Josh Dubovie wins Your Country Needs You

Teenage singer Josh Dubovie has won the chance to represent the UK at this year's Eurovision Song Contest after winning BBC1's Your Country Needs You.

The 19-year-old, from Basildon in Essex, triumphed over fellow hopefuls Alexis Gerred and Esma Akkilic after all three had performed the UK's song, That Sounds Good To Me, written by Mike Stock and Pete Waterman.

Three other acts - solo singer Karen Harding, and groups Miss Fitz and Uni5, missed out on the chance to perform the song after they were knocked out of the competition in the first round.

Josh will now perform the song at the Eurovision Song Contest final, which will take place in Oslo, Norway, on May 29.

Afterwards Josh said he "could not believe" he had won the chance to compete for the UK.

"I'm so so happy," he said, "I really can't believe it - is this real? I never believed I'd come this far."

"The minute I heard the song I thought it was a definite winner," he added. "I'm so happy I'm going to sing it in Oslo."

The show, hosted by Graham Norton, saw each of the six competing acts perform a classic Stock Aitken Waterman song before a judging panel that consisted of Waterman, last year's UK entrant Jade Ewen and Strictly Come Dancing's Bruno Tonioli.

While groups Uni5 and Miss Fitz were criticised, Josh, Esma and Alexis received praise from the panel, with Waterman saying Josh's singing was "perfect" following his rendition of Jason Donovan's Too Many Broken Hearts.

However Tonioli said he needed to add "more excitement" to his dancing.

In the second half of the show Waterman's song for the contest was heard for the first time as Alexis, Esma and Josh all had the chance to perform it.

However Esma struggled and apologised live onstage midway through the song after appearing to forget the words - however she managed to complete her performance. She eventually finished third following the public vote.

The show also featured a performance from Sugababes - of whom Jade Ewen is now a member - as well as last year's Eurovision winner, Norway's Alexander Rybak.

The UK finished fifth in the 2009 contest - the country's best result since 2002 - with the song It's My Time which was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and US songwriter Diane Warren.