United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest

For UK's participation in 2014, see United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014.

United Kingdom
Participating broadcaster	BBC
Participation summary
Appearances	57
First appearance	1957
Highest placement	1st: 1967, 1969, 1976, 1981, 1997
External links
BBC page

The United Kingdom has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 57 times and is one of the most successful countries to compete in the contest. They first participated in the second contest in 1957. The BBC had wanted to take part in the first contest in 1956, but had submitted their entry to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) after the deadline had passed. The UK has entered every year since 1959, and has won the contest a total of five times. Along with Sweden, the UK is one of only two countries with Eurovision victories in four different decades. Furthermore, the UK has finished as runner-up on a record fifteen occasions. The United Kingdom is one of the "Big 5", along with France, Germany, Italy and Spain who are automatically allowed to participate in the final as they are the five biggest financial contributors to the EBU.

Up to and including 1998, the UK had only twice finished outside the top 10, in 1978 and 1987, with their five winners being Sandie Shaw with the song "Puppet on a String" in 1967, Lulu with "Boom Bang-a-Bang" in 1969 (tied), Brotherhood of Man with "Save Your Kisses for Me" in 1976, Bucks Fizz with "Making Your Mind Up" in 1981 and Katrina and the Waves with "Love, Shine a Light" in 1997. 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, only finishing within the top ten twice. Jessica Garlick in 2002 finished joint third and Jade Ewen in 2009 finished fifth, Ewen in particular was praised after her performance of "It's My Time" for ending the run of poor results the country had suffered for much of the decade. For the 2014 contest, the BBC selected unknown artist Molly Smitten-Downes, under her stage name Molly, through their BBC Introducing platform which supports new and unsigned artists. Despite being regarded as one of the favourites to win, she finished in 17th place with 40 points. In 2015, London will host Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits, an event to commemorate the 60th anniversary.

The United Kingdom has finished last in three contests. Jemini's infamous 2003 "nul points" result was the first time that the country had come last in the contest, something that was then repeated in 2008 with Andy Abraham, who received 14 points and in 2010 with Josh Dubovie, who received 10 points.

History

1950s to 1970s

Patricia Bredin was the first performer to represent the UK at Eurovision, finishing seventh in 1957. At their second attempt in the contest in 1959, the UK achieved the first of their record fifteen runner-up positions, when Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson sang "Sing, Little Birdie". The UK would achieve four more second place finishes with Bryan Johnson in 1960, The Allisons in 1961, Matt Monro in 1964 and Kathy Kirby in 1965, before eventually winning for the first time in 1967. Sandie Shaw was already a successful performer, having twice topped the UK singles chart and she comfortably won in Vienna with "Puppet on a String", which became her third UK number one and topped the charts all around Europe. In 1968, another successful performer was selected to represent the UK with the song "Congratulations". In London, Cliff Richard gave the UK their sixth second place finish, losing to Spain's Massiel. "Congratulations" remains one of only two non-winning UK Eurovision songs to top the UK charts. The UK's second victory was provided by the Scottish singer Lulu in 1969. Another established performer, she had reached the US #1 spot with "To Sir with Love" in 1967. At Eurovision, she was one of four joint winners, along with France, Netherlands and Spain, with the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang".

Having finished second on three further occasions in the 1970s, with Mary Hopkin in 1970, The New Seekers in 1972 and The Shadows in 1975. The UK achieved their third victory in 1976, with Brotherhood of Man and "Save Your Kisses for Me", they won with 164 points, which would remain the highest points total for ten years. In 1977, the UK finished second for the tenth time represented by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran.

1980s and 1990s

The UK's fourth victory came in 1981, with Bucks Fizz and "Making Your Mind Up". The group was created especially for the UK selection contest "A Song for Europe". At Eurovision in Dublin, they defeated Germany's Lena Valaitis by four points. The group went on to continued success, with 13 UK top 40 hits over the next five years. This would be the last UK win for 16 years, although the country continued to be competitive at the contest with four more second place results during this time. In 1988, Scott Fitzgerald lost to Celine Dion, who was representing Switzerland, by just one point. In 1989, Live Report lost out to Yugoslavia by seven points. Michael Ball in 1992, also finished second, behind Linda Martin of Ireland. The 1993 entry, Sonia, had already had 10 UK top 30 hits, including a 1989 number one with "You'll Never Stop Me Loving You", when she was selected to represent the UK in Millstreet. With one country left to vote, (Malta) Ireland's Niamh Kavanagh led Sonia by 11 points. By the time it got to the announcement of the 12 points, neither the UK or Ireland had been mentioned. If the UK had received the 12, they would have won by one point. In the end Ireland received the top marks and won by 23 points. Despite only finishing eighth in the 1996 contest, Gina G went on to huge success with her entry "Ooh Ah Just a Little Bit", which became only the second non-winning UK entry to top the UK Singles chart. It also reached the US top 20 and received a Grammy nomination. The UK's fifth victory finally came in 1997, when Katrina and the Waves, famous for their 1980s hit "Walking on Sunshine", comfortably won the contest with the song "Love, Shine a Light". They scored 227 points, which would remain the highest points total of the pre semi-final era. At the 1998 contest in Birmingham, Imaani achieved the UK's 15th second place finish and 20th top two result, with the song "Where Are You?", losing to Israel's Dana International. The UK, as of 2014, has not finished in the top two since.

21st century

The UK has fared less well in the contest in the 21st century. Since girl-group Precious finished 12th in 1999, the UK has failed to reach the top ten in all but two of the last 15 contests (1999–2014). The exceptions being Jessica Garlick who finished joint third with Estonia in 2002, with the song "Come Back" (the UK's only top three result of the century) and Jade Ewen, who finished fifth in 2009 with the song "It's My Time", written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren. In 2003, the UK finished last for the first time with the duo Jemini, who received the infamous "nul points". This remains the only time the UK has failed to score a single point. The country has finished last on two further occasions, with Andy Abraham, who received 14 points in 2008 and Josh Dubovie, who received received 10 points in 2010.

In 2011, the BBC chose the boy band Blue to represent the UK, they finished 11th with 100 points. In 2012, the UK were facing calls to quit the contest when the UK entry, Engelbert Humperdinck, finished 25th (out of 26) with only 12 points. However, the UK confirmed their participation in the 2013 contest, with the Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, most famous for her 1983 US and UK number one hit "Total Eclipse of the Heart", who would perform the song "Believe in Me". In Malmo, she finished 19th with 23 points. She went on to win two internationally voted Eurovison Song Contest radio awards for Best Female Singer and Best Song.

In 2014, the BBC internally selected unknown singer Molly Smitten-Downes, through BBC Introducing, which supports new and unsigned acts. She represented the UK in Copenhagen under her artist name Molly. In the final, she performed the song "Children of the Universe", which she co-wrote with Anders Hansson and finished in 17th place with 40 points, having been regarded as one of the favourites to win the contest. In October 2014, Guy Freeman stated that the BBC are still engaging with record companies and the BBC Introducing platform in order to find an entry for the 2015 contest via the internal selection process, but announced that in addition, for the first time since 2008, they are giving the general public the option to submit an entry for consideration.

Records

The UK has won five times (joint second with France, Luxembourg and Sweden to Ireland's seven wins), and has come second fifteen times.

Until 2004, the UK also had the record for the largest number of points scored in a single contest, in 1997 with the runaway winner 'Love Shine A Light' which scored 227 points. However, in 1997, only 25 countries voted, whilst in 2004, when the points record was broken, 36 countries voted. Until the 2009 contest the UK held the record for winning by the largest margin, 70 points, which was also in the 1997 contest held in Dublin's Point Theatre in Ireland. This record was broken by Norway on 16 May 2009, though, only 25 countries voted in 1997, whereas 42 voted in 2009.

The United Kingdom was the first country to win with the help of Televoting after winning the 1997 Contest. The United Kingdom was one of five countries that introduced Televoting that year along with Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Sweden.

In 1976 the UK received 164 points from 17 countries, which gave them an average of 9.64 points per country; this remains the record and is unlikely to be broken due to the vastly increased number of countries now eligible to vote in the final, though Norway's 2009 entry fell just 0.20 points short, attaining 387 points from 41 countries for an average of 9.44.

The UK has hosted the contest eight times, more than any other country. Even though the UK has only won the contest five times, it has also stepped in when other countries have turned down the chance to host it.

For eight years the UK held the record for receiving the most set of 12 points in one show. They received ten sets of twelve points in 1997 in Dublin, however they then shared this record for four years with Greece who also received ten sets of twelve points in 2005. This was later beaten by Norway in 2009 with 16 sets, but since Eurovision Song Contest 2012, Sweden now holds the record with their 18 sets of 12 points. 25 countries voted in the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest, compared to 42 countries in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, meaning Sweden now also holds the record for having the highest percentage of 12 points (44% compared to 42%).

The United Kingdom has also made 57 appearances in the contest since its début in 1957, missing only 1 (1958). This record is bettered only by Germany which has a record number of appearances, 58 in total, missing only one contest in 1996. The United Kingdom also holds the record for the most consecutive entries by entering every contest since 1959 making 56 consecutive entries to date.

Every United Kingdom entry from 1959–1977 was placed first by at least one jury in every contest. Under the 'douze points' voting system introduced in 1975, every UK entry from 1975–1999, 2002, 2004–2009, 2011 and 2014 have received either a top score of 12, 10 or 8 points from one or more countries. The UK's 1978 entry "The Bad Old Days" by Co-Co was the first UK entry not to receive at least one set of 12 or 10 points from another country. The UK's 1999 entry "Say It Again" by Precious was the first UK entry not to receive a single set of 12 or 10 points from televoting nations. The UK's 2000 entry "Don't Play That Song Again" by Nicki French was the first UK entry not to receive a top three score from any country or televoting nations.

United Kingdom and the "Big Four/Five"

In 1999 a rule change allowed the United Kingdom, along with France, Germany and Spain to automatically qualify for the Eurovision Song Contest final (irrespective of their recent scores and without entering a semi-final), due to being the biggest financial contributors to the EBU. Due to their untouchable status in the Contest, these countries became known as the "Big Four" (which became the "Big Five" in 2011 following the return of Italy to the Contest).

In 2008 it was rumoured that the "Big Four" would lose their automatic qualification, and would have to compete in the semi-finals for the first time. However it was announced by the EBU that this would not be the case and the four countries would still automatically qualify for the final of the 2009 contest without having to enter a semi-final, and this has remained as of 2014.

In 2008, the BBC defended using spending money from licence fee payers for the contest when Liberal Democrat MP Richard Younger-Ross had tabled a Commons motion which called on the corporation to withdraw its £173,000 funding for the annual contest. That same year former Eurovision commentator Sir Terry Wogan claimed that the show is "no longer a music contest" after the result was announced.

Contestants

See also: UK Eurovision Song Contest entries discography

Table key

  Winner

  Second place

  Third place

  Last place

Year	Performer(s)	Song	Final	Points	Semi	Points
1957	Patricia Bredin	"All"	7	6	No semi-finals
1958	Did not compete
1959	Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson	"Sing, Little Birdie"	2	16
1960	Bryan Johnson	"Looking High, High, High"	2	25
1961	The Allisons	"Are You Sure?"	2	24
1962	Ronnie Carroll	"Ring-A-Ding Girl"	4	10
1963	Ronnie Carroll	"Say Wonderful Things"	4	28
1964	Matt Monro	"I Love the Little Things"	2	17
1965	Kathy Kirby	"I Belong"	2	26
1966	Kenneth McKellar	"A Man Without Love"	9	8
1967	Sandie Shaw	"Puppet on a String"	1	47
1968	Cliff Richard	"Congratulations"	2	28
1969	Lulu	"Boom Bang-a-Bang"	1	18
1970	Mary Hopkin	"Knock, Knock Who's There?"	2	26
1971	Clodagh Rodgers	"Jack in the Box"	4	98
1972	The New Seekers	"Beg, Steal or Borrow"	2	114
1973	Cliff Richard	"Power to All Our Friends"	3	123
1974	Olivia Newton-John	"Long Live Love"	4	14
1975	The Shadows	"Let Me Be the One"	2	138
1976	Brotherhood of Man	"Save Your Kisses for Me"	1	164
1977	Lynsey de Paul & Mike Moran	"Rock Bottom"	2	121
1978	Co-Co	"The Bad Old Days"	11	61
1979	Black Lace	"Mary Ann"	7	73
1980	Prima Donna	"Love Enough for Two"	3	106
1981	Bucks Fizz	"Making Your Mind Up"	1	136
1982	Bardo	"One Step Further"	7	76
1983	Sweet Dreams	"I'm Never Giving Up"	6	79
1984	Belle and the Devotions	"Love Games"	7	63
1985	Vikki Watson	"Love Is"	4	100
1986	Ryder	"Runner in the Night"	7	72
1987	Rikki	"Only the Light"	13	47
1988	Scott Fitzgerald	"Go"	2	136
1989	Live Report	"Why Do I Always Get it Wrong?"	2	130
1990	Emma	"Give a Little Love Back to the World"	6	87
1991	Samantha Janus	"A Message to Your Heart"	10	47
1992	Michael Ball	"One Step Out of Time"	2	139
1993	Sonia	"Better the Devil You Know"	2	164
1994	Frances Ruffelle	"Lonely Symphony (We Will Be Free)"	10	63
1995	Love City Groove	"Love City Groove"	10	76
1996	Gina G	"Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit"	8	77	3	153
1997	Katrina and the Waves	"Love Shine a Light"	1	227	No semi-finals
1998	Imaani	"Where Are You?"	2	166[a]
1999	Precious	"Say It Again"	12	38
2000	Nicki French	"Don't Play That Song Again"	16	28
2001	Lindsay	"No Dream Impossible"	15	28
2002	Jessica Garlick	"Come Back"	3	111
2003	Jemini	"Cry Baby"	26	0
2004	James Fox	"Hold On to Our Love"	16	29	Member of the "Big 4"
2005	Javine Hylton	"Touch My Fire"	22	18
2006	Daz Sampson	"Teenage Life"	19	25
2007	Scooch	"Flying the Flag (for You)"	22	19
2008	Andy Abraham	"Even If"	25	14
2009	Jade Ewen	"It's My Time"	5	173
2010	Josh Dubovie	"That Sounds Good to Me"	25	10
2011	Blue	"I Can"	11	100	Member of the "Big 5"
2012	Engelbert Humperdinck	"Love Will Set You Free"	25	12
2013	Bonnie Tyler	"Believe in Me"	19	23
2014	Molly	"Children of the Universe"	17	40
2015

NOTES

1. ^{^} Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark - 12 points - instead of being snubbed, as it happened. The mistake was corrected and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway. Israel and Norway both received 2 points less than originally and Croatia, Malta, Portugal, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Turkey all received one point less than indicated during the broadcast.

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

Further information: Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

Even though the United Kingdom was entered twice into Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest with Cliff Richard's 1968 runner up entry "Congratulations" and Brotherhood of Man's 1976 winning song "Save Your Kisses for Me", the BBC decided not to participate in airing the event or taking part in the voting for the greatest Eurovision Song of the past fifty years, but instead aired an hour-long special program entitled Boom Bang-a-Bang: 50 Years of Eurovision hosted by Terry Wogan looking back at the best and the worst; songs, fashions, contests, hosts and hostesses that have occurred at the Eurovision over the past fifty years.

Table key

  Winner

  Second place

  Third place

  Last place

Year	Artist	Language	Title	Final	Points	Semi	Points
1968	Cliff Richard	English	"Congratulations"	Failed to qualify		8	105
1976	Brotherhood of Man	English	"Save Your Kisses for Me"	5	230	5	154

Voting history

As of 2014, United Kingdom's voting history is as follows:

Most points given in the grand finals only
Rank	Country	Points
1	Ireland	240
2	Sweden	182
3	Germany	168
4	Switzerland	166
5	Denmark	122

Most points given in the semis and finals
Rank	Country	Points
1	Ireland	281
2	Sweden	212
3	Switzerland	171
4	Germany	168
5	Denmark	152

Most points received
Rank	Country	Points
1	Ireland	224
2	Switzerland	206
3	France	189
4	Austria	188
5	Belgium	181

Hostings

The United Kingdom has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest a record eight times. The United Kingdom stepped in and hosted the contest for The Netherlands in 1960, France in 1963, Monaco in 1972 and Luxembourg in 1974 due to winning countries financial and capacity issues. The BBC offered to joint host the 1996 contest in Belfast, Northern Ireland with Irish broadcaster RTÉ if Ireland were to win for a fourth year in a row.

Year	Location	Venue	Presenters
1960	London	Royal Festival Hall	Katie Boyle
1963		BBC Television Centre
1968		Royal Albert Hall
1972	Edinburgh	Usher Hall	Moira Shearer
1974	Brighton	Brighton Dome	Katie Boyle
1977	London	Wembley Conference Centre	Angela Rippon
1982	Harrogate	Harrogate International Centre	Jan Leeming
1998	Birmingham	National Indoor Arena	Ulrika Jonsson and Terry Wogan

Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits

Year	Location	Venue	Presenters
2015	London	Eventim Apollo	Graham Norton and Petra Mede

Commentators and spokespersons

Over the years BBC commentary has been provided by several experienced radio and television presenters, including Tom Fleming, David Vine, David Jacobs, Dave Lee Travis, Pete Murray, John Dunn and Michael Aspel. However Terry Wogan provided BBC TV commentary every year from 1980 to 2008. It was confirmed on 12 August 2008 that Terry Wogan would no longer present the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK. The BBC Radio 2 DJ, who had fronted the BBC's coverage for 37 years, said it was "time for someone else to take over". He was replaced in 2009 by Graham Norton for the final. Norton has continued in the role ever since.

The final of the contest has been broadcast by BBC One (previously BBC Television Service and BBC TV) since the first contest in 1956, the first live colour transmission of the contest in the United Kingdom was the Eurovision Song Contest 1970, the first high definition broadcast of the contest began in 2007 when the contest was simulcast on BBC HD. The final is also broadcast on radio, initially on BBC Light Programme until the 1967 contest. From 1968 it was broadcast on BBC Radio 1, moving to BBC Radio 2 from the 1974 contest where it has remained ever since (except for 1983–1985). Both semi-finals are broadcast on BBC Three. Between 1963 and 1976 the contest was also broadcast on BFBS Radio.

In the 1998 Contest, hosted in Birmingham, Terry Wogan acted as both commentator and on-stage presenter (together with Ulrika Jonsson). In the 1980 Contest, each song was introduced by a presenter from the national country, the United Kingdom entry being introduced by Noel Edmonds.

For most contests, a spokesperson has delivered the results of the national jury, or in recent years the results of the televoting, awarding points to the entries on behalf of his or her country. The exceptions were the contests held in 1971–1973 when votes were cast by two jury members present at the contest venue, appearing at the end of the contest to confirm their scores.

No British-born broadcaster has either presented or commentated on the live television final for over thirty years, the last being Jan Leeming in 1982.

Years	Grand Finals
	Television		Radio			Online
	Spokespersons	BBC One	BBC Radio 1	BBC Radio 2	BFBS	BBC iPlayer	BBC Radio 2 Eurovision
1956	United Kingdom did not compete	Wilfrid Thomas	BBC Radio 1 did not broadcast contest	Unknown	BFBS did not broadcast contest	BBC iPlayer did not exist	BBC Radio 2 Eurovision did not exist
1957	David Jacobs	Berkeley Smith		Tom Sloan
1958	United Kingdom did not compete	Peter Haigh
1959	Pete Murray	Tom Sloan		Pete Murray
1960	Nick Burrell-Davis	David Jacobs
1961	Michael Aspel	Tom Sloan
1962	Alex Macintosh	David Jacobs		Peter Haigh
1963	Nicholas Parsons			Michael Aspel
1964	Desmond Carrington			Tom Sloan	Ian Fenner
1965	Alastair Burnet			David Gell
1966	Michael Aspel			John Dunn
1967		Rolf Harris		Richard Baker	Thurston Holland
1968		No Commentator	Pete Murray	BBC Radio 2 did not broadcast contest
1969	Colin-Ward Lewis	Michael Aspel			Thurston Holland
1970		David Gell	Tony Brandon
1971	No Spokespersons	Dave Lee Travis	Terry Wogan
1972		Tom Fleming	Pete Murray		Terry James
1973		Terry Wogan			Richard Astbury
1974	Colin-Ward Lewis	David Vine	BBC Radio 1 did not broadcast contest	Terry Wogan
1975	Ray Moore	Pete Murray			Terry Wogan
1976		Michael Aspel			Richard Astbury
1977	Colin Berry	Pete Murray			BFBS did not broadcast contest
1978		Terry Wogan		Ray Moore
1979		John Dunn
1980	Ray Moore	Terry Wogan		Steve Jones
1981	Colin Berry			Ray Moore
1982
1983				BBC Radio 2 did not broadcast contest
1984
1985
1986				Ray Moore
1987
1988				Ken Bruce
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998	Ken Bruce
1999	Colin Berry
2000
2001
2002
2003	Lorraine Kelly
2004
2005	Cheryl Baker
2006	Fearne Cotton
2007						Terry Wogan
2008	Carrie Grant
2009	Duncan James	Graham Norton				Graham Norton
2010	Scott Mills
2011	Alex Jones
2012	Scott Mills
2013
2014							Ana Matronic
2015	The BBC's 2015 Broadcasting delegation is yet to be announced.

• It has to be assumed that Terry Wogan's commentary was taken by BFBS in 1975 since Terry says in his BBC Radio 2 commentary "Richard Astbury sends his apologies to BFBS listeners - technical difficulties".

Additionally, from 2004–2010, Paddy O'Connell commentated on the semi-final shows. In 2007, 2009 and 2010 he was also joined by Sarah Cawood. In 2008 he was joined by Caroline Flack. In recent years, the dual-commentator format during the semi-finals has allowed for the broadcaster to incorporate additional segments, interviews and live viewer interaction, during the programmes live airing.

In 2011, O'Connell was replaced by Scott Mills who provided the commentary from London, while Sara Cox provided interaction from the venue. Cox and Mills provided commentary again in 2012. In 2013, Cox was replaced by Ana Matronic and Matronic was replaced in 2014 by Laura Whitmore. In 2014, Matronic provided commentary for the second semi-final of the 2014 Contest on BBC Radio 2 Eurovision, a temporary station which was broadcast on DAB radio over four days, as well as the BBC Radio 2 website.

Years	Semi-Finals
	Television		Online
	BBC Three		BBC iPlayer		BBC Radio 2 Eurovision
2004	Paddy O'Connell	No Dual Commentator	BBC iPlayer did not exist		BBC Radio 2 Eurovision did not exist
2005
2006
2007		Sarah Cawood
2008		Caroline Flack	Paddy O'Connell	Caroline Flack
2009		Sarah Cawood		Sarah Cawood
2010
2011	Scott Mills	Sara Cox	Scott Mills	Sara Cox
2012
2013		Ana Matronic		Ana Matronic
2014		Laura Whitmore		Laura Whitmore	Ana Matronic
2015	The BBC's 2015 Broadcasting delegation is yet to be announced.

Separate entrants

For several years the Scottish National Party (SNP) has campaigned for a place in Eurovision for Scotland but had been rejected numerous times because Scotland is represented as a part of the British entry and is represented by the BBC.

On 11 February 2008 the EBU stated that a Scottish broadcaster could apply for EBU membership, but under the current rules could not enter the Eurovision Song Contest as the BBC currently has exclusive rights to represent the entire United Kingdom. It was announced in late May 2008 that the UK would be participating in the 2009 Contest and, therefore, Scotland was not represented in 2009 as a separate entrant.

Scotland could be represented by STV, ITV Border or BBC Scotland. MEP Alyn Smith has said in the European Parliament: "Other small countries have done it [entered the competition] and I will be happy to help any of the broadcasting companies through the progress."

In 2011 the European Broadcasting Union stated that there was nothing to prevent Scotland from submitting its own entry, although STV stated that there were no current plans for a separate entry.

If Scotland were to participate it is unknown whether or not England, Wales and Northern Ireland would show any interest in entering the Eurovision Song Contest independently as well, although S4C (the Welsh language media channel) has expressed an interest and, in addition, already holds a yearly national song contest called "Cân i Gymru" (Song for Wales). S4C also considered a bid for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 but decided not to go ahead. In 2009 MEP for Wales Jillian Evans stated her interest in securing Wales a place in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, Wales could be represented by either BBC Cymru Wales, ITV Wales & West or S4C. There is a small campaign in Northern Ireland for a separate entrant and it could be represented by UTV or BBC Northern Ireland. There are no plans currently for England to enter separately.

However, to date, these proposed changes have not occurred, and the United Kingdom still participates in the Eurovision Song Contest as a single entrant. It was unknown what would happen if Scotland were to become an independent country. However on 25 November 2013, the Scottish Government released a referendum blueprint which detailed plans for the transfer of BBC Scotland into the Scottish Broadcasting Service (SBS) and joining the EBU, as well as partaking in competitions, including Scottish entries in the Eurovision Song Contest. However, the referendum result on 18 September 2014 was to remain part of the United Kingdom, and the aforementioned BBC retains exclusive rights to represent the United Kingdom, including Scotland.

Photogallery

• 
  Ronnie Carroll at Luxembourg (1962)
• 
  Kathy Kirby at Naples (1965)
• 
  Brotherhood of Man at The Hague (1976)
• 
  Scooch at Helsinki (2007)
• 
  Andy Abraham at Belgrade (2008)
• 
  Blue at Düsseldorf (2011)
• 
  Bonnie Tyler at Malmö (2013)

See also

• United Kingdom in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
• United Kingdom in the Eurovision Dance Contest
• United Kingdom in the Eurovision Young Musicians

External links

• Eurovision Song Contest at BBC Online