About United Kingdom...

2007 Result
History (1956 to 2006)
This year's entry
What I predicted...
What you thought...
What actually happened

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2007 Result

Points in Semi Final: N/A
Position in Semi Final: N/A

Points in Final: 19
Position in Final: 23rd
More about the 2007 result for United Kingdom

2008 Contest: Big 4 - Directly qualified to Final

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History (1956 to 2006)

United Kingdom's previous appearances: 49 year(s) out of 51 [note]
Years participated: 1957; 1959- [note]
Best result: 1st (1967, 1969, 1976, 1981, 1997)

The United Kingdom is historically one of Eurovision's most successful nations, with 5 wins (the last in 1997, with 'Love Shine a Light') and an extraordinary 15 2nd places, including - most famously - Cliff Richard and 'Congratulations'. Only Ireland, with 7 wins, has a better record. When all countries had to sing in their native language, the UK always had the advantage of singing in English; however, since the free language rule was introduced in 1999, the UK's fortunes seem to have taken a tumble, with the country managing to clock up its five worst ever performances in the course of the last six years.

In 1999, Precious (featuring a pre-Atomic Kitten Jenny Frost) finished a disappointing 12th with 'Say it again', though it was a rather tuneless performance and as much as it deserved. The following year, Nicki French sang 'Don't play that song again'; few people did, and it finished a lowly 16th, until then Britain's worst ever result. A year later, Lindsay D did little better, performing 'No dream impossible' - it finished 15th. It took Jessica Garlick's classy performance of 'Come back' in 2002 to restore some UK pride, gaining a well-earned 4th place.

As a finalist on the talent show 'Pop Idol', one of Jessica's big advantages was her proven ability to sing live in front of a TV audience, something the UK should have remembered in 2003. Instead, the country sent male-female duo Jemini with 'Cry Baby', who - as we all know - scored nothing at all. Still, on the plus side, it at least made Nicki French feel less bad. All kinds of conspiracy theories were produced for why the UK did so badly - there were sound problems on stage, the UK lost out because of the Iraq war, and so on. In truth, however, the UK finished last because the song was dreadful and Jemini gave a bad performance. Having said that, the song was so awful, singing it off key probably made little difference.

The one good thing to emerge from 2003's disaster was the fact that the BBC had little option but to try harder in 2004. Thus, the old-fashioned 'Song for Europe' was rebadged as 'Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up', an array of reality TV stars were wheeled out, most of whom could sing, and the selection show was screened at a time when people at home were actually watching. James Fox, who had finished 5th in the BBC's 'Fame Academy' competition, won easily, and hopes were high that he could restore some British pride. It was not to be, however - James' song, the slightly old-fashioned 'Hold on to our love', certainly did better than 'Cry Baby' the year before, but its 16th place still equalled Nicki French as the UK's second worst performance ever. To be fair to James though, he did the best he could with a pleasant but unremarkable song; it's just that pleasant and unremarkable don't win Eurovision any more, as Ireland has discovered to its cost.

Nevertheless, the BBC retained its faith in the MYMU format in 2005, with 'Popstars: The Rivals' reject Javine managing to see off a concerted challenge from the heavily pregnant glamour model Katie Price, aka Jordan. Unusually, Javine was the first UK Eurovision entrant since 2000 to have tasted chart success prior to the Contest, enjoying a number of hit singles such as 'Real Things' and 'Best of my Love'. However, despite her obvious experience, and a very contemporary-sounding song in the shape of 'Touch My Fire', Javine could only muster 18 points and 22nd place for the UK, causing many to question what exactly Britain needed to do to secure a respectable placing at Eurovision. Certainly it wasn't to send Daz Sampson, who - despite a spirited and enjoyable performance of 'Teenage life' - failed to score much more highly than Javine in 2006, his 19th place giving the UK its longest ever run of entries without a top ten finish.

With the UK's 'Big 4' status, none of this really matters... but In 2007, the UK will surely be aiming to secure a place in the 2008 Final on merit, rather than by the back door. To do that, however, we need to stop blaming politics and find a song that people across Europe are actually going to like.
Get 'The Eurovision Song Contest: The Offical History' at Amazon.co.uk

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This year's entry

Position in Semi Final draw: N/A
Position in Final draw: 19

What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"The UK's 'Making Your Mind Up' show took place on 17 March, with reformed pop quartet Scooch emerging victorious with the camptastic 'Flying the flag (for you)'.

There's so much to say about MYMU 2007, I'm not entirely sure where to begin. To start, it's probably worth noting that the UK has almost certainly never had a national selection with so many established artists: 37 top ten hit singles between them, even if most of this chart success was not - to put it kindly - particularly recent. Nevertheless, I can't recall a UK selection where the quality and range of songs has been so high. Think about some of the rubbish we've had to sit through in recent years, such as the woeful choice of songs in 2003 or Tricia Penrose's kitsch classic 'DJ Romeo'. This year, for once, all six contenders sounded like songs you could plausibly hear in the charts, with at least four that stood a realistic chance of winning MYMU.

The show itself will always, of course, be remembered for Terry Wogan's gaffe where he mistakenly announced Cyndi as the winner instead of Scooch – more of that later. Overall, however, I felt the BBC produced quite a good evening of TV entertainment. Fearne Cotton did a splendid job of reading the autocue, and money had obviously been spent on creating a visually impressive set, seemingly at the expense of any functioning sound equipment. What about the songs? Well, I thought that Liz McLarnon gave a lively performance of a repetitive song that was never likely to win. Brian Harvey, in contrast, had a potentially strong song that suffered from a horrible mix and his rather strained vocal performance. Performing third, I felt that Big Brovaz were the first potential MYMU winners, giving a great performance of a catchy and credible hip hop song that had genuine crossover appeal.

Prior to MYMU, I'd said that Cyndi "may represent the UK's best chance of Eurovision success with her beautiful ballad 'I'll leave my heart'", and, sure enough, it came across well on the night. I voted for Cyndi three times, as it was the one song that I could see picking up votes from all corners of Europe, particularly knowing that, if it got through, 'I'll leave my heart' would offer a stark contrast to the barmy Ukrainian and Romanian entries that would be performed on either side of it. However, though Cyndi's undoubtedly gave a highly competent vocal performance, I did feel that she lacked the charisma and presence that would have elevated the song to something really special – that same quality that allows an artist like Malta's Chiara to light up the stage and give a performance that is truly mesmerising. Performing fifth, Scooch's camp pop provided a suitable contrast to Cyndi's gentle ballad, and I have to admit that they were MUCH better live than I had expected – so I also voted once for Scooch to offset my three votes for Cyndi. I've always loved Scooch, though, and feel proud to be one of the few who bought their 'Four Sure' album before it inevitably hit the bargain bins. It's a jolly good pop album too, and would have been a great success had it been released by Steps instead of what many (unfairly) perceived at the time as a pale and rather belated imitation. Rounding off proceedings, I thought that Justin Hawkins and Beverlei Brown also gave a strong performance of a rather messy song - one that they obviously felt was a stronger contender than turned out to be the case.

Needless to say, I was delighted when the final two acts were revealed as Cyndi and Scooch, and would have been pleased for either one to represent the UK in Helsinki. Though disappointed for Cyndi (I'm sure we'll see her again in the future, however), I was delighted for Scooch - they seem like four of the loveliest people, who are genuinely enjoying their second stab at success and are passionate about representing their country at Eurovision. I remember e-mailing David (the orange Geordie one who offers something to suck on for landing) many years ago via the Scooch website, and being quite excited when he wrote back in person. As for the song, I wholeheartedly embrace it in all its fun, camp glory, complete with blatantly unsubtle innuendo of a kind not seen since the heyday of 'Carry On'. In short, I adore 'Flying the flag (for you)', and I love how Scooch seem to have captured just the right tone: not taking themselves too seriously, yet clearly giving the Eurovision Song Contest the respect and enthusiasm that it deserves. The performance is also fabulous visually, with a colourful and memorable routine that might just manage to outdo Verka Serduchka.

As Scooch's career takes off after MYMU, one might suggest that Terry Wogan's is heading for a crash landing. It wouldn't be before time - once again, the show was spoilt by the lame and embarrassing 'Johnny Foreigner' jokes and badly scripted banter that we've heard a million times before; indeed, even before the debacle over the announcement of the winner, I couldn't help feeling that Fearne Cotton would have done a much better job presenting the show on her own. One of the Sunday newspapers ran the story under the headline 'Terry Woeful', and I couldn't have agreed more – the sooner the BBC replaces Terry with Paddy O'Connell, the sooner we can enjoy watching someone who is not only extraordinarily witty but who actually appears to give a damn about Eurovision."

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What I predicted...

My prediction for Semi Final: N/A
My prediction for Final: 20th to 22nd
What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"The UK is doing badly in the polls this year - much worse, indeed, than in the last few years. I do have a tendency to overestimate support for the UK entries, so this year I'm going to predict that Scooch will finish in the bottom few places, fabulous though their song is. You never know, my negative prediction might well result in the UK getting a top ten placing, which certainly wouldn't be such a bad thing."
Want an alternative prediction? See Simon Hylands' 'Je t'adore, Eurovision!' site

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What you thought...

View the final leader board

In the run up to the Contest, 1,274 visitors to this site awarded points to their favourite songs in the Soult.com Eurovision Jury Vote 2007, voting as a representative of their own country's 'jury'. The votes awarded by representatives of each country were totalled, with each of the 42 participating countries (plus the 'Rest of the World') then awarding points - 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - based on the overall voting preference of its representatives. The points awarded to the entry from United Kingdom are shown in the tables below:

Points awarded to United Kingdom overall:
AL	0	AD	0	AM	0	AT	0	BY	0	BE	0
BA	0	BG	0	HR	0	CY	0	CZ	0	DK	0
EE	0	FI	0	FR	0	GE	0	DE	0	GR	0
HU	5	IS	0	IE	0	IL	1	LV	0	LT	0
MK	0	MT	2	MD	3	ME	0	NL	0	NO	0
PL	0	PT	2	RO	0	RU	0	RS	0	SI	0
ES	0	SE	0	CH	0	TR	0	UA	0	UK	X
WO	0	Last updated: 12 May 2007 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 13, from 5/43 juries
Position: 31 out of 42

Points awarded to United Kingdom in the Semi Final:
AL	0	AD	0	AM	0	AT	0	BY	0	BE	0
BA	0	BG	0	HR	0	CY	0	CZ	0	DK	0
EE	0	FI	0	FR	0	GE	0	DE	0	GR	0
HU	0	IS	0	IE	0	IL	0	LV	0	LT	0
MK	0	MT	0	MD	0	ME	0	NL	0	NO	0
PL	0	PT	0	RO	0	RU	0	RS	0	SI	0
ES	0	SE	0	CH	0	TR	0	UA	0	UK	X
WO	0	Last updated: 12 May 2007 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: N/A, from N/A/43 juries
Position: N/A out of 28

Points awarded to United Kingdom in the Final:
AL	0	AD	5	AM	0	AT	0	BY	0	BE	0
BA	0	BG	0	HR	0	CY	0	CZ	0	DK	0
EE	1	FI