The moment a Eurovision song ended a war and overthrew a government-Meghna Amin and Ellie Hutchings-Entertainment – Metro

Paulo de Carvalho‘s 1974 Eurovision song literally started a revolution

Eurovision is no stranger to controversial moments, but it’s one of the only TV shows which has also lead to a revolution.

Some of Eurovision’s biggest controversies have led to audiences and entrants alike taking a stand for what they believe in.

This year, some fans have decided to boycott the event over Israel’s inclusion, owing to the country’s ongoing war with Hamas.

During Thursday night’s semi-final, pro-Palestine protests took place outside the arena in Eurovision host city Malmo, and Israeli entrant Eden Golan was drowned out by boos in the Jury Show.

Nevertheless, Israel has qualified for The Grand Final of The Eurovision Song Contest 2024, and the latest Eurovision odds show they stand a good chance of winning the competition.

But back in 1974, Eurovision sparked an actual revolution when Portuguese radio played their entry to that year’s song contest, hosted in Brighton and later won by Sweden’s Abba performing Waterloo.

At 10.55pm on April 24, a song by Paulo de Carvalho, e depois do adeus, was a signal for soldiers to take to the streets for an armed coup.

The song had no political messages, but it was used to spark a movement against a fascist dictatorship.

Left-leaning military officers overthrew the Estado Novo government, transforming Portugal into a democracy and resulting in the end of the Portuguese Colonial War, later known as the Carnation Revolution because flowers were placed in unfired gun barrels after little resistance against the uprising.

Paulo de Carvalho’s song was a signal for soldiers to take to the streets for an armed coup

And Eurovision isn’t the only TV show to inspire audiences to take action either, let’s take a look at some other examples…

1. Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024)

ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office took the country by storm when it was released in early 2024, and propelled one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK history back into the spotlight.

The four-part series, starring Will Mellor and Monica Dolan, tells the true story of a massive scandal when more than 700 Post Office branch managers were given criminal convictions after faulty accounting software by the Horizon computer system made it look as though cash was missing from their sites.

Dozens of innocent people were convicted of theft, lost their homes and went into debt, and 236 went to prison. Four people also took their own lives.

After the ITV show highlighted submaster Alan Bates’ fight for justice, millions of people have thrown their support behind the real victims of the incident, and have been left devastated after learning of the true story.

A petition to strip ex-Post Office chief Paula Vennells, who was in leadership when the company wrongly prosecuted hundreds of its employees, of her CBE reached over 1,000,000 signatures and she eventually announced she will hand it back.

Since then, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced new legislation to exonerate and pay £75,000 in compensation to each sub-postmaster wrongfully convicted, as only 93 have so far had their names cleared.

Meanwhile, more and more celebrities and civilians alike are calling out the government over a failure to act in the past.

2. Framing Britney Spears (2021)

The documentary shed light on the #FreeBritney movement (Picture: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

Framing Britney Spears explored the singer’s controversial conservatorship, and to many, explained what a conservatorship actually is, thrusting the US system into the foreground like never before.

The Toxic hitmaker was under a court-mandated conservatorship since 2008, controlled by her dad, Jamie Spears.

The film, which was inspired by the #FreeBritney movement as fans argued she’d been stripped of her human rights, followed the mother-of-two’s mental health issues, how she was framed in the press and hounded by paparazzi, and even led to stars apologising for the jokes they made at her expense.

Months after the 2021 documentary, Britney was freed from the 13-year conservatorship, and testified in court to encourage law reform, with California lawmakers proposing reforms to expand rights for those under conservatorships.

Protests and fan rallies around the world erupted in her support, as well as the movement circulating globally online and garnering greater attention in the media.

She’s since gone on to release a tell-all memoir.

3. Serial (2014) and The Case Against Adnan Syed (2019)

Adnan Syed became the focus of the first series of podcast Serial, which was later adapted into a TV show, after he was jailed for life for the murder of ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee.

In 2014, Syed’s case shot into the spotlight, years after he was convicted of strangling 17-year-old Lee and burying her body in Leakin Park, Baltimore.

As the case also unfolded in a HBO and Sky drama, titled The Case Against Adnan Syed, more and more pressure was placed on the Maryland state government to give Syed a new hearing, with a new trial granted in 2016.

The programme and podcast both shed light on key points of evidence which didn’t stack up, such as alibis that weren’t followed up or how the events of the day changed over time.

Most importantly, it was revealed that no trace of his DNA was found on the victim’s body when she was murdered.

Not only did people care about Syed, but his case was just one which – once a spotlight was shone on it – resulted in viewers’ eyes being opened to misjustices and spurred more cases to be investigated, including the likes of The Staircase and The Jinx.

After serving more than 20 years, Syed’s case was overturned and he was released, and a judge placed him under home detention and ordered him to be monitored by a GPS tracking device.

Syed, who has always maintained his innocence, was eventually cleared of all charges in September 2022, after prosecutors said an investigation had revealed he had been wrongfully convicted.

But just months later, a Maryland appeals court reinstated his conviction and sentence, and he awaits a new hearing to determine whether he’ll remain free.

With thousands of people believing his innocence, a petition to put pressure on the government to release him has reached more than 17,000 signatures.

4. Three Girls (2017)

Three Girls followed a harrowing story of grooming, sexual exploitation and child abuse, shedding light on the Rochdale sex trafficking case.

In May 2012 nine men of Asian heritage were revealed to be guilty of the grooming, rape and sex trafficking of teenage girls in the Rochdale area in 2008 and 2009.

47 girls were identified as victims of child sexual exploitation.

It was later turned into a drama, also starring Maxine Peake, which was made with the cooperation of the real people, and was created with the aim of telling the victims’ stories as well as shed light on how the authorities who were meant to protect them failed.

A chance to stop the crimes going on by the gang was missed in 2008, and both the police and child protection services apologised for their failings.

Not only was the case the first of its kind to gain national attention, but it was also the first successful prosecution for sex trafficking in the UK.

5. Making A Murderer (2015)

Netflix true crime documentary Making A Murderer followed the real case of Steven Avery, who was given a life sentence in 2007 after being convicted of killing Teresa Halbach two years prior.

Avery, 61, was first convicted of sexual assault and then murder in 1985 and was exonerated by DNA testing and released in 2003, after serving 18 years of his 25-year sentence.

Since the 2015 series aired, which also follows the confession of Avery’s teenage nephew Brendan Dassey, his lawyers have continued to fight for his innocence, and even offered a $100,000 reward to find the ‘real’ killer.

Meanwhile, as it gained more and more public attention, 500,000 people have signed a petition asking for Avery to be exonerated, while both he and Dassey continue to protest their innocence.

Avery and his lawyers believe that the police framed him for the murder of Halbach after he sued them for wrongful conviction in 2003.

Unfortunately in 2019, Avery’s appeal for a new trial was rejected, but his legal team are said to be continuing to advocate for one, with thousands of people now following the case.

After watching the drama unfold on screens, people were motivated to look into miscarriages of justice further, launching an interest into unsolved cases and true crime, and sparking more online sleuths than ever before.

‘I didn’t think all these people would care,’ Avery once said, in a trailer for the second season. But how wrong he was.

6. Hillsborough (1996)

Just like Mr Bates vs The Post Office shedding light on the injustices caused, to many who were less aware of the miscarriage, 1996 drama Hillsborough followed the tragedy that occurred 20 years before families finally got some justice.

The drama was based on the real life events of 97 people who died as a result of being crushed at Leppings Lane during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on April 15 1989.

Hillsborough went on to win a Bafta TV award for best single drama, and families of the victims were involved in creating it.

The original inquest was quashed in December 2012, following a campaign by the bereaved families, and the High Court ordered a fresh hearing.

The second inquest found in 2016 that 96 of the people who died in the disaster were unlawfully killed, overturning the original verdict of accidental death.

The 97th victim, Andrew Devine, died in 2021 after suffering brain damage.

As well as the 1996 film, ITV produced Anne in 2022 which followed a mother’s fight for justice after her son was amongst those killed, starring Maxine Peake, and delved into the 3.15pm cut off time from the original inquest, in which only the events before were investigated.

7. Cathy Come Home (1966)

In 1966, Cathy Come Home showed homelessness in an entirely new light, and later led to charity work and viewers motivated to help those in need.

The fictional drama followed a young family evicted from their home and their descent into poverty and homelessness, forced into illegal squatting, and trying to be homed in decent accommodation by the local council.

The end of the drama sees Cathy’s children taken away from her by social services after her time at a shelter – where her husband was not allowed to stay – expires.

Days after airing, the homelessness charity Shelter was launched, and, alongside Crisis which was founded later, credited the programme for generating support around the issue.

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