diff --git a/.betterer.results b/.betterer.results
index ad95b3295d2..e5b875089e7 100644
--- a/.betterer.results
+++ b/.betterer.results
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ exports[`better eslint`] = {
       [12, 17, 10, "Do not use any type assertions.", "1579919174"],
       [12, 24, 3, "Unexpected any. Specify a different type.", "193409811"]
     ],
-    "e2e/dashboards-suite/dashboard-templating.spec.ts:3846708644": [
+    "e2e/dashboards-suite/dashboard-templating.spec.ts:1854610528": [
       [12, 17, 3, "Unexpected any. Specify a different type.", "193409811"]
     ],
     "e2e/dashboards-suite/textbox-variables.spec.ts:2500589821": [
diff --git a/devenv/dev-dashboards/feature-templating/global-variables-and-interpolation.json b/devenv/dev-dashboards/feature-templating/global-variables-and-interpolation.json
index 0ef23ebc1c5..944ca21a841 100644
--- a/devenv/dev-dashboards/feature-templating/global-variables-and-interpolation.json
+++ b/devenv/dev-dashboards/feature-templating/global-variables-and-interpolation.json
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
       },
       "id": 11,
       "options": {
-        "content": "## Global variables\n\n* `__dashboard` = `${__dashboard}`\n* `__dashboard.name` = `${__dashboard.name}`\n* `__dashboard.uid` = `${__dashboard.uid}`\n* `__org.name` = `${__org.name}`\n* `__org.id` = `${__org.id}`\n* `__user.id` = `${__user.id}`\n* `__user.login` = `${__user.login}`\n* `__user.email` = `${__user.email}`\n         \n## Formats\n\n* `Server:raw` = `${Server:raw}`\n* `Server:regex` = `${Server:regex}`\n* `Server:lucene` = `${Server:lucene}`\n* `Server:glob` = `${Server:glob}`\n* `Server:pipe` = `${Server:pipe}`\n* `Server:distributed` = `${Server:distributed}`\n* `Server:csv` = `${Server:csv}`\n* `Server:html` = `${Server:html}`\n* `Server:json` = `${Server:json}`\n* `Server:percentencode` = `${Server:percentencode}`\n* `Server:singlequote` = `${Server:singlequote}`\n* `Server:doublequote` = `${Server:doublequote}`\n* `Server:sqlstring` = `${Server:sqlstring}`\n* `Server:date` = `${Server:date}`\n* `Server:text` = `${Server:text}`\n* `Server:queryparam` = `${Server:queryparam}`\n\n",
+        "content": "## Global variables\n\n* `__dashboard` = `${__dashboard}`\n* `__dashboard.name` = `${__dashboard.name}`\n* `__dashboard.uid` = `${__dashboard.uid}`\n* `__org.name` = `${__org.name}`\n* `__org.id` = `${__org.id}`\n* `__user.id` = `${__user.id}`\n* `__user.login` = `${__user.login}`\n* `__user.email` = `${__user.email}`\n         \n## Formats\n\n* `Server:raw` = `${Server:raw}`\n* `Server:regex` = `${Server:regex}`\n* `Server:lucene` = `${Server:lucene}`\n* `Server:glob` = `${Server:glob}`\n* `Server:pipe` = `${Server:pipe}`\n* `Server:distributed` = `${Server:distributed}`\n* `Server:csv` = `${Server:csv}`\n* `Server:html` = `${Server:html}`\n* `Server:json` = `${Server:json}`\n* `Server:percentencode` = `${Server:percentencode}`\n* `Server:singlequote` = `${Server:singlequote}`\n* `Server:doublequote` = `${Server:doublequote}`\n* `Server:sqlstring` = `${Server:sqlstring}`\n* `Server:date` = `${Server:date}`\n* `Server:text` = `${Server:text}`\n* `Server:queryparam` = `${Server:queryparam}`\n\n## Sanitization\n\n * `1 < 2`\n\n## Link interpolation\n\n* [Example: ${__url_time_range}](https://example.com/?${__url_time_range})",
         "mode": "markdown"
       },
       "pluginVersion": "7.1.0",
diff --git a/e2e/dashboards-suite/dashboard-templating.spec.ts b/e2e/dashboards-suite/dashboard-templating.spec.ts
index 4a6187e4be1..8d3d10770e5 100644
--- a/e2e/dashboards-suite/dashboard-templating.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/dashboards-suite/dashboard-templating.spec.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ e2e.scenario({
       `Server:pipe = A'A"A|BB\\B|CCC`,
       `Server:distributed = A'A"A,Server=BB\\B,Server=CCC`,
       `Server:csv = A'A"A,BB\\B,CCC`,
-      `Server:html = A'A"A, BB\\B, CCC`,
+      `Server:html = A'A&quot;A, BB\\B, CCC`,
       `Server:json = ["A'A\\"A","BB\\\\B","CCC"]`,
       `Server:percentencode = %7BA%27A%22A%2CBB%5CB%2CCCC%7D`,
       `Server:singlequote = 'A\\'A"A','BB\\B','CCC'`,
@@ -36,11 +36,13 @@ e2e.scenario({
       `Server:date = null`,
       `Server:text = All`,
       `Server:queryparam = var-Server=All`,
+      `1 < 2`,
+      `Example: from=now-6h&to=now`,
     ];
 
     e2e()
       .get('.markdown-html li')
-      .should('have.length', 24)
+      .should('have.length', 26)
       .each((element) => {
         items.push(element.text());
       })
@@ -49,5 +51,10 @@ e2e.scenario({
           expect(items[index]).to.equal(expected);
         });
       });
+
+    // Check link interpolation is working correctly
+    e2e()
+      .contains('a', 'Example: from=now-6h&to=now')
+      .should('have.attr', 'href', 'https://example.com/?from=now-6h&to=now');
   },
 });
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/text/TextPanel.tsx b/public/app/plugins/panel/text/TextPanel.tsx
index f2808f00cf8..c30ba779ec9 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/text/TextPanel.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/text/TextPanel.tsx
@@ -41,24 +41,34 @@ export class TextPanel extends PureComponent<Props, State> {
   }
 
   prepareHTML(html: string): string {
-    return this.interpolateAndSanitizeString(html);
+    const result = this.interpolateString(html);
+    return config.disableSanitizeHtml ? result : this.sanitizeString(result);
   }
 
   prepareMarkdown(content: string): string {
-    // Sanitize is disabled here as we handle that after variable interpolation
-    return this.interpolateAndSanitizeString(
-      renderTextPanelMarkdown(content, {
-        noSanitize: config.disableSanitizeHtml,
-      })
-    );
+    // Always interpolate variables before converting to markdown
+    // because `marked` replaces '{' and '}' in URLs with '%7B' and '%7D'
+    // See https://marked.js.org/demo
+    let result = this.interpolateString(content);
+
+    if (config.disableSanitizeHtml) {
+      result = renderTextPanelMarkdown(result, {
+        noSanitize: true,
+      });
+      return result;
+    }
+
+    result = renderTextPanelMarkdown(result);
+    return this.sanitizeString(result);
   }
 
-  interpolateAndSanitizeString(content: string): string {
+  interpolateString(content: string): string {
     const { replaceVariables } = this.props;
+    return replaceVariables(content, {}, 'html');
+  }
 
-    content = replaceVariables(content, {}, 'html');
-
-    return config.disableSanitizeHtml ? content : textUtil.sanitizeTextPanelContent(content);
+  sanitizeString(content: string): string {
+    return textUtil.sanitizeTextPanelContent(content);
   }
 
   processContent(options: PanelOptions): string {