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| United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2000 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) | |||
| Country |  United Kingdom | |||
| Selection process | A Song for Europe 2000 | |||
| Selection date | 20 February 2000 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Don't Play That Song Again" | |||
| Artist | Nicki French | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Final result | 16th, 28 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
The United Kingdom was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 2000 with the song "Don't Play That Song Again", written byJohn Springate and Gerry Shepherd, and performed byNicki French. The British participating broadcaster, theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), organised a public selection process to determine its entry for the contest,A Song for Europe 2000. Eight acts competed in the national final which consisted of a semi-final and a final, during which the winner was selected entirely through a public televote.
As a member of the "Big Four", the United Kingdom automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 3, the United Kingdom placed sixteenth out of the 24 participating countries with 28 points.
Prior to the 2000 contest, theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had participated in theEurovision Song Contest representing the United Kingdom forty-two times. Thus far, it has won the contest five times: in1967 with the song "Puppet on a String" performed bySandie Shaw, in1969 with the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang" performed byLulu, in1976 with "Save Your Kisses for Me" performed byBrotherhood of Man, in1981 with the song "Making Your Mind Up" performed byBucks Fizz and in1997 with the song "Love Shine a Light" performed byKatrina and the Waves. To this point, the nation is noted for having finished as the runner-up in a record fifteen contests. Up to and including1998, it had only twice finished outside the top 10,in 1978 andin 1987. For the 1999 contest, it finished in twelfth place out of twenty-three competing entries with the song "Say It Again" performed byPrecious, which was its worst result since 1987.[1]
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, the BBC organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster has traditionally organised a national final featuring a competition among several artists and songs to choose its entry for Eurovision. For its 2000 entry, the BBC announced that a national final involving a public vote would be held to select its entry, reverting to the historicA Song for Europe title but retaining the format from the previous selection showThe Great British Song Contest (1996–99).[citation needed]
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A Song for Europe 2000 was the national final developed by the BBC in order to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2000. Eight acts competed in the competition which consisted of a radio semi-final on 14 January 2000 and a televised final on 20 February 2000. The semi-final was broadcast onBBC Radio 2, while the final was broadcast onBBC One.[2]
On 12 August 1999, BBC together with theBritish Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) announced an open submission for interested songwriters to submit their songs until October 1999.[3][4] The 1,000 received submissions were reviewed and a 25-song shortlist was compiled (the song "Stand Up" written by Richard Silver was automatically included in the shortlist after winning the London International Song Contest which was also ran by BASCA) and presented to a professional panel headed by music producerJonathan King that ultimately selected eight semi-finalists to compete in the national final.[4][5] The eight artists were announced on 15 December 1999, while the competing songs were premiered duringThe Ken Bruce Show andWake Up to Wogan on BBC Radio 2 between 10 and 13 January 2000. Before the national final, the artist Pas De Deux was renamed as India.[citation needed]
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Eight acts competed in the radio semi-final which was hosted byTerry Wogan andKen Bruce on 14 January 2000. A public televote, which registered 32,105 votes, selected the top four songs that proceeded to the final.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Televote | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Helene Hørlyck | "Aria" |
| 1,826 | 7 |
| 2 | Catherine Porter | "Crazy" |
| 9,140 | 1 |
| 3 | Nicki French | "Don't Play That Song Again" |
| 5,550 | 2 |
| 4 | Sexy Sadie | "I Won't Let You Do This to Me" |
| 4,403 | 3 |
| 5 | Six Chix | "Only the Women Know" | Kimberley Rew | 4,115 | 4 |
| 6 | Jayne Tretton | "Stand Up" | Richard Silver | 2,182 | 6 |
| 7 | Catherine Porter | "The Answer" |
| 1,635 | 8 |
| 8 | India | "Wherever You Go" |
| 3,254 | 5 |
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Four acts competed in the televised final on 20 February 2000 which was held at theBBC Elstree Centre inBorehamwood,Hertfordshire and hosted byKaty Hill. A public televote selected the winner, "Don't Play That Song Again" performed byNicki French. The televote in the final registered 129,526 votes.[6]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Televote | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sexy Sadie | "I Won't Let You Do This to Me" | 10,494 | 4 |
| 2 | Catherine Porter | "Crazy" | 29,348 | 3 |
| 3 | Six Chix | "Only the Women Know" | 42,329 | 2 |
| 4 | Nicki French | "Don't Play That Song Again" | 47,355 | 1 |
The Eurovision Song Contest 2000 took place atGlobe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, on 13 May 2000. According to Eurovision rules, the participants list included the previous year's winning country, the "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), the countries with the highest average scores between the1995 and1999 contests, and any countries which had not competed in the 1999 contest. As a member of the "Big Four", the United Kingdom automatically qualified to compete in the contest. On 21 November 1999, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and the United Kingdom was set to perform in position 3, following the entry from theNetherlands and before the entry fromEstonia.[7] The United Kingdom finished in sixteenth place with 28 points.[8] It was the worst performing entry of the UK up to that point, and would remain so until2003.
In the United Kingdom, the contest was televised onBBC One andBBC Prime with commentary byTerry Wogan as well as broadcast onBBC Radio 2 with commentary byKen Bruce.[9][10]
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to the United Kingdom and awarded by the United Kingdom in the contest. Around 535,000 valid votes were registered in the UK in total during the five-minute voting window, which determined the nation's points.[citation needed] The United Kingdom awarded its 12 points toDenmark in the contest.[11]
The BBC appointedColin Berry as its spokesperson to announce the results of the British televote during the broadcast.
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