never really expected our offering to achieve very much this year although the silly outfits, cheesy dance routine and catchy-yet-camp song littered with double entendres always provided a slight hope of enticing a few votes. "Few" turned out to be quite accurate as it happens.

Despite my enthusiastic note taking, score allocating and general persistance to endure all 24 songs, I'm afraid it didn't live up to last year's event for me. The presentation of the show itself was impressive enough, but countries were still taking the formulaic route in an attempt to win even though the quality and performance of the actual songs is never reflected in the results. I actually quite liked three of the songs but it came as no surprise that none of them featured anywhere. My favourite, Hungary's "Unsubstantial Blues", never stood a chance really because it had no pretentions other than being just a bloody good song.

Terry Wogan's hilarious commentary remained the highlight of the evening's entertainment, but I doubt it will be enough to entice me to watch again next year. In future, when I want to spend a Saturday evening watching people dressed in ridiculous costumes and talking in languages I don't understand I'll take the slightly more plausible option of watching Doctor Who...