United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Participating broadcaster	British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Country	United Kingdom
Selection process	Eurovision: You Decide
Selection date	27 January 2017
Competing entry
Song	"Never Give Up on You"
Artist	Lucie Jones
Songwriters	Daniel Salcedo Emmelie de Forest Lawrie Martin
Placement
Final result	15th, 111 points
Participation chronology
◄2016 • 2017 •2018►

The United Kingdom was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Never Give Up on You", written by Daniel Salcedo,Emmelie de Forest, and Lawrie Martin, and performed byLucie Jones. The British participating broadcaster, theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), selected its entry in the contest via the national finalEurovision: You Decide. Six acts competed in the national final and the winner was selected through the combination of a public vote and the votes of an eight-member professional jury. Songwriter de Forest representedDenmark in 2013 with the song "Only Teardrops" winning the competition.

As a member of the "Big Five", the United Kingdom automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 18, the United Kingdom placed 15th out of the 26 participating countries with 111 points.

Prior to the 2017 contest, theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had participated in theEurovision Song Contest representing the United Kingdom fifty-nine times.^[1] 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 the song "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, the UK had only twice finished outside the top 10, in1978 and1987. Since 1999, the year in which the rule was abandoned that songs must be performed in one of the official languages of the country participating, the UK has had less success, thus far only finishing within the top ten twice: in2002 with the song "Come Back" performed byJessica Garlick and in2009 with the song "It's My Time" performed byJade Ewen. For the2016 contest, the United Kingdom finished in twenty-fourth place out of twenty-six competing entries with the song "You're Not Alone" performed byJoe and Jake.

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 announced that it would participate in the 2017 contest on 6 October 2016.^[2] Between 2011 and 2015, BBC opted to internally select the British entry, while the broadcaster organised a national final featuring a competition among several artists and songs in 2016. For their 2017 entry, BBC announced that a national final involving a public vote would be held to select United Kingdom's entry.

Eurovision: You Decide was the national final developed by the BBC in order to select the British entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. Six acts competed in a televised show on 27 January 2017 held at theEventim Apollo venue inHammersmith,London and hosted byMel Giedroyc. The winner was selected through the combination of the votes of a professional jury and a public vote.^[3] The show was broadcast onBBC Two as well as streamed online via theBBC iPlayer.^[4][5] The national final was watched by 1.26 million viewers in the United Kingdom with a market share of 6.6%.^[6]

On 6 October 2016, BBC announced an open submission for interested artists to submit their songs in the form of a video recording. The submission period lasted until 1 November 2016. The received submissions from the open call were reviewed and a shortlist was compiled by the UK branch of the internationalOGAE fan club. Additional entries were provided to the BBC by theBritish Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) which ran a songwriting competition amongst its members. The BBC also held multiple songwriting camps and collaborated with the formermusic director ofRCA Records and founder ofInnocent Records,Hugh Goldsmith, to consult with music industry experts including writers, producers, artist managers and members of theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI) in order to encourage entry submissions and involvement in the national final. Songs from all entry methods were included in a final shortlist which was presented to a professional panel that ultimately selected six finalists to compete in the national final.^[2] The six competing songs were premiered duringThe Ken Bruce Show onBBC Radio 2 on 23 January 2017.^[4]

Six acts competed in the televised final on 27 January 2017.^[4] In addition to their performances, guest performers included previous Eurovision Song Contest winnerAlexander Rybak, who won the contest for Norway in2009 with the song "Fairytale", andThe Vamps performing their song "All Night".^[7][8]

A combination of the votes from an eight-member professional jury and a public vote consisting of televoting and online voting selected the winner.^[9][10] A combination of the votes from an eight-member professional jury and a public vote consisting of televoting and online voting selected the winner. The jury and public vote each created a ranking from which points from 1 (lowest) to 6 (highest) were awarded, and after both sets of points were combined, "Never Give Up on You" performed byLucie Jones was the winner.^[11] Three of the jury members also provided feedback regarding the songs during the show. The members wereBruno Tonioli (choreographer, dancer and television personality),Sophie Ellis-Bextor (singer-songwriter) andCeCe Sammy (vocal and performance coach).^[12][13]

Following the national final, Lucie Jones revealed during an interview onBBC Breakfast that she and the BBC would be seeking to make changes to "Never Give Up on You", stating they had listened to feedback from viewers on social media and would look at ideas at how to make it better. The new version of the song was recorded at Tileyard Studios in late February 2017 and presented to the public on 11 March 2017 through the release of the official music video via the official Eurovision Song Contest'sYouTube channel.^[14]

Lucie Jones specifically promoted "Never Give Up on You" as the British Eurovision entry on 8 April by performing during theEurovision in Concert event which was held at theMelkweg venue inAmsterdam, Netherlands and hosted byCornald Maas andSelma Björnsdóttir.^[15] In addition to her international appearances, on 2 April, Jones performed during theLondon Eurovision Party, which was held at theCafé de Paris venue inLondon and hosted byNicki French andPaddy O'Connell.^[16] On 28 April, Jones was part of the guest line-up for theBBC One programmeThe Graham Norton Show where she performed "Never Give Up on You" live and was interviewed by hostGraham Norton.^[17]

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to compete in one of two semi-finals, and qualify in order to participate in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big Five", the United Kingdom automatically qualified to compete in the final on 13 May 2017.^[18] In addition to their participation in the final, the United Kingdom is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. During the semi-final allocation draw on 31 January 2017, the United Kingdom was assigned to broadcast and vote in the first semi-final on 9 May 2017.^[19]

In the United Kingdom, the semi-finals were broadcast onBBC Four with commentary byScott Mills andMel Giedroyc, while the final was televised onBBC One with commentary byGraham Norton and broadcast onBBC Radio 2 with commentary byKen Bruce.^[4][20] The British spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the British jury during the final, wasKatrina Leskanich who won the contest for the United Kingdom in1997 as part of the bandKatrina and the Waves.

Lucie Jones took part in technical rehearsals on 5 and 7 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8, 12 and 13 May. This included the semi-final jury show on 8 May where an extended clip of the British performance was filmed for broadcast during the live show on 9 May and the jury final on 12 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries. After technical rehearsals were held on 7 May, the "Big Five" countries and host country Ukraine held a press conference. As part of this press conference, the artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. The United Kingdom was drawn to compete in the second half. Following the conclusion of the second semi-final, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final. The running order for the semi-finals and final was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. The United Kingdom was subsequently placed to perform in position 18, following the entry fromNorway and before the entry fromCyprus.

The British performance featured Lucie Jones performing on a predominately yellow and gold coloured stage which featured a perspex shell prop that showed reflection of Jones, with the LED screens transitioning from golden circular shapes that exploded along with the shell and stage arch to a volcanic fire. The performance also featured pyrotechnic effects.^[21][22] The United Kingdom placed fifteenth in the final, scoring 111 points: 12 points from the televoting and 99 points from the juries.^[23]

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to the United Kingdom and awarded by United Kingdom in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to the United Kingdom (Final)^[23]

Score	Televote	Jury
12 points		Australia
10 points		Slovenia
8 points		Albania
7 points		Iceland
6 points		Estonia  Germany  San Marino
5 points		Cyprus  Czech Republic  Netherlands  Poland
4 points	Ireland  Malta	Armenia  Latvia
3 points	Australia	France  Hungary  Macedonia
2 points		Belgium  Finland
1 point	Spain	Austria  Greece  Norway

Points awarded by the United Kingdom (Semi-final 1)[24] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Poland  Moldova 10 points  Portugal  Portugal 8 points  Moldova  Czech Republic 7 points  Latvia  Australia 6 points  Cyprus  Poland 5 points  Greece  Armenia 4 points  Belgium  Belgium 3 points  Finland  Cyprus 2 points  Iceland  Sweden 1 point  Sweden  Georgia

Points awarded by the United Kingdom (Final)[23] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Bulgaria  Portugal 10 points  Poland  Australia 8 points  Portugal  Sweden 7 points  Romania  Bulgaria 6 points  Moldova  Moldova 5 points  Croatia  Belgium 4 points  Sweden  Netherlands 3 points  Belgium  Austria 2 points  Italy  Denmark 1 point  Hungary  Belarus

The following members comprised the British jury:^[25]

• Mary Hammond (jury chairperson) – singing teacher, singer
• Emma Stevens – singer, songwriter
• Rokhsan Heydari – songwriter
• Mark Eldridge (Kipper) – producer, musician
• Jay London – radio DJ

Detailed voting results from the United Kingdom (Semi-final 1)^[24]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		E. Stevens	R. Heydari	Kipper	J. London	M. Hammond	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Sweden	16	3	8	4	13	9	2	10	1
02	Georgia	12	6	12	8	9	10	1	18
03	Australia	6	8	10	2	10	4	7	12
04	Albania	18	9	17	15	16	18		16
05	Belgium	5	12	7	1	18	7	4	7	4
06	Montenegro	14	17	18	18	6	17		11
07	Finland	7	16	6	17	11	14		8	3
08	Azerbaijan	17	4	15	9	14	15		15
09	Portugal	1	1	2	6	15	2	10	2	10
10	Greece	13	14	13	14	8	16		6	5
11	Poland	9	11	3	13	5	5	6	1	12
12	Moldova	8	5	4	3	1	1	12	3	8
13	Iceland	3	10	9	10	17	11		9	2
14	Czech Republic	2	2	14	11	3	3	8	17
15	Cyprus	11	13	5	7	7	8	3	5	6
16	Armenia	10	7	1	12	12	6	5	13
17	Slovenia	4	15	16	16	2	13		14
18	Latvia	15	18	11	5	4	12		4	7

Detailed voting results from the United Kingdom (Final)^[23]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		E. Stevens	R. Heydari	Kipper	J. London	M. Hammond	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Israel	11	24	16	20	11	17		19
02	Poland	14	10	11	16	22	13		2	10
03	Belarus	3	11	14	19	8	10	1	17
04	Austria	5	19	10	8	9	8	3	18
05	Armenia	18	15	9	25	16	18		21
06	Netherlands	6	5	2	9	19	7	4	12
07	Moldova	7	7	7	2	4	5	6	5	6
08	Hungary	17	18	21	24	23	24		10	1
09	Italy	16	14	23	17	18	20		9	2
10	Denmark	12	4	4	11	20	9	2	24
11	Portugal	1	3	5	7	1	1	12	3	8
12	Azerbaijan	19	12	17	18	13	15		20
13	Croatia	20	25	24	23	6	23		6	5
14	Australia	2	8	3	4	7	2	10	16
15	Greece	15	16	22	21	24	22		11
16	Spain	25	21	25	10	2	19		25
17	Norway	24	9	20	12	14	14		14
18	United Kingdom
19	Cyprus	13	17	15	15	5	12		13
20	Romania	22	13	13	14	17	16		4	7
21	Germany	8	23	8	5	12	11		23
22	Ukraine	21	20	18	13	21	21		22
23	Belgium	4	6	12	1	15	6	5	8	3
24	Sweden	9	1	6	6	3	3	8	7	4
25	Bulgaria	10	2	1	3	10	4	7	1	12
26	France	23	22	19	22	25	25		15

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