While UK hopeful Mae Muller didn’t succeed in bringing home the Eurovision trophy, instead coming in second to last, everyone is talking about the real star of the show - 48-year-old presenter Hannah Waddingham.
Throughout the iconic song contest, Hannah has been entertaining millions of viewers across the globe looking stunning in her shimmering frocks and surprising them with her fluent French and witty banter.
On the night of the final she looked like she was having the time of her life with co-hosts Graham Norton, Alesha Dixon and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina as she showed off her air guitar moves, boogied at any given opportunity and broke into spontaneous song.
One of the highlights of the evening was when she clearly stole the show during the presentation of the jury’s votes which included a faux proposal from Germany.
Flying the flag for older women everywhere, Hannah’s career didn’t fully bloom until she was in her forties. Landing the role of Rebecca Welton in Ted Lasso, which picked up 20 Emmy awards, ended up changing her life.
“I think the good thing is that it has happened at this point in my career,” she said ahead of her new drama Tom Jones, which is currently on ITVX.
“Looking back that is exactly how I would have planned it because it means you don’t get above yourself and you value everything that comes your way.”
But if it wasn’t for her daughter, from a previous relationship with hotelier Gianluca Cugnetto, she may not have taken the role in the first place.
Kitty, now eight, has an autoimmune disorder called Henoch-Schönlein Purpura, which affects the kidneys. While it isn’t life-threatening it causes tummy aches and pains which can be severe and painful and needs monitoring long-term.
The devoted mum said she asked the universe for a job which would allow her to stay close to home.
“I just said ‘thank you for what you’ve given me already but can I please ask for something that is close to home so I can do my main role which is to be a mother’,” Hannah told Ellen DeGeneres.
“Also can I ask that it’s something that really shows what I can do and I hope that’s not asking too much.”
Two months later she was approached about starring in the show which is filmed just 40 minutes from her house. Not only did it allow her to travel less, but it also showcased her acting skills leading to her first Emmy.
This now takes pride of place in her daughter’s bedroom to remind her that “mummy will only ever be away when it’s for a really, blooming good reason.”
Showbiz was always been in Hannah’s blood however.
Born in Wandsworth Common in London, her mother and maternal grandparents were opera singers, a talent that’s certainly rubbed off on the actress.
Despite never having formal singing lessons, she has a four-octave vocal range, placing her in the same league as Beyonce and Julie Andrews and recently joked that the odds of her being born tone deaf were relatively low.
“Singing was in the blood,” Hannah said. “Mum went back to work in the chorus of English National Opera when I was eight and was there for 27 years. I’d sit in the stalls at the Royal Coliseum, listening and soaking everything up like a sponge. That’s the best way of learning.
“I used to watch Lesley Garrett and Bryn Terfyl... now I’ve actually performed with both of them.”
Despite her impressive vocal talents, Hannah was determined to act, taking on small parts in Benidorm, My Family and Footballers Wives, before later starring in Sex Ed and Hocus Pocus 2.
For 25 years she was relatively unknown - it wasn’t until she played “Shame nun” Septa Unella in Game of Thrones in 2015 followed by Apple TV Plus’ Ted Lasso in 2019 that she started to catapult to fame.
Long before she took over our TV screens, Hannah featured in West End and Broadway musicals like Spamalot, The Wizard of Oz and Kiss Me Kate.
“Trust me, I am a theatre girl through and through in my bloodstream, but I want to be able to put my little girl to bed at night,” she has said.
“I was in theatre for 20 years, both here and on Broadway. That was at a time when I didn’t have a little person.
“Now I’m hugely blessed not only to have a child, but to have been able to choose to move to television and to be accepted into that world where I can be Mummy as much as I can and be away from her as little as possible.”
As well as the Emmy, she has also picked up the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2021 and 2022.
And it doesn’t look like her popularity will fade anytime soon, as she’s been cast for the next Mission: Impossible 8 and starred with Ryan Gosling in The Fall Guy.
At the moment she’s currently appearing in ITV X period drama Tom Jones as Lady Bellaston, something she thought would never happen. “It’s eluded me forever,” she said.
“I think it’s because I’m massive, people don’t think that people were massive back in the day,” she adds, laughing. “With the heel, the feathers and the wig I was probably about seven feet tall - not even joking.”
And the 5ft 11in actress couldn’t believe it when she was asked to present Eurovision, saying: “I was shocked when they asked me, because I’m not a presenter by any means and I don’t pertain to be.
“It’s so exciting. Coming from theatre, it’s a big deal for us. Everyone always has Eurovision parties, so I was so thrilled that they asked me.
“I have had my heart broken about Ukraine and the fight that they are putting up. How magnificent they’ve been as a country,” she said. “So to be involved in it this year, when we are standing firmly shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, honestly, it’s a deep, deep honour to be joining that show this year of all years.”
Hannah has also revealed that presenting Eurovision fulfils a childhood dream,
Announcing the winner “literally gives me shivers of excitement”, she told the BBC ’s Eurovisioncast. “My 12-year-old self couldn’t believe that I would ever be saying [it].”
The Eurovision Song Contest may have only been her second presenting job, but it certainly doesn’t look like it will be her last.
This year’s final pulled in the biggest audience ever at around 11 million, with fans taking to Twitter to show their love and appreciation for Hannah who has become an overnight sensation.
And some of her biggest admirers are those in the limelight themselves.
Carol Vorderman Tweeted: “Can I just vote for Hannah Waddingham to be on everything on the telly at all times please? Utter Goddess.”
Chef and food writer Nigella Lawson also took to Twitter to say: “I love Hannah Waddingham with every cell in my being. But then, who doesn’t?”
But it was a Eurovision fan on Twitter who summed it up best, simply writing: ‘My twelve points go to Hannah Waddingham.’
While BBC presenter Nina Warhurst said “I think we have an overnight national treasure on our hands. Hannah Waddingham is the absolute bomb.”
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