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''Eurovision: You Decide'' is the most recent name of a

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television programme that was broadcast annually to select the United Kingdom's entry into the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. The show had previously gone under several other names, including ''Festival of British Popular Songs'' (1957), ''Eurovision Song Contest British Final'' (1959–1960), ''The Great British Song Contest'' (1996–1999), ''Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up'' (2004–2007), ''Eurovision: Your Decision'' (2008), and ''Eurovision: Your Country Needs You'' (2009–2010), but was known, for most of its history, as ''A Song for Europe'' (1961–1995, 2000–2003). The selection process, originally broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

, has varied between selecting both the performer and song, or just the song in some years. For most years the public has been able to vote for the winner, in the past with postcard voting, where the viewers sent postcards with their vote to the BBC, but more recently televoting and online. In 2009 and 2010, the singer was chosen by a public vote and the song internally selected. The most recent name and format was adopted in 2016, as between 2011 and 2015 the UK representation had been selected internally by the BBC, resulting in the televised selection show being suspended. On 30 September 2015, the BBC confirmed the show would return in 2016 and on 17 January 2016 that the national selection show would return and be called ''Eurovision: You Decide'' and broadcast on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

. On 9 December 2016, it was confirmed that ''Eurovision: You Decide'' would return on 27 January 2017 and, for the first time, would be aired on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

. The same format returned in 2018 and a modified version was used for the fourth edition in 2019, again broadcast live on BBC Two. The national selection shows have been hosted by a variety of presenters over the years.

Mel Giedroyc Melanie Clare Sophie Giedroyc (; , born 5 June 1968) is a British actress, comedian and television presenter. With Sue Perkins, she has co-hosted series including ''Light Lunch'' for Channel 4, ''The Great British Bake Off'' for the BBC and c ...

has hosted since its return in 2016, being joined by co-host

Måns Zelmerlöw Måns Petter Albert Sahlén Zelmerlöw (; born 13 June 1986) is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter and television presenter. He took part in '' Idol 2005'', eventually finishing fifth, won the first season of '' Let's Dance,'' and scored a hit w ...

from 2018 onwards. In September 2019, the ''You Decide'' format was scrapped in favor of a return to the internal selection method, in which

BBC Studios BBC Studios is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide. ...

partners with a music company ( BMG in 2020 and 2021, and TaP Music since 2022) to select and produce its entry.

History

Early days

The format of the show and the manner in which the winner is chosen has gone through many mutations. In its early days, there was a round of televised semi-finals, with the winner chosen by regional juries situated across the country. This format was used until 1960. During this era the show was known as the "Festival of British Popular Songs" (1957) and "Eurovision Song Contest British Finals" (1959 and 1960). In 1961 the show became known by its more familiar title, "A Song For Europe", with regional juries once more deciding the winner. Typically, during that period, singers would be invited by the

...
to choose and perform a song that they liked from the shortlist available. Household names such as

Petula Clark Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the ...

Lita Roza Lilian Patricia Lita Roza (14 March 1926 – 14 August 2008) was an English singer best known for her 1953 recording " (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?", which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. She was the first British woman to hav ...

, Anne Shelton,

Frank Ifield Francis Edward Ifield OAM (born 30 November 1937) is a British-Australian country music singer and guitarist who often incorporated yodelling into his music. After living in Australia, Ifield returned to the United Kingdom in November 1959 wher ...

Ronnie Hilton Ronnie Hilton (born Adrian Hill; 26 January 1926 – 21 February 2001) was an English singer and radio presenter. According to his obituary in ''The Guardian'' newspaper, "For a time Hilton was a star – strictly for home consumption – with ...

and

David Hughes David Hughes may refer to: Arts *Dave Hughes (born 1970), Australian comedian *Dave Hughes (producer), American television producer and editor *David Hughes (illustrator), British illustrator *David Hughes (Emmerdale), fictional character in the I ...

were amongst the contenders for the UK competition, none of whom were able to secure the much cherished ticket to the Eurovision final. In the early 1960s, record companies became involved in the selection process for the first time and submitted songs by their artists. This produced hits for

Craig Douglas Craig Douglas (born Terence Perkins, 13 August 1941) is an English pop singer, who was popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His sole UK chart-topper, " Only Sixteen" (1959), sold more copies in the UK than Sam Cooke's original version. C ...

Karl Denver Karl Denver (16 December 1931 – 21 December 1998) was a Scottish singer, who, with his trio had a series of UK hit singles in the early 1960s. Most famous of these was a 1961 version of " Wimoweh", which showed off Denver's falsetto yodel ...

, Jackie Lee,

Kenny Lynch Kenneth Lynch, OBE (18 March 1938 – 18 December 2019) was an English singer, songwriter, entertainer, and actor. He appeared in many variety shows in the 1960s. At the time, he was among the few black singers in British pop music. He was app ...

Vince Hill Vincent Hill (born 16 April 1934) is an English traditional pop music singer and songwriter who is best known for his recording of the Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune "Edelweiss" (1967), which reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart (staying ...

and Ricky Valance, but again, none of them were selected to go forward to the Eurovision Song Contest final itself. From 1964 up until 1975, an artist would be chosen by the BBC, and that artist would sing all six songs (five in 1966 and 1967) in the selection, and the public (bar 1964 and 1971) would choose by postcard which song they would like to represent them in the contest. Regional juries selected the winner in 1964. A postal strike in 1971 prevented the ballot from taking place, so regional juries were once again constructed to pick the winner. In 1972, national power cuts meant that the broadcast of the show was blacked out in many areas, leading to a much lower postal vote. In its early days of this format, only "light entertainment" singers were used, such as Kenneth McKellar and

Kathy Kirby Kathy Kirby (born Catherine Ethel O'Rourke; 20 October 1938 – 19 May 2011) was an English singer, reportedly the highest-paid female singer of her generation. She is best known for her cover version of Doris Day's " Secret Love" and for re ...

. However, the poor showing of McKellar in Luxembourg (he placed 9th of 18 entries with scores from only 2 countries, including top marks from Ireland) prompted the BBC to use more mainstream pop stars, which led to a run of successful results for the UK. This idea was dropped due to the low number of postal votes cast in the contest of 1975, in which all six songs were performed by

The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

, and after objections from songwriters who felt

, and the

...
's selections in general, were not the sort of artists they wanted to represent their music. After 1964, the "Song For Europe" selection process was incorporated into other

...
light entertainment shows, in addition to the songs being broadcast on BBC Radio programmes. Typically, the performer would sing one song a week either on their own series or as a guest on another regular

...
TV show, more often than not, televised on Saturdays. This culminated with the performer singing all the songs one after another in a special edition of the given show. From 1968 to 1975, these performances were then immediately repeated before viewers were asked to cast their votes by mail. The following week, the winning song would be announced and performed once more, although there was a two-week wait in 1965. In 1968,

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

performed the songs only in a special edition of

Cilla Black Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer, actress and television presenter. Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her ...

's eponymous TV series (broadcast on Tuesdays), without having sung them weekly beforehand. The various shows chosen for the "Song For Europe" performances were '' The Kathy Kirby Show'' (1965 shown on Fridays), ''Kenneth McKellar's A Song For Everyone'' (1966 shown on Thursdays), ''The Rolf Harris Show'' (1967), '' Cilla'' ( 1968 and 1973), ''

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'' ( 1969 and

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

), '' It's Cliff Richard!'' (

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

and

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

) and '' Clunk, Click... As It Happens'' (1974) – when in a break with the format,

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

performed three songs a week for two weeks rather than one a week for six weeks. Originally, Cilla Black's 1974 nine-part BBC series was also scheduled to feature the 'Song for Europe' process, but Black was uncomfortable at promoting another female singer (Newton-John) each week throughout the series' run and in a rather last minute decision, the BBC arranged to move the process to another show, necessitating the contracted process. This period was highly successful for the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest. Author and historian

John Kennedy O'Connor John Kennedy O'Connor (born 1964) is a television and radio broadcaster, author and entertainment commentator. He was born in North London, but is a naturalized citizen of the United States. He has written, reported and broadcast for numerous m ...

notes in his book ''The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History'', that every UK entry to the contest from 1967 to 1977 finished in the top four, with only three songs not being first or second.O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 Indeed, the UK were only 7 points short of four consecutive victories from 1967 to 1970.

1970s and 1980s

In 1976, the method used from 1961 – 1963 was reinstated. Twelve songs were performed by artists chosen by the songwriters themselves and the winner was chosen by regional juries across the country during a stand-alone show called "A Song For Europe". This system produced an immediate success by choosing the song which went on to be the Eurovision winner that year, "Save Your Kisses for Me" by

Brotherhood of Man Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer Tony Hiller, Brotherhood of Man was initia ...

. The first few years of the revamped format also saw a plethora of well-known names take part in the competition.

Tammy Jones Tammy Jones (born Helen Wyn Jones, 12 March 1944), is a singer from Bangor, Gwynedd, Bangor, North Wales. Musical career Jones began singing at an early age, winning many Eisteddfod competitions, and was soon established as a regular on both radio ...

, Sweet Sensation,

Lyn Paul Lyn Paul (born Lynda Susan Belcher; 16 February 1949) is an English pop singer and actress. She came to fame as a member of the international chart-topping pop group the New Seekers in the early 1970s. She has more recently found success and criti ...

Tony Monopoly Tony Monopoly (3 December 1944 – 21 March 1995) was an Australian-born cabaret singer and actor who enjoyed success in the United Kingdom. Born Antonio Rosario Monopoli in Adelaide, he was a regular on the national radio show, ''Kangaroos on ...

Carl Wayne Carl Wayne (born Colin David Tooley; 18 August 1943 – 31 August 2004) was an English singer and actor. He is best remembered as the lead singer of The Move in the 1960s. Early days Wayne was born in Winson Green, Birmingham, and grew up in ...

Hazell Dean Hazell Dean ( Poole; born 27 October 1952) is an English dance-pop singer, who achieved her biggest success in the 1980s as a leading Hi-NRG artist. She is best known for the top-ten hits in the United Kingdom "Searchin' (I Gotta Find a Man)", ...

Tony Christie Anthony Fitzgerald (born 25 April 1943), known professionally as Tony Christie, is an English musician, singer and actor. He is best known for his recording of "(Is This the Way To) Amarillo "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" is a song writt ...

The Foundations The Foundations were a British soul band (m. 1967–1970). The group's background was: West Indian, White British, and Sri Lankan. Their 1967 debut single " Baby Now That I've Found You" reached number one in the UK and Canada, and number e ...

Labi Siffre Claudius Afolabi Siffre (born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter and poet. Siffre released six albums between 1970 and 1975, and four between 1988 and 1998. His best known compositions include " It Must Be Love" which reached number 1 ...

Guys 'n' Dolls Guys 'n' Dolls were a UK pop group, initially comprising a three-girl/three-boy line-up and later becoming two-girl/two-boy. In the mid-1970s, they scored UK top-ten hits with the singles " There's a Whole Lot of Loving" and "You Don't Have to ...

The Nolan Sisters The Nolans are an Anglo-Irish girl group who formed in Blackpool in 1974 as the Nolan Sisters, before changing their name in 1980. Often referred to as Ireland's ''First Family of Music'', they were the first Irish performing family to achie ...

Polly Brown Polly Brown (born 18 April 1947), also known as Polly Browne, is an English singer from Birmingham. A member of Pickettywitch and Sweet Dreams - and with each group lead singer on a Top Ten hit, respectively "That Same Old Feeling" and "Honey H ...

and Sweet Dreams all took part in the competition, but none were successful. Likewise, the first two winners of the contest,

and Lynsey de Paul & Mike Moran, had many hits under their belts before attempting Eurovision. In 1977, a strike by

...
cameramen led to the contest being blacked out on TV, although the show went ahead and the audio portion was later broadcast on BBC Radio 2. The TV programme has never been broadcast and is not listed in the

...
archives, yet it was transmitted to the various regional juries in

...
studios around the country, in order for them to cast their votes. The 1979 "A Song For Europe" final was never held at all, due to a strike by BBC sound engineers. The juries had to judge using audio recordings of the rehearsals. The songs were presented to the public on

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekd ...

's radio show the following day, after the result was known, followed later in the day with a spot on the TV magazine show '' Nationwide'', where the top 5 were revealed and the winners,

Black Lace Black Lace are a British pop band, best known for novelty party records, including their biggest hit, " Agadoo". The band first came to the public eye after being selected to represent the UK in the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, in which they ...

, were interviewed as guests on the show. As a result of this industrial action, all future contests were staged at

...
studios and not as outside broadcasts from venues. The 1980 result ended in a tie between

Prima Donna In opera or commedia dell'arte, a prima donna (; Italian for "first lady"; plural: ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. ''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pers ...

's "Love Enough for Two" and

Maggie Moone Maggie Moone (Sandra Lippitt) is a British singer, best remembered for her role on the UK version of ''Name That Tune''. Sandra Lippitt was born in Birmingham, on 5 July 1953 to a fireman father. In 1978, Moone released "I'll Put You Together ...

's "Happy Everything". To resolve this, in an unrehearsed panic, host

called back the juries to announce their favourite of the two songs. This led to extreme confusion when the scoreboard failed to keep up and some juries contradicted the results they had given earlier. Prima Donna won, with eight juries to Maggie Moone's six. A detailed check of the votes after the show did confirm that Prima Donna were the correct winners. Prima Donna were the first winners of the competition specifically formed to take part in Eurovision. This became the norm in the 1980s and the artists taking part in the contest became more and more obscure and amateurish. However, a few notable acts did enter the contest in the 1980s, with scant success.

Liquid Gold Liquid Gold was an English disco group, from Brackley in Northamptonshire. Their biggest success came in 1980 with " Dance Yourself Dizzy", which peaked at number two on the UK chart. Career Liquid Gold was formed by Ray Knott and Ellie Hope, w ...

Alvin Stardust Bernard William Jewry (27 September 1942 – 23 October 2014), known professionally as Shane Fenton and later as Alvin Stardust, was an English rock singer and stage actor. Performing first as Shane Fenton in the 1960s, Jewry had a moderately s ...

Sinitta Sinitta Malone (born 19 October 1963), known mononymously as Sinitta, is an American-born British singer, actress and television personality. She initially found commercial success in the mid-1980s with the single "So Macho" and had several ot ...

and

all failed to come through the heats. By 1981, the number of songs had dropped to eight, and interest had started to wane. Four out of eight songs in both the 1982 and 1984 events were written by Paul Curtis, who was unsurprisingly responsible for the 1984 winner; "Love Games". Following

Belle & The Devotions Belle and the Devotions were a British pop group, ostensibly a group named after the singer Kit Rolfe. Under this name, she released the singles "Where Did Love Go Wrong?" and "Got to Let You Know" in 1983. In 1984, two other members, Laura Jam ...

' performance at the 1984 Eurovision contest in Luxembourg, the audience audibly booed them from the stage in an orchestrated demonstration against the song's supposed plagiarism, and by the local audience retaliating against a particularly shocking violent attack by English soccer fans. For 1985, the

...
wanted to revert to having one singer of their choice perform all the short listed songs and approached

Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer who is known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' a ...

and when she was unavailable,

Lena Zavaroni Lena Hilda Zavaroni (4 November 1963 – 1 October 1999) was a Scottish singer and a television show host. At ten years of age, with her album ''Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me)'', she was the youngest person in history to have an album in the top ...

for the task. However, the Music Publisher's Association blocked the move, wanting their members the choice of their own singers to represent their music. A compromise was reached and only solo artists or duets – no "made for Eurovision" acts – were permitted to take part in the 1985 UK selection process and limited two entries per songwriter. Despite this rule, both songs submitted by Paul Curtis reached the final eight. They reverted to allowing all-comers for 1986. Starting in 1985, the songs were also 'previewed' on

's prime time chat show on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

ahead of the final. When the series ended in 1992, the songs were presented in 1993 and 1994 in stand-alone programmes, hosted by Terry. The number of entries briefly increased to ten in 1987 when record companies were invited to submit songs, but after a poor result from

Rikki Rikki is a given name of feminine and masculine usage. It is of European, East Asian, and South Asian origins. Notable people with the name include: Rikki(born 1990), Jewish-American pop princess * Rikki (Japanese singer) (born 1975), Japanese fo ...

in the Eurovision final of 1987, the regional juries were disbanded, and the final decision given to the public through telephone voting, with a celebrity panel offering comments on the entries intended to guide viewers. This proved to be a relative success, accruing two second places and a sixth place (

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, 1990). However, a disappointing 10th place in Rome obtained by

Samantha Janus Samantha Zoe Womack (''née'' Janus; born 2 November 1972) is an English actress, singer, model and director who has worked in film, television and stage. Womack initially planned a career in singing and she represented the United Kingdom in ...

led the BBC to rethink the standard of performers in the competition.

1990s

As a result of the disappointing results in 1990 and 1991, the system that was used between 1964 and 1975 was resurrected, with the

...
's head of light entertainment, Jim Moir choosing one artist to perform all the songs in the UK final.

Michael Ball Michael Ashley Ball (born 27 June 1962) is an English singer, presenter and actor. He made his West End debut in 1985 playing Marius Pontmercy in the original London production of ''Les Misérables'', and went on to star in 1987 as Raoul in ...

was the first in 1992, and went on to win second place.

Sonia Sonia, Sonja or Sonya, a name of Greek origin meaning wisdom, may refer to: People * Sonia (name), a feminine given name (lists people named, Sonia, Sonja and Sonya) :* Sonia (actress), Indian film actress in Malayalam and Tamil films :* Sonia ...

was also second the following year. However, after a suggestion by Don Black to the

...
's new head of light entertainment

David Liddiment David Liddiment (born 20 September 1952) is Creative Director of the independent production company All3Media. He is also an associate of The Old Vic Theatre Company and a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Cor ...

in 1994,

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

winning stage star

Frances Ruffelle Frances Ruffelle (born 29 August 1965) is an English musical theatre actress and singer. She won a Tony Award in 1987, and represented the United Kingdom in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Lonely Symphony (We Will Be Free)", ...

was offered the job of representing the UK. A virtually unknown singer, unsurprisingly, interest was low. Her final position in the Eurovision Song Contest held in Dublin was a disappointing tenth, the same achieved by

in 1991. A dramatic modernisation was introduced in 1995 in an attempt to boost the profile of the contest.

Jonathan King Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...

was drafted in as Executive Producer to make the event more modern. The 1995 event had a diverse range of songs and some relatively well-known acts performing, such as

Londonbeat Londonbeat is a British dance-pop band who scored a number of pop and dance hits in the early 1990s. Band members are American Jimmy Helms (who also had a successful solo career and sang radio jingles for Radio Hallam and Hereward Radio in the ...

who had a hit with "

I've Been Thinking About You "I've Been Thinking About You" is a song by British-American band Londonbeat from their second studio album, '' In the Blood'' (1990), produced by record producer Martyn Phillips. It was written by band members Jimmy Chambers, George Chandler, ...

", pop-combo

Deuce Deuce, Deuces, or The Deuce may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Deuce, in the ''Danger Girl'' comic book series * Deuce, a character in ''Shake It Up'' * Deuce, in the ''Wild Cards'' science fiction universe * Deuce Biga ...

and

Sox Sox most often refers to: * Boston Red Sox, an MLB team * Chicago White Sox, an MLB team * An alternate spelling of socks Sox may also refer to: Places * SOX, Sogamoso Airport's IATA airport code, an airport in Colombia Computing and technolo ...

, which featured singer and former Page 3 icon

Samantha Fox Samantha Karen Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English pop singer and former glamour model from East London. She rose to public attention aged 16, when her mother entered her photographs in an amateur modelling contest run by ''The Sunday Peopl ...

. All songs were presented on a special edition of ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' prior to the live final. On the night, the well-known artists were all beaten by rap act Love City Groove, whose eponymous song could only manage a disappointing tenth in Dublin that year. On a positive note, the songs by Love City Groove and

("I Need You") made the top 10 in the UK singles charts, reaching #7 and #10 respectively, while three other entries – Dear Jon "One Gift of Love" at #68,

"I'm Just Your Puppet on A... (String!)" at #55 and

"Go for the Heart" at #47 – all reached the UK top 100. In 1996, a semi-final was reintroduced for the first time since 1960 and the show's name was changed to ''The Great British Song Contest''. All eight songs were performed on ''

'' on 1 March, and the public voted to decide the four finalists. The results were announced the following day, but there was no information given on who finished where. On 8 March the final was held, with

Gina G Gina G (born Gina Mary Gardiner, 3 August 1970) is an Australian singer who represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1996, with the song " Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit", which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart. The ...

winning very easily with her dance number " Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit". The song became an instant hit in the charts, reaching Number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. It was the first UK non-winner to do so since 1968 but it was not as successful in the Eurovision Contest itself. In

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Gina could only manage eighth place, but was perhaps consoled by her Europe-wide hit with the song, which also became one of the few Eurovision songs, and one of the relatively few dance songs, to be a major hit in the United States where it peaked at #12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, was #1 on their Dance Chart and earned a

Grammy nomination The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

for Best Dance Recording. Jonathan King resigned, certain that, if Gina G couldn't win, nothing he selected could, but the BBC persuaded him to stay in charge and he decided to retain the same formula again, but with an added twist. All eight contestants would be heard on

Ken Bruce Kenneth Robertson Bruce (born 2 February 1951) is a British broadcaster who is best known for hosting his long-running weekday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 from 1986 to 1990, and then again since 1992. Early life and career Bruce was born a ...

's radio show on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

, with a public vote to decide the four finalists. The four would perform on ''

The National Lottery Live ''The National Lottery Results'' (previously ''The National Lottery Live'', ''The National Lottery Draw'', ''The National Lottery Stars'' and ''The National Lottery Draws'') is the television programme that broadcasts the drawing of the Natio ...

'' until 1998, and then on ''

'' in 1999. The final itself would just consist of repeats of the performances made in the above shows, in a special programme on a Sunday afternoon. Jonathan persuaded his friends Katrina and

Kimberley Rew Kimberley Charles Rew (born 3 December 1951) is an English rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as a member of Katrina and the Waves from 1981 to 1999 and of Robyn Hitchcock's Soft Boys from 1978 to 1981. Two of his better-kno ...

, who had hit with " Walking on Sunshine", to enter a new track, "

Love Shine A Light "Love Shine a Light" is a song by British rock band Katrina and the Waves. It represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997. It was released as a single on 28 April 1997 and was later included on the band's ninth studio a ...

". This produced a win in the Eurovision Contest itself for the United Kingdom and for Katrina and the Waves in 1997, and followed with a second place for

Imaani Imaani Saleem (born Melonie Crosdale on 1 January 1972) is an English singer, best known for representing the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 in Birmingham with the song " Where Are You". The song placed second in the contest ...

in 1998, but disappointment in 1999 for the

all-female band An all-female band is a musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed. While ...

Precious.

2000s

In 2000, the same format continued, but the final four songs were performed live in ''A Song For Europe'', still shunted to a graveyard Sunday afternoon slot. The result proved disappointing.

Nicki French Nicki is a given name, and may refer to: Film and television * Nicki Aycox (1975-2022), American actress best known for her roles as Syl on the series ''Dark Angel'' and Stella Vessey on the dramedy ''Ed'' * Nicki Chapman (born 1967), English tel ...

gave what author

describes in his book ''The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History'' as a far from strong performance, despite her previous chart success and attained the UK's worst ever placing at the time, a mere 16th in Stockholm with " Don't Play That Song Again". This format continued the following year, and another poor showing for the UK. Lindsay D only got one place higher in Copenhagen. The entries from Six Chix in 2000 and Luke Galliana, the latter of which didn't make the 2001 final, became minor hits, with Galliana just failing to make the Top 40, but becoming a popular hit on cable request line music channel The Box. The 2002 ''A Song For Europe'' generated a lot of publicity, because three of the four acts that made the final were relatively well known to TV viewers, albeit not necessarily for their singing ability. Surf 'n' Turf included Jonathan Maitland who is a TV presenter of consumer advice shows such as ''

Watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watch Dog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet ...

'' and ''

House of Horrors ''House of Horrors'' is a 1946 American horror film released by Universal Pictures, starring Rondo Hatton as a madman named "the Creeper". Plot Struggling sculptor Marcel de Lange (Martin Kosleck) is depressed about events in his life, and d ...

''.

Tricia Penrose Patricia "Tricia" Penrose (born 9 April 1970) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Gina Ward in ITV's long-running 1960s drama '' Heartbeat'', a role she played continuously for 17 years from 1993 to 2010. She ha ...

is an actress who plays Gina in the 60s retro drama '' Heartbeat'' on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, and

Jessica Garlick Jessica Julie Anne Garlick (born 1981) is an English-born Welsh pop singer. Garlick made her first steps into show business when she was 16. At that age, she won the Welsh final of BBC One's talent show '' Star for a Night''. The same year she a ...

had made the final stages of another ITV show ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

''. The standard of songs was stronger than previous years, and Jessica Garlick had a runaway victory of nearly 70,000 votes with her ballad " Come Back". The song was also a success in Eurovision with it finishing joint third with host country

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. 2003 saw terrible disappointment. The new voting system of regional televoting, where 9, 10 and 12 points were awarded to the top three songs, led to an unsuccessful winner.

Jemini Jemini were a British pop music, pop group from Liverpool, best known for scoring ''nul points'' and finishing in last place at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with "Cry Baby (Jemini song), Cry Baby". Early career Chris Cromby and Gemma Abbey ...

's " Cry Baby" won by four points over "Help Me" by Emily Reed. Confidence in the UK entry was low for both fans and the public, and in the actual contest held in Riga, Jemini picked up the UK's worst-ever showing, scoring "nul points" and finishing last, due to a very poor performance, although some reports attempted to blame European disapproval of the US-UK invasion of Iraq for the failure of any nation to give the UK even one point. As noted by author and historian

, with 26 entries in the Eurovision field, this made "Cry Baby" the least successful song in the entire history of the contest. No song in the Eurovision final scored "nul points" again until 2015. The 2004 selection was totally different and had a hugely increased budget. Gone was the ''Song For Europe'' name, replaced with ''Making Your Mind Up''. The radio semi-final was also gone, although the songs were presented on a regular edition of ''Top of the Pops'' two weeks prior to the live final. The six songs were performed live in a prime time Saturday night show hosted by Terry Wogan and

Gaby Roslin Gaby Roslin (born 12 July 1964) is an English television and radio presenter who rose to fame co-presenting ''The Big Breakfast'' on Channel 4 between 1992 and 1996. Roslin also presented the '' Children in Need'' charity telethons on the BBC ...

with additional programmes on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

hosted by

Paddy O'Connell Guy Patrick O'Connell (born 11 March 1966 in Guildford, Surrey) is an English television and radio presenter, working mainly for the BBC. He presents BBC Radio 4's '' Broadcasting House'' programme each Sunday morning. He is also an occasiona ...

and

Lorraine Kelly Lorraine Kelly, (born 30 November 1959) is a Scottish journalist and television presenter. She has presented various television shows for ITV, including '' Good Morning Britain'' (1988–1992), '' GMTV'' (1993–2010), ''This Morning'' (2003 ...

. Last year's ESC winner

Sertab Erener Sertab Erener (born 4 December 1964) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. With her coloratura soprano voice, she started working as a backing vocalist for Sezen Aksu, and with Aksu's help she released her first studio album in the 1990 ...

performed "

Everyway That I Can "Everyway That I Can" is the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 sung in English by Sertab Erener for . The song was written by Demir Demirkan in early 2003 and produced and arranged by Ozan Çolakoğlu, famous for his works with pop ...

" to open the show. This raised the profile of the competition, although there was criticism of the fact that four of the six acts were from reality TV shows. The winner, chosen by 70% regional televoting (regions awarding 0,2,4,6,8 and 12 points) and 30% SMS and Interactive voting, was

James Fox William Fox (born 19 May 1939), known professionally as James Fox, is an English actor. He appeared in several notable films of the 1960s and early 1970s, including '' King Rat'', ''The Servant'', ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' and ''Performanc ...

, who had finished fifth in the second series of ''

Fame Academy ''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner received a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known under va ...

'', with a gentle ballad "Hold on To Our Love", written by Gary Miller and Tim Woodcock. Viewing figures were peaked at over 7 million for the results show. The song finished 16th at the contest in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. For 2005, six songs dropped to five, and the show was moved to an early Saturday evening slot on 5 March, to avoid a clash with '' Comic Relief Does Fame Academy''; and

Natasha Kaplinsky Natasha Margaret Kaplinsky (born 9 September 1972)The Donor, News and information for blood donors, Winter 2009, National Blood Service, England, page 55 is an English newsreader, TV presenter and journalist, best known for her roles as a st ...

replaced Gaby Roslin as co-host with Sir Terry Wogan. The press focused on two performers.

Javine Hylton Javine Dionne Hylton (born 27 December 1981), often known simply as Javine, is an English singer and songwriter. She represented the UK at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv with " Touch My Fire". Hylton has also had a string of singles ...

who is a relatively well-known urban singer, and

Katie Price Katrina Amy Alexandra Alexis Price (''née'' Infield; born 22 May 1978) is an English media personality and model. She gained recognition in the late 1990s for her Glamour photography, glamour modelling work and had regular appearances on Pag ...

, aka Jordan, a famous glamour model. The other contestants included former 3SL bandmember

Andy Scott-Lee Andy Scott-Lee (born Robert Andrew Jason Scott-Lee; 29 March 1980) is a Welsh singer and the brother of Steps singer Lisa Scott-Lee. Career Music Scott-Lee was a member of the group 3SL, who had UK top 20 singles with "Take It Easy" and "Touc ...

, the 1996 British Eurovision entry

and unknown opera trio Tricolore. The voting itself was the same format as the previous year, but this time an online jury was added to decide between the contestants to take account of the views of those watching in the rest of Europe to get a sense of how the songs would fare at the Contest. After an exciting voting sequence, Javine came out on top with her ethno-urban song " Touch My Fire", although she also caused some controversy when she briefly fell out of her top during an energetic dance routine. At the 50th Eurovision Song Contest held in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, Javine finished 22nd out of 24 participants in the final, the UK's second poorest finish ever. In February 2006 it was announced that artists competing in the 2006 contest would include

Kym Marsh Kimberley Gail Ratcliff (''née'' Marsh, previously Ryder and Lomas; born 13 June 1976) is an English actress, television presenter and singer. In 2001, she won a place in the band Hear'Say as a result of appearing on the reality television ser ...

and

Antony Costa Antony Daniel Costa (born 23 June 1981) is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as a member of the boy band Blue. Early life Costa was born in Edgware, North London, Costa attended Hendon School in nearby Barnet. He is half-Greek ...

, both relatively well known in the UK for their past involvement with music bands (the former appearing in

Hear'say Hear'Say were a British pop group. They were created through the ITV reality TV show '' Popstars'' in February 2001, the first UK series of the international '' Popstars'' franchise. The group, who were signed to Polydor Records, originally ...

and the latter in boy band

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

). Following the format of the previous year (and with six songs this time), ''Making Your Mind Up'' returned in 2006 in a prime-time Saturday evening slot, and was broadcast on 4 March on

and

once again presented and were accompanied by a 'Celebrity Jury' that included chat-show host

Jonathan Ross Jonathan Stephen Ross (born 17 November 1960) is an English broadcaster, film critic, comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He presented the BBC One chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' during the 2000s, hosted his own radio show on ...

, pop star

Kelly Osbourne Kelly Michelle Lee Osbourne (born 27 October 1984) is an English television personality, singer, actress, model, and fashion designer. The daughter of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, she appeared on the reality show ''The Osbournes'' (2002–2005) w ...

and ''

'' presenter

Fearne Cotton Fearne Wood ( Cotton; born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author''.'' She began her career in the late 1990s presenting various children's television shows for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. In 2007, she presented '' The Xtra Factor'', ...

. The eventual winner of the 2006 contest (after the 7 tele-juries from around the UK and mobile and web votes) was

Daz Sampson Darren "Daz" Sampson (born 28 November 1974) is a British professional football manager/scout, music producer and broadcaster. Sampson is known for his commercial dance music as part of several groups and his television appearances. He has had n ...

and his song "Teenage Life". Although it brought another disappointing result for the United Kingdom, with Daz finishing 19th in the contest out of 24 competing countries, the following week his single reached Number 8 in the UK charts. During a press conference on 28 February 2007, the BBC confirmed that the artists taking part in ''Making Your Mind Up'' would include

Big Brovaz Big Brovaz (pronounced as "brothers") are an R&B and hip hop music group from London, England. In their seven-year career they released two studio albums and eight singles. There were three line-up changes with two of the original members le ...

, an

RnB Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

group who had 4 UK Top 10 singles in 2002–2003, Brian Harvey, a former member of the boy band

East 17 East 17 are an English pop boy band started by Tony Mortimer, Brian Harvey, John Hendy, and Terry Coldwell in 1991. As of 2020, the group consists of Coldwell, Robbie Craig, and Joe Livermore. East 17 have undergone multiple lineup changes, ...

; Cyndi;

Justin Hawkins Justin David Hawkins (born 17 March 1975) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and YouTube personality best known for being the founder, lead singer, and lead guitarist of The Darkness. He was influenced by rock bands of the 1970s and ...

of The Darkness, performing a duet with Beverlei Brown;

Liz McClarnon Elizabeth Margaret McClarnon (born 10 April 1981) is an English pop singer, songwriter, dancer, television presenter and actress. She is the longest serving member of the girl group Atomic Kitten, with whom she has scored three number-one single ...

, formerly of

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

Atomic Kitten Atomic Kitten is an English girl group formed in Liverpool in 1998, whose current members are Liz McClarnon, Jenny Frost and Natasha Hamilton. The group was founded by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) members Andy McCluskey and Stuart K ...

; and

Scooch Scooch is a British pop group, comprising performers Natalie Powers, Caroline Barnes, David Ducasse and Russ Spencer. Scooch represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki with their song " Flying the Flag (Fo ...

, the eventual winners with "

Flying the Flag (for You) "Flying the Flag (For You)" is a song performed by British pop/bubblegum dance group Scooch. The official single version was available from 30 April 2007 and was released as a physical CD single in the following week, on 7 May 2007. The song de ...

". Scooch sang their entry in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

on 12 May 2007 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland and finished in second-to-last place with 19 points, ahead of Ireland who placed last. For the first time, the show was filmed at

The Maidstone Studios The Maidstone Studios, formerly called TVS Television Centre, is the UK's largest independent television studio complex, and is based at Vinters Park in Maidstone, Kent, UK. It has been home to a varied selection of independent British televisi ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. The hour long final was broadcast at 7:30pm on 17 March 2007 on BBC One, with the half hour results show showing at 9:30pm on the same date. Although this was past the 12 March cut-off set by the EBU, the BBC were given a special extension because the EBU were made aware of this over a year in advance. The show ended in disarray when

shouted out that the winner was Scooch, while co-host

simultaneously announced the winner to be Cyndi. After some confusion from both performers, each thinking the other had won, it was revealed that the true winner was Scooch. In 2008 the show's name was changed to ''Eurovision: Your Decision''. It was screened in two parts in March 2008, and was hosted by

Claudia Winkleman Claudia Anne Irena Winkleman (born 15 January 1972) is an English television presenter, radio personality, film critic and journalist. Between 2004 and 2010, she presented '' Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two'' on weeknights on BBC Two. Since ...

and Sir

. The six competing acts were paired as girl groups ( LoveShy and

The Revelations The Revelations were a British-based girl group formed in 2005. The members are Annika Magnberg (born ''c''. 1982), Sarah Vitorino (born ''c''. 1985), and Louise Masters (born ''c''. 1982). Magnberg came to the UK from Sweden. Their own record ...

), soloists (

Michelle Gayle Michelle Patricia Gayle (born 2 February 1971) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and writer. Gayle had success as a soul and R&B singer in the 1990s, having achieved seven top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart. These include "Sweetness" ...

and

Andy Abraham Andrew Abraham (born 17 July 1964) is a British singer. He was the runner-up in the second UK series of TV talent show ''The X Factor'' in 2005 to Shayne Ward, and also represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Before ...

), and "Joseph and Maria" contestants (Rob McVeigh and Simona Armstrong) from the BBC talent shows '' Any Dream Will Do'' and '' How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?''. A panel of three judges (

John Barrowman John Scot Barrowman (born 11 March 1967) is a Scottish-American actor, author, presenter, singer and comic book writer. He is known for his role as Captain Jack Harkness in '' Doctor Who'' and ''Torchwood'', and as Malcolm Merlyn in the Arrow ...

Carrie Grant Caroline Vanessa Grant, (''née'' Gray, born 17 August 1965) is an English vocal coach, television presenter and session singer. Career Grant is known for her work on the television talent contests ''Fame Academy'', '' Comic Relief Does Fame A ...

, and Terry Wogan) decided which artists to put through to a semi-final after each pair had performed. Terry Wogan then allowed one of the rejected acts through as a "wild card" before viewers were invited to vote by phone to decide which two would perform again in the final. The two finalists chosen by the viewers were Michelle Gayle singing " Woo (You Make Me)", and Andy Abraham singing " Even If". Despite having been originally eliminated at the first stage, Terry Wogan's "wild card" pick turned out to be the winner when the viewers voted Andy Abraham the victor with " Even If". This received a total of 14 points in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

on 24 May 2008 in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, finishing in last place, although sharing the same score with Poland (24th) and Germany (23rd). The

...
announced in a televised call for talent on 18 October 2008, that in 2009 there would be another change to the national final. The show was renamed ''Eurovision: Your Country Needs You'', hosted by

Graham Norton Graham William Walker (born 4 April 1963), better known by his stage name Graham Norton, is an Irish actor, author, comedian, commentator, and presenter. Well known for his work in the UK, he is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for his comedy ...

, and followed a format similar to popular BBC talent shows '' I'd Do Anything'' and '' Any Dream Will Do''. The multi-week format had members of the public (amateur or professional) compete to represent the UK at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

, which was to be held in Moscow, Russia. In the final the three remaining contestants performed the song " It's My Time", composed by

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

with lyrics by

Diane Warren Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She has received several awards including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three ''Billboard'' Music Awards and an Honorary Academy Award. Wa ...

. The winner of the contest was

Jade Ewen Jade Louise Ewen (born 24 January 1988) is a British singer, actress and a former member of the girl group Sugababes. She began her singing career in a girl group named Trinity Stone, which signed with Sony BMG in 2005 but disbanded in 2007 wit ...

who went on to score a credible fifth place at the Eurovision final in Moscow.

2010s

For 2010, the BBC announced on 29 January 2010, that songwriter and music producer

Pete Waterman Peter Alan Waterman, (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterm ...

would be writing the UK's entry for the

in Oslo, Norway, on 29 May. Waterman's writing partner was Mike Stock and the singer was chosen on 12 March, in a live show featuring six potential artists broadcast on BBC One, hosted by Graham Norton. Waterman chose three of the six acts to perform his song "

That Sounds Good To Me "That Sounds Good to Me" is a song written and composed by Pete Waterman, Mike Stock (musician), Mike Stock and Steve Crosby that finished last when it represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 held in Oslo, Norway. The ...

", with the televiewers then selecting the winner. The winner was

Josh Dubovie Josh James Dubovie (; born 27 November 1990) is a British singer. Dubovie is most notable for having represented the UK at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Oslo, Norway, in May 2010, after winning the UK national selection competitio ...

, who represented the UK in Oslo on 29 May and finished last with 10 points. The 2010 song was heavily criticised by fans and the media. Celebrity gossip blogger Christopher Couture went as far as to say "...last year, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jade Ewen proved a good song and a good singer can get us a good score. This year, we're back to the bottom of the leaderboard as Pete 'stuck in the 80's' Waterman offers a song that even

Butlins Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...

would call tacky." On 29 January 2011, the BBC confirmed that boy band

had been chosen to represent the UK in the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

contest in Düsseldorf with the composition " I Can"
written by Duncan James, Lee Ryan, Ciaron Bell, Ben Collier, Ian Hope, Liam Keenan and 'StarSign'. Band member

had tried to represent the UK in 2006 as a soloist, placing second in the heat behind

. Other Blue personnel

Lee Ryan Lee Ryan (born 17 June 1983) is an English singer, songwriter and actor, best known as a member of the boy band Blue. Ryan took part in the BBC series ''Strictly Come Dancing''. He was partnered with professional dancer Nadiya Bychkova and was ...

had written one of the finalists in the 2005 UK heat and

Duncan James Duncan James (born Duncan Inglis, 7 April 1978) is an English singer and actor. He became widely known in 2001 as a member of the boy band Blue (English group), Blue and later for playing Ryan Knight (Hollyoaks), Ryan Knight in the British soap ...

was a panellist in the 2009 heat, going on to announce the UK scores at the Eurovision final from Moscow. James posted in a separate Twitter message that they have pre-selected their own song. The process thus excludes the UK viewing public from any participation in the British Eurovision selection for the first time. Blue became the first UK representatives since

in 1975 to have had multiple No.1 singles in the UK chart prior to appearing in Eurovision, and the first since

in 1993 to have had a chart-topper at all. A documentary entitled '' Eurovision: Your Country Needs Blue'' was produced for BBC One broadcast on Saturday 16 April 2011. The group placed 11th at the Eurovision final with 100 points and peaked at no.16 in the UK singles chart. For 2012, Engelbert Humperdinck was selected internally by the BBC to represent the UK in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

with the song "

Love Will Set You Free "Love Will Set You Free" is a ballad written by Swedish producer Martin Terefe and Ivor Novello Awards winner Sacha Skarbek. As sung by Engelbert Humperdinck, it was the United Kingdom entry to the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Baku, ...

". The song is written by Grammy award-winning producer Martin Terefe and Ivor Novello winner Sacha Skarbek, who co-wrote

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After l ...

hit "

You're Beautiful "You're Beautiful" is a song by English singer-songwriter James Blunt. It was written by Blunt, Sacha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost for Blunt's debut album, ''Back to Bedlam'' (2004). It was released as the third single of the album in 2005. In th ...

". It was reportedly recorded in London, Los Angeles and Nashville. At 76 years of age, Humperdinck was the oldest artist ever to appear for the UK at the

and the first UK artist since 1976 to sing first. He placed second-to-last, only beating Norway. Another internal selection took place for 2013, with

being chosen by the BBC to represent the UK in Malmö, Sweden. She came 19th in the Eurovision contest. A fourth internal selection followed in 2014, with

Molly Smitten-Downes Molly Alice Smitten-Downes (born 2 April 1987), known by her mononym Molly, is an English singer and songwriter. Early life Born in Anstey, Leicestershire, Molly grew up in Rothley and attended Our Lady's Convent School in Loughborough. She ...

, under her artist name of Molly, being chosen to represent the UK with the song " Children of the Universe", written and composed by Smitten-Downes herself. However, Smitten-Downes was an unknown artist who was chosen through the

BBC Introducing BBC Music ''Introducing'' is BBC Radio's platform supporting unsigned, undiscovered, and under-the-radar UK music talent. It gives artists the opportunity to be played on Local BBC Radio and nationally on BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, 6 ...

scheme. The announcement of the selected artist and song was revealed on 3 March 2014 in a show entitled ''The UK Launch'', and broadcast via the

BBC Red Button BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to cl ...

service. The song finished in 17th place at the Eurovision Song Contest. A fifth internal selection in 2015 selected the unknown act '

Electro Velvet Electro Velvet are a British vocal duo that represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song " Still in Love with You" finishing 24th. The duo consist of Alex Larke and Bianca Nicholas. Career Early beginnings Nic ...

' who went on to represent the UK with the song " Still in Love with You". The song was met with a mixed to negative reaction by the media and public. The artists and song were presented to the public in a special presentation show titled ''Our Song for Eurovision 2015'' broadcast via the BBC Red Button service in March 2015. In the final the UK could only manage 24th place out of the 27 entries. The BBC announced on 30 September 2015 that the national public vote format would be returning for the 2016 contest. The 2016 competition consisted of six entrants, performed and broadcast live on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

from The O2 Forum in

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the ope ...

, London on 26 February and hosted by

. The six acts were selected by the UK branch of the international

OGAE The (OGAE) () is a non-governmental and non-profit international organisation, consisting of 42 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs from across Europe and beyond. It was founded in 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jaripekka Koikkalainen. Four non-p ...

fan club, the

British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors The Ivors Academy (formerly the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors – BASCA) is one of the largest professional associations for music writers in Europe. The academy exists to support, protect, and campaign for the interests ...

(BASCA) and Hugh Goldsmith, former MD of

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

and founder of

Innocent Records Innocent Records was a pop record label created to cater to for EMI's Virgin Records more pop oriented acts. Following the success of the Spice Girls, Virgin Records decided to delve into the pop market. In doing so they poached Hugh Goldsmi ...

. The six competing songs were premiered during ''

The Ken Bruce Show Kenneth Robertson Bruce (born 2 February 1951) is a British broadcaster who is best known for hosting his long-running weekday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 from 1986 to 1990, and then again since 1992. Early life and career Bruce was born a ...

'' on

on 22 February 2016. " You're Not Alone" performed by

Joe and Jake Joe and Jake are a British duo consisting of Joe Woolford and Jake Shakeshaft. They represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm with the song " You're Not Alone". In 2015 they both participated in the fourth ...

won the national final; 746,000 viewers watched the show either live or within 7 days of its broadcast, making it the third highest rating program for BBC Four in the week ending 28 February 2016. The duo placed 24th out of 26 entries at the Eurovision final in Stockholm, peaking at No.81 in the UK singles chart. On 6 October 2016, the BBC announced that the ''You Decide'' show would return in 2017 with more details to be announced later in the year. On 9 December 2016, it was confirmed that ''Eurovision: You Decide'' would return on 27 January 2017. The 2017 competition consisted of six entrants, performed and broadcast live on

from the

Eventim Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ham ...

, in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, London. The songs were revealed on 23 January during ''The Ken Bruce Show'' on BBC Radio 2. Six acts competed in the national final. The winner was selected through a public vote and, for the first time, the votes of a professional jury panel.

Lucie Jones Lucie Bethan Jones (born 20 March 1991) is a Welsh singer, musical theatre actress, and model. Jones first came to prominence while competing on series 6 of ''The X Factor UK'' in 2009, where she finished eighth. She represented the United Ki ...

with the song " Never Give Up on You", written by Lawrie Martin, The Treatment and Danish Eurovision 2013 winner

Emmelie de Forest Emmelie Charlotte-Victoria de Forest (born 28 February 1993) is a Danish singer and songwriter. De Forest represented Denmark with the song " Only Teardrops" in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden, winning the contest. Her debut ...

, won the show. At the contest in Kyiv, Jones finished in 15th place, having placed 10th on jury votes alone, but attaining a weak score from public voting. On 29 September 2017, it was confirmed that ''Eurovision: You Decide'' would return in 2018 on BBC Two. On 16 November 2017,

was announced as co-host for the UK national selection, which took place on 7 February 2018 at the

Brighton Dome The Brighton Dome is an arts venue in Brighton, England, that contains the Concert Hall, the Corn Exchange and the Studio Theatre (formerly the Pavilion Theatre). All three venues are linked to the rest of the Royal Pavilion Estate by a tunnel t ...

. The Dome was the venue for the

Eurovision Song Contest 1974 The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Brighton, United Kingdom and was organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporati ...

. The contest was won by SuRie performing "

Storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmos ...

" written and composed by Nicole Blair, Gil Lewis and Sean Hargreaves. The national final was watched by 900,000 viewers in the United Kingdom with a market share of 4.8% and thus failed to register in the Top 30 programmes viewed on BBC Two for the week. At the contest, the song placed 24th, but became infamous for its performance being disrupted at the live Grand Final in Lisbon by a stage invader. Song submissions for the 2019 edition opened on 19 September 2018. On 30 November, the BBC announced that a new format would be used for 2019. Three songs, selected with the help of an international jury, were each performed in two musically different styles by two different artists, with one act from each pair going through to a final public vote. For the first time, the national final was broadcast live from Dock10,

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by Peel Media; its principal tenants are media organisations and the Quayside MediaCi ...

in Salford. On 11 January, the date of the national final was confirmed as 8 February. Michael Rice's rendition of " Bigger than Us", written and composed by Laurell Barker, Anna-Klara Folin,

John Lundvik John Lundvik (; born 27 January 1983) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and former sprinter. He was part of the athletic team for IFK Växjö. Lundvik also has a singing and songwriter career having composed songs for films and the Wedding of ...

and Jonas Thander, won the national final. However, the song finished last in the Grand Final in Tel Aviv, making it the fourth time in the past 16 years that the United Kingdom has finished at the bottom of the scoreboard.

2020s

On 16 September 2019, it was announced that ''You Decide'' had been axed and that the song selection would return to the internal selection format most recently used between 2011 and 2015. The entry for the 2020 contest was chosen in collaboration with BMG. It was announced on 27 February 2020 that James Newman would represent the UK with the song "

My Last Breath "My Last Breath" is a song by James Newman that would have represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam. It serves as the lead single from Newman's debut EP ''The Things We Do''. The song was released as a dig ...

", however the contest was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On 19 February 2021, BBC confirmed that Newman will represent the United Kingdom in the 2021 contest. The BBC also announced the renewed collaboration between

and record label BMG. The song "

Embers ''Embers'' is a radio play by Samuel Beckett. It was written in English in 1957. First broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 24 June 1959, the play won the RAI prize at the Prix Italia awards later that year. Donald McWhinnie directed Jack ...

" was released and published by BMG and was revealed in March 2021. Newman went on to place last in the Eurovision final, scoring no points from either the jury or the televote. On 21 October 2021, it was confirmed that BBC Studios would partner with TaP Music to select and produce its entry for the 2022 contest, and that the UK's television coverage would be produced and broadcast from

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, with the points awarded by the UK jury announced live from Dock10 studios. The song "

Space Man "Space Man" is a song by the British singer and songwriter Sam Ryder, released as a single on 22 February 2022 through Parlophone Records. It represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, after being intern ...

" performed by

Sam Ryder Sam Ryder Robinson (born 25 June 1989) is a British singer, songwriter, producer, composer and social media personality. He rose to prominence in 2020, after posting music covers on TikTok, during the first UK lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic ...

was revealed as the UK entry on 10 March 2022. Ryder finished in second place at the Eurovision final with 466 points, becoming the highest-scoring UK Eurovision entrant. He won the jury vote and also scored the UK its best result since 1998 and its first top three since 2002. Ryder also won the

Marcel Bezençon Marcel Bezençon (; 1 May 1907 – 17 February 1981) was a Swiss journalist, media executive and the director of the European Broadcasting Union between 1954 and 1970. In 1955, he conceived the idea of the Eurovision Song Contest, based on the fa ...

Press Award, becoming the first UK act to win a Bezençon Award.

Contestants

Winners

For UK Singles Chart positions, only tracks that have appeared in the officially recognised and published Top 50 (to 1978), Top 75 (to 2012) and Top 100 (from 2012) are included. Any track that fell below the published threshold was not a UK chart hit.

''Festival of British Popular Songs'' (1957)

''Eurovision Song Contest British Final'' (1959–1960)

''A Song for Europe'' (1961–1995)

''The Great British Song Contest'' (1996–1999)

''A Song for Europe'' (2000–2003)

''Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up'' (2004–2007)

''Eurovision: Your Decision'' (2008)

''Eurovision: Your Country Needs You'' (2009–2010)

Internal selection (2011–2015)

''Eurovision: You Decide'' (2016–2019)

Internal selection (2020–present)

Broadcast

From 1964 to 1975, the ''Song For Europe'' programme was pre-recorded, often several weeks in advance. The result was typically broadcast one week after each ''Song For Europe'' programme. From 1988 to 1991, in 1995, and again from 2004 to 2008 the result was broadcast in a separate programme, shown later the same night as the performances. From 1986 to 1995, ''A Song For Europe'' was also broadcast on

with commentary by Ray Moore in 1986–87 and later by

from 1988, although Radio 2 did not broadcast the results show from 1991 onwards. From 1992 to 1994 the programme was again pre-recorded, but the result show was live and broadcast on the same, or following night. In 1997 and 1998, the results were announced the next Saturday after the final and on the following Friday in 1999. From 1957 to 1960, there were various televised semi-finals ahead of the UK final. This was reintroduced in 1996, with a preliminary round of voting to eliminate 4 of the 8 songs. This was televised in 1996 but switched to radio from 1997 to 2003.

Host(s) and venue

Guest commentators, panellists and judges

Featured in 1988–1990, 1994–1995, 2004–2010 and 2016–2019.

Regional vote announcers

Featured in 1957, 1959 to 1964, 1976 to 1978, 1980 to 1987 and from 2003 to 2006. Although regional juries were used in 1979, the broadcast was abandoned and the scores tallied without announcements. In 1976, host Michael Aspel did not name any of the jury spokesman (there were no women announcing any of the scores) and none of them identified themselves; despite some of the voices being familiar to BBC viewers and listeners.

Viewing figures

Discography

UK singles chart successes for all entries to the UK final

Only tracks that have appeared in the officially recognised Top 50 (to 1978), Top 75 (to 2012) and Top 100 (from 2012) are included:

UK year end chart positions

Positions achieved in the year end

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

UK extended play chart successes

From 1964 to 1968,

Extended Play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

, 7-inch singles containing all of the entries from the UK heats were issued, although in 1967, the winning song was omitted from the release. A separate EP chart was established at the time for such releases that were not eligible for the standard

; it was discontinued after 1967.

Background

* According to

's book ''The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History'', the selection of

Clodagh Rodgers Clodagh Rodgers (born 5 March 1947) is a retired singer and actress from Northern Ireland, best known for her hit singles including " Come Back and Shake Me", "Goodnight Midnight", and "Jack in the Box". Career Rodgers was born in Warrenpoin ...

in 1971 was due in part at nervousness within the

...
as to what reception the UK entrant would receive on stage in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

at the Eurovision final due to the unrest in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

at the time. * Paul Curtis holds the record for writing/composing the most number of winning songs, having won the UK heat on four occasions (1975, 1984, 1990 and 1991). The other writers/composers to win the contest more than once are Syd Cordell & Stan Butcher, who won the contest with a joint composition in both 1959 & 1962; Bill Martin & Phil Coulter won in 1967 & 1968, going on to win the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967; and Stephanie de Sykes & Stuart Slater won the contest together in 1978 & 1980. * Paul Curtis also holds the record for writing/composing the most number of entries in the UK domestic competition. Between 1975 and 1992, 22 of his songs appeared in the UK final. From 1982 to 1984, he composed 8 of the 24 finalists. * Authors & composers from four of the five teams who won the UK domestic heat and went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest subsequently (Bill Martin, Phil Coulter, Lee Sheridan, Martin Lee, Tony Hiller, Andy Hill, John Danter and Kimberley Rew) all made multiple attempts to write songs for Eurovision; all reaching the UK final with other songs. Only the 1969 winners Peter Warne and Alan Moorhouse never had songs featured in the UK heat other than their winning song. *

, Anne Shelton,

, Ricky Valance,

Sandie Shaw Sandie may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Sandie Clair (born 1988), French professional racing cyclist * Sandie Fitzgibbon, Irish former camogie player * Sandie Jones (1950/1951–2019), Irish singer * Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker (187 ...

Mary Hopkin Mary Hopkin (born 3 May 1950), credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti from her marriage to Tony Visconti, is a Welsh singer-songwriter best known for her 1968 UK number 1 single "Those Were the Days". She was one of the first artists ...

The New Seekers The New Seekers are a British pop group, formed in London in 1969 by Keith Potger after the break-up of his group, The Seekers. The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the original Seekers, but their music would have ...

, Sweet Sensation,

(of

The Move The Move were a British rock band of the late 1960s and the early 1970s. They scored nine top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of their caree ...

Les McKeown Leslie Richard McKeown (12 November 195520 April 2021) was a Scottish pop singer. He was the lead singer of the Bay City Rollers during their most successful period in the 1970s. Early life McKeown was born in Broomhouse, a suburb close to the ...

(of Bay City Rollers),

(of

), Brian Harvey (of

(of

, Engelbert Humperdinck and

had all enjoyed a number one UK single prior to putting themselves forward for Eurovision. *

Brotherhood Of Man Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer Tony Hiller, Brotherhood of Man was initia ...

, Bucks Fizz and

are the only acts to take their song from the UK final to number one in the UK singles chart. * Only

, Bucks Fizz and

have been able to reach the pinnacle of the top of the UK singles chart after appearing in the contest. Ball's first number one single was achieved 28 years after his Eurovision appearance. Additionally, other 'Song for Europe' contestants, Kenny Lynch, The Nolans, Black Lace and Tony Christie all took part in the

charity supergroup A charity supergroup is a music group comprising famous musicians or other celebrities which is formed to raise funds or awareness for charities or causes. The supergroup is usually together only for a single album, performance, or single. The ...

project The Crowd, formed specifically to produce a

charity record A charity record or charity single is a song released by musicians with most or all proceeds raised going to a dedicated foundation or charity. George Harrison's "Bangla Desh" single in 1971 is commonly acknowledged as the first ever purpose-made ...

for the Bradford City stadium fire, in which 56 people died on 11 May 1985. Their song ''

You'll Never Walk Alone "You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''Carousel''. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and enco ...

'' topped the UK singles chart in June 1985. Another 'charity supergroup' named

Ferry Aid Ferry Aid was a British- American charity supergroup, brought together to record the song " Let It Be" in 1987. The single was released following the Zeebrugge Disaster; on 6 March 1987 the ferry had capsized, killing 193 passengers and crew ...

topped the UK singles chart in 1987 with the single ''

Let It Be Let It Be most commonly refers to: * ''Let It Be'' (Beatles album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970 * "Let It Be" (Beatles song), the title song from the album It may also refer to: Film and television * ''Let It Be'' (1970 ...

''. This group featured contributions from Hazell Dean, Bucks Fizz, Bobby McVay, The New Seekers, The Nolans, Alvin Stardust and Bonnie Tyler. Another 'A Song for Europe' veteran, Des Dyer (1983 & 1985), provided the vocals on behalf of

Robson & Jerome Robson & Jerome are an English pop duo who were active in the mid-1990s, consisting of actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn. They rose to prominence via the English television series ''Soldier Soldier''. The duo's musical catalogue was compose ...

for three UK number one singles in the 1990s. *

is the only artist in a multi-artist final to perform two songs. She appeared as a soloist and as one half of Sweet Dreams in the 1976 competition, finishing 10th and 4th respectively.

Catherine Porter Catherine Porter (born 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She is a former member of The Brian May Band and has appeared in several musicals and films. To date, Porter has released one album of solo material, '' Something G ...

had two songs in the 2000 competition, but only one reached the televised final. * The Sweet Dreams who placed 4th in 1976 are no relation to the Sweet Dreams that won the contest in 1983. The first is a male/female duo, the second is a trio of two girls and one boy.

, who works extensively on British TV as a voice coach, was a member of the Sweet Dreams trio. * The Pearls, a female quartet formed specifically for the 1989 contest are no relation to

The Pearls The Pearls were an English 1970s girl vocal duo from Liverpool, England, featuring Lyn Cornell and Ann Simmons (née O'Brien). They released a total of 12 singles, the most successful being "Guilty", which reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Char ...

, a female duo who had some minor chart hits in the early 1970s. Similarly, Joanne Castle, a female soloist who performed under the name 'Christie' in the 1991 contest, is no relation to the male group Christie that topped the UK charts with the song ''

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

''. * 'Beano' participated in the 1977 contest, placing 10th with a song written by Paul Curtis, who wrote four UK Eurovision entries, before returning in 1980 as 'Scramble' to place 6th, with a song written by the composer of the 1979 UK Eurovision entry, Peter Morris. *

Ronnie Carroll Ronnie Carroll (born Ronald Cleghorn; 18 August 1934 – 13 April 2015) was a Northern Irish singer, entertainer and political candidate. Career Carroll was born Ronald Cleghorn in 116 Roslyn Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1934, the son o ...

Cheryl Baker Rita Maria Stroud (''née'' Crudgington; born 8 March 1954), known professionally as Cheryl Baker, is an English singer and television presenter. She was a member of 1980s pop group Bucks Fizz, who won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest and now p ...

and Sally-Ann Triplett are the only singers to win the ''

A Song For Europe A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name ...

'' contest twice.

represented the UK twice but he was chosen by the BBC to sing the UK entry internally, with the public choosing his song from a shortlist. Similarly, James Newman was internally selected by the BBC to sing the UK entry in both 2020 & 2021, although the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest never took place due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Baker was a member of Co-Co in 1978 and Bucks Fizz in 1981. In addition, Baker took part in two UK finals as part of Co-Co in 1976 and The Main Event in 1980. Triplett was part of

in 1980 and

Bardo In some schools of Buddhism, ''bardo'' ( xct, བར་དོ་ Wylie: ''bar do'') or ''antarābhava'' (Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese: 中有, romanized in Chinese as ''zhōng yǒu'' and in Japanese as ''chū'u'') is an intermediate, transitio ...

in 1982. * Sally-Ann Triplett is the only multiple contender to win the contest at all attempts. * Cheryl Baker & Gina G are the only artists from multi-artist contests to finish both first and last. Baker did so in consecutive years, 1980 & 1981. Gina G is the only solo returning winner to finish last, albeit being fifth in a field of five. * Ronnie Carroll and James Newman are the only artists to represent the UK at Eurovision in consecutive years, although Newman did not get to participate in the cancelled 2020 competition. * Singers who have won the ''A Song For Europe'' contest and yet came back to participate in the UK final again were

Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson Pearl Lavinia Carr (2 November 1921 – 16 February 2020) and Edward Victor "Teddy" Johnson (4 September 1919 – 6 June 2018) were English husband-and-wife entertainers who gained their highest profile during the 1950s and early 1960s. Early d ...

, Bryan Johnson, Ronnie Carroll,

, Terry Bradford, Keith Hasler and Cheryl Baker of Co-Co (renaming themselves The Main Event), Sally-Ann Triplett, Lance Aston & Jane Robbins of Prima Donna and

. Bryan Johnson, Ronnie Carroll, the same members of Co-Co and

Bobby McVay Robert (Bobby) McVay (born Glasgow) is a British singer and radio broadcaster. In 1983, he represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest as a member of the band Sweet Dreams. Singing the song " I'm Never Giving Up", the trio came ...

, the lead singer of 1983 winning group Sweet Dreams, had entered the contest prior to winning. Johnson in 1959, Carroll in 1960, Co-Co in 1976 and McVay in 1982 as the lead singer of Lovin' Feeling. * Including backing singers and musicians, several other artists have represented the UK multiple times without credit.

The Ladybirds The Ladybirds were a British female vocal harmony trio, most famous for their appearances on '' The Benny Hill Show''. They participated in over 60 episodes between 1968 and 1991. In addition, they were long-standing backing singers to many e ...

sang backing vocals for the UK entry in 1967, 1974 and 1977.

The Breakaways The Breakaways were an English female vocal trio, formed in 1962. Britain's premier session vocalists throughout the 1960s, The Breakaways also recorded a handful of little-known girl group singles. Career The original members were Vicki Has ...

were the backing singers in 1968 and 1971 and additionally sang backing vocals for the 1977 Israeli entry. Lavinia Rodgers joined The Breakaways for backing vocal duty at the 1971 Eurovision final, backing her sister Clodagh and later took part in the 1982 UK final as a member of 'Good Looks'. (Likewise, Sonia also had her sister perform backing vocals at the 1993 Eurovision final, the second of only three siblings ever to represent the UK at Eurovision.) Sisters

Sue and Sunny Sue and Sunny were a British vocal duo and session singers operating in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Although sisters, their stage names were Sue Glover and Sunny Leslie. For three years (1969-1972) they were members of British pop group The Bro ...

sang backing vocals in 1969 and 1985, also singing the German backing vocals in 1975. One half of Sunny and Sue (Sue Glover) was the lead singer of the group 'Unity' who took part in the 1981 UK final.

Brian Bennett Brian Laurence Bennett, (born 9 February 1940) is an English drummer, pianist, composer and producer of popular music. He is best known as the drummer of the UK rock and roll group the Shadows. He is the father of musician and Shadows band me ...

sang backing vocals in 1970, before drumming with his group The Shadows representing the UK in 1975.

John Farrar John Clifford Farrar ( ; born 8 November 1946) is an Australian music producer, songwriter, arranger, singer, and guitarist. As a musician, Farrar is a former member of several rock and roll groups including The Mustangs (1963–64), The Stra ...

and

Alan Tarney Alan Tarney (born 19 November 1945) is an English record producer and musician. He was born in Northside, Workington, Cumberland, but spent his teenage years in Adelaide, Australia, where he met his songwriting and musical partner Trevor Spence ...

backed Cliff Richard in 1973 and both were short lived members of The Shadows in 1975. Kit Rolfe was the lead singer of Belle & The Devotions in 1984 and provided off screen backing vocals for the 1983 and 1991 UK entries, as did Hazell Dean.

Miriam Stockley Miriam Arlene Stockley (born 15 April 1962) is a British singer. She was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and her work is influenced by the African music of her home country. Her distinctive '' vocalise'' style gained international acclaim whe ...

was a backing vocalist for the UK in both 1990 and 1997. Bobby G of Bucks Fizz sang the backing vocals for Bardo at the 1982 ''A Song for Europe'' contest, but was unavailable to do the same at the Eurovision final in Harrogate. Nichola Martin was a member of both 'Rags' in the 1977 ''A Song for Europe'' and 'Gem' (aka 'Paris') in 1981. Martin sang backing vocals for Bucks Fizz at the 1981 ''Eurovision Song Contest'', albeit off camera. Des Dyer failed to win the ''Song for Europe'' contest in both 1983 (with 'Casablanca') and 1985, but sang backing vocals for Scott Fitzgerald at the ''

Eurovision Song Contest 1988 The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was the 33rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following Johnny Logan's win at the with the song " Hold Me Now". Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU ...

'', alongside Julie Forsyth & Dominic Grant, who with 'Guys & Dolls' had taken part in the 1979 UK final. Sam Blue was one of the UK's backing singers at Eurovision 1990 and he twice took part in the UK heats in his own right; as lead singer of 'Essenes' in 1996 and as a soloist in 1997. Emily Reed finished second in the 2003 UK final and was later one of Daz Sampson's backing singers at the 2006 Eurovision final. *Brothers Teddy & Bryan Johnson were the first siblings to represent the UK in 1959 and 1960 respectively. After sisters Sue & Sunny performed backing vocals for Lulu at Eurovision 1969, the other siblings to represent the UK were Jane and Kate Robbins (with Prima Donna) in 1980; Lance Aston (Prima Donna) and Jay Aston (Bucks Fizz); while Pam Evans sang backing vocals for her sister Sonia in 1993. * Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson are the only married couple to win the ''Song for Europe'' and represent the UK at Eurovision, although Dominic Grant & Julie Forsyth sung backing vocals uncredited in 1988. Martin Lee & Sandra Stevens of Brotherhood of Man married sometime after winning Eurovision 1976. Eve Graham (of The New Seekers) & Danny Finn (of Prima Donna) married after Graham's appearance in the 1972 contest and before Finn appeared in 1980. Stephanie de Sykes & Stuart Slater twice won the ''Song for Europe'' contest as a song writing team, but despite always being described as husband and wife, they were in fact not married to each other. *

has hosted the contest more times than any other presenter and he also hosted the

itself, as did two other hosts of the UK heats and finals;

Katie Boyle Caterina Irene Elena Maria Boyle, Lady Saunders (née Imperiali dei Principi di Francavilla; 29 May 1926 – 20 March 2018), usually known as Katie Boyle, was an Italian-born British actress, writer, radio announcer, television personality, gam ...

and

Ulrika Jonsson Eva Ulrika Jonsson (born 16 August 1967) is a Swedish-British television presenter and model. She became known as a TV-am weather presenter, moved on to present the ITV show ''Gladiators'', and as a team captain of the BBC Two show '' Shooting ...

Angela Rippon Angela May Rippon (born 12 October 1944)"Angela Rippon," ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Detroit: Gale, (2008) ''Gale Biography In Context'' is an English television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter. Rippon presented radio and tele ...

hosted the ''

Eurovision Song Contest 1977 The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the 22nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man. Organise ...

'' and was the Bristol jury spokesperson at the 1986 & 1987 ''A Song for Europe'' shows. *

hosted both the 1968 and 1973 contests when the show was a segment of her

variety series. Black was the original choice to sing the UK entry in 1968, but turned it down as she felt it unlikely the UK could score back-to-back wins. She also turned down the chance in 1970 as she was expecting her first child. Other singers who were reported to have turned down the invitation include

Slade Slade are an English rock band formed in Wolverhampton in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The ''British Hit Singles ...

and

Peters and Lee Peters and Lee were a successful British folk and pop duo of the 1970s and 1980s, comprising Lennie Peters (22 November 1931 – 10 October 1992, Enfield, Middlesex) and Dianne Lee (born February 1949). Background Lennie Peters (AKA Gary Hall; ...

in the 1970s, Bucks Fizz in 1986 and

Elaine Paige Elaine Jill Paige (née Bickerstaff; born 5 March 1948) is an English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, making her first professiona ...

in the 1990s.

was invited to represent the UK for 1985, but was unavailable. Tyler finally represented the UK in 2013. * When

were booed from the stage at Eurovision 1984, the

...
wanted to revert to inviting one singer to perform all the songs in the ''

'' contest for 1985. After

was unavailable,

was approached by the

...
. This move was blocked by the Music Publishers Association, who preferred to let the writers choose their own performers. In the end, for 1985, only soloists or duets were permitted to take part – no "made for Eurovision" acts – with songwriters limited to two entries each. This rule was only in place for one year. * Malcolm Roberts tried to represent the UK in 1991, having previously represented

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

at Eurovision in 1985.

Katrina Leskanich Katrina Elizabeth Leskanich ( ; born April 10, 1960) is an American musician and the former lead singer of the pop rock band Katrina and the Waves. Their song " Walking on Sunshine" was an international hit in 1985. In 1997, the band won the ...

won Eurovision in 1997 for the UK and later attempted to represent Sweden.

Nanne Grönvall Marianne Elisabeth Grönwall (, née ''Nordqvist''; born 18 May 1962), known by her stage name Nanne (), is a Swedish singer-songwriter. Biography Grönvall's musical career started in the 1980s group Sound of Music. The trio participated twice ...

represented Sweden in 1996 with the group One More Time before attempting to represent the UK in 2001. Simon Foster (aka Dan Duskey) represented Ireland in the 1982 Eurovision final as part of

The Duskeys The Duskeys was an Irish family pop group, known for their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 with the song " Here Today Gone Tomorrow". Background Formed after the break-up of Sandy Kelly's (real name Philomena Ellis) touring s ...

, before leading the group Palace (as Michael Palace) in the 1986 ''

'' contest. Ray Caruana, the lead singer of Live Report who represented the UK at Eurovision in 1989, later tried to represent Malta in the 1994 contest, but failed to win the Maltese heat. * Songs that failed to make the UK final but still went on to be hits include "

Even The Bad Times Are Good "Even the Bad Times Are Good" is a song written by British group the Tremeloes, released as a single in July 1967. It became their third consecutive top-ten hit in the UK and continued their international success. Release and reception "Even t ...

". This was entered for

in 1967 but went on to reach #4 for

The Tremeloes The Tremeloes are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, England. They initially found success in the British Invasion era with lead singer Brian Poole, scoring a UK chart-topper in 1963 with "Do You Love Me". After Poole's departu ...

, as did 1968 reject "Hello World", which reached #14. "Turn On The Sun" was turned down for

in 1970 but later became identified with

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( el, Ιωάννα "Νάνα" Μούσχουρη ) (born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, Ger ...

. Likewise in 1971, "Something Old, Something New" failed to make

' final six but was released by The Fantastics, reaching #9. Jonathan King is reported by Eurovision fans to have claimed that 1984 chart-topper "

I Should Have Known Better "I Should Have Known Better" is a song by English rock band the Beatles composed by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney), and originally issued on '' A Hard Day's Night'', their soundtrack for the film of the same name released on 10 J ...

" by Jim Diamond had failed to be short-listed for ''

A Song for Europe A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name ...

'', as had 1986 hit "

Touch Me (I Want Your Body) "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)" is a song by English singer Samantha Fox from her debut studio album, '' Touch Me'' (1986). A successful topless model, Fox had been invited to attend an open audition for Jive Records, as the label was seeking ...

" by

but no confirmation has ever been produced. Lord

and Sir

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ' ...

submitted a song for the 1969 contest, "Try It And See", which was rejected. It was later re-written and became "King Herod's Song" in the musical ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

''. Lloyd Webber returned to compose the 2009 UK entry in collaboration with

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{Eurovision Song Contest 1957 British television series debuts 2019 British television series endings 1950s British music television series 1960s British music television series 1970s British music television series 1980s British music television series 1990s British music television series 2000s British music television series 2010s British music television series BBC Television shows BBC Radio 2 programmes Singing talent shows British television series revived after cancellation English-language television shows Music television specials British live television shows Annual television shows National selection Eurovision Song Contest selection events

History

Early days

1970s and 1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Contestants

Winners

''Festival of British Popular Songs'' (1957)

''Eurovision Song Contest British Final'' (1959–1960)

''A Song for Europe'' (1961–1995)

''The Great British Song Contest'' (1996–1999)

''A Song for Europe'' (2000–2003)

''Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up'' (2004–2007)

''Eurovision: Your Decision'' (2008)

''Eurovision: Your Country Needs You'' (2009–2010)

Internal selection (2011–2015)

''Eurovision: You Decide'' (2016–2019)

Internal selection (2020–present)

Broadcast

Host(s) and venue

Guest commentators, panellists and judges

Regional vote announcers

Viewing figures

Discography

UK singles chart successes for all entries to the UK final

UK year end chart positions

UK extended play chart successes

Background

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links