Dame Joanna Lumley insisted that the UK is “not as bad as some people make out” after becoming disheartened by the attitudes towards British people and the suggestion that we are “awful”.

The patriotic actress, 78, said: “We’re going through a mea culpa thing in this country right now that says everything we do is ghastly and we are the sickest nation.

“Everything is our fault: it’s our fault the pandemic has run on, it’s our fault we left Europe, it’s our fault for being awful. But I think we are not awful. We are good people,” she told the Daily Mail in 2021.

Joanna’s love of her country will now transcend as she takes on a very important role in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

The Absolutely Fabulous star will be the UK spokesperson for Eurovision 2024, announcing the jury vote while being broadcast into the arena in Malmo, Sweden.

Joanna expressed her excitement last week, saying: “Good evening Malmo, it’s Joanna here! I am delighted to be announcing the jury vote for the UK at this year’s Eurovision. It’s such a fabulous honour to give the iconic ‘douze points’.”

Lumley follows a line of previous spokespeople including Catherine Tate, AJ Odudu, Amanda Holden, Nigella Lawson, Mel Giedroyc, Richard Osman, Alex Jones, Cheryl Baker and Katrina Leskanich from Katrina and The Waves.

Each country’s jury contains five music professionals who judge the acts on their music and lyrics, assigning points to their 10 favourite acts.

Last year, the UK panel gave the maximum 12 points to Swedish singer Loreen. A separate televote also saw the UK public award Loreen five points and she won the competition.

UK entrant Mae Muller finished second to last with her track I Wrote A Song.

The only two countries whose viewers gave the UK any points were Malta and Ukraine. Meanwhile the juries in Sweden, Ukraine, Finland, Ireland and Denmark handed us some points.

The Eurovision Song Contest will broadcast live on BBC One at 8pm on Saturday 11 May.