United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003
. They used A Song For Europe to choose their entry. The winner was Liverpudlian duo Jemini
with the song Cry Baby
. The song went on to gain the worst placing ever for the United Kingdom - last place with no points.
expressed her interest to participate again, and had submitted two songs to the selection. The fee for sending in a song was £110, and under £20 if you were 17 or under. A total of 700 songs were received by the BBC
for the selection, 150 more than the year before.
Between 27 January 2003 and 30 January 2003 the eight songs in the semi final were played on BBC Radio 2
and were available to listen to online. On 31 January 2003 on a show hosted by Ken Bruce
and Terry Wogan
, both the radio and television commentators for the Eurovision Song Contest
in the United Kingdom. Over 30,000 votes were cast during the show to find the four finalists for A Song For Europe.
A number of changes were made to the line up before the final on 2 March 2003. Tricity changed their name to Jemini
, due to one member leaving the act. Esther Hart
was also replaced as she decided take part in the Dutch selection, and went on to represent Netherlands
in the contest with One More Night. She was replaced with the group United Colors Of Sound, who were Jessica Garlick
's backing singers the year before. The line up was changed again, with Simon Chapman, an unknown singer, replacing the United Colors of Sound in singing the song Now and Forever.
The final was held on 2 March 2003 by Terry Wogan
. In between each song, previous Eurovision Song Contest winners
for the United Kingdom shared their experience at the contest. After the songs were over, the voting lines were open briefly. In this time, the regional vote announcers were introduced. These were as follows;
, written and composed by Martin Isherwood and sung by Jemini
, a duo hailing from Liverpool
.
put it down that the monitors were switched off, so was unable to hear the backing track in her earpiece. The duo's dressing room was also attacked by vandals after the contest had ended.
During the "Liquid Eurovision" show that was broadcast on BBC One
after the contest ended, it was revealed that Ireland
had received the most votes in every region of the country, apart from in the South of England where Turkey
were top. It was also revealed that if the backup jury had to be used, Turkey would also have received top marks from the United Kingdom.
, the duo sang a note perfect rendition of their Eurovision entry.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003
Eurovision Song Contest 2003
The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the forty-eighth Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Skonto Hall in Riga, Latvia on 24 May 2003. The hosts were Marie N and Renārs Kaupers. Sertab Erener, the Turkish entrant, won the contest with "Everyway That I Can", scoring 167 points. The winning...
. They used A Song For Europe to choose their entry. The winner was Liverpudlian duo Jemini
Jemini
Jemini were a British pop group from Liverpool, best known for scoring "nul points" and finishing in last place with their song "Cry Baby" at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia.-Early career:...
with the song Cry Baby
Cry Baby (Jemini song)
"Cry Baby", written and composed by Martin Isherwood, was the United Kingdom's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, and was performed by the duo Jemini...
. The song went on to gain the worst placing ever for the United Kingdom - last place with no points.
A Song For Europe 2003
Nikki French, the singer who represented the United Kingdom in 2000Eurovision Song Contest 2000
The Eurovision Song Contest 2000 was the 45th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 13 May 2000 at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, following Charlotte Nilsson's victory in Jerusalem the previous year. It was the first time since 1996 that the contest was held on mainland Europe. The...
expressed her interest to participate again, and had submitted two songs to the selection. The fee for sending in a song was £110, and under £20 if you were 17 or under. A total of 700 songs were received by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
for the selection, 150 more than the year before.
Between 27 January 2003 and 30 January 2003 the eight songs in the semi final were played on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
and were available to listen to online. On 31 January 2003 on a show hosted by Ken Bruce
Ken Bruce
Kenneth Robertson Bruce is a British broadcaster known for his programme on BBC Radio 2, which is broadcast on weekdays from 9:30am until 12 noon.-Early life and career:...
and Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...
, both the radio and television commentators for the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
in the United Kingdom. Over 30,000 votes were cast during the show to find the four finalists for A Song For Europe.
A number of changes were made to the line up before the final on 2 March 2003. Tricity changed their name to Jemini
Jemini
Jemini were a British pop group from Liverpool, best known for scoring "nul points" and finishing in last place with their song "Cry Baby" at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia.-Early career:...
, due to one member leaving the act. Esther Hart
Esther Hart
Esther Hart is a Dutch singer. She entered BBC TV's A Song for Europe contest in 2003 with the song "Wait For Moment". She withdrew from that contest as participating for two countries would not have been acceptable for both BBC and NOS...
was also replaced as she decided take part in the Dutch selection, and went on to represent Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in the contest with One More Night. She was replaced with the group United Colors Of Sound, who were Jessica Garlick
Jessica Garlick
Jessica Julie Anne Garlick is a Welsh pop singer.Garlick made her first steps into showbusiness when she was 16. At that age she won the Welsh final of the TV talent show Star For A Night. The same year she also featured in Michael Barrymore's My Kind of Music...
's backing singers the year before. The line up was changed again, with Simon Chapman, an unknown singer, replacing the United Colors of Sound in singing the song Now and Forever.
The final was held on 2 March 2003 by Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...
. In between each song, previous Eurovision Song Contest winners
Eurovision Song Contest winners
Fifty-nine songs have won the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual competition organised by member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. The Contest, which has been broadcast every year since its debut in 1956, is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world...
for the United Kingdom shared their experience at the contest. After the songs were over, the voting lines were open briefly. In this time, the regional vote announcers were introduced. These were as follows;
| Region | Announcer |
|---|---|
| South | Esther Rantzen Esther Rantzen Esther Louise Rantzen CBE is an English journalist and television presenter who is best known for presenting the BBC television series That's Life!, and for her work in various charitable causes. She is founder of the child protection charity ChildLine, and also advocates the work of the Burma... |
| Wales | Jessica Garlick Jessica Garlick Jessica Julie Anne Garlick is a Welsh pop singer.Garlick made her first steps into showbusiness when she was 16. At that age she won the Welsh final of the TV talent show Star For A Night. The same year she also featured in Michael Barrymore's My Kind of Music... |
| Northern Ireland | Joe Mace Joe Mace Joe Mace is a British radio and television presenter. Former host of the programme The Album Chart Show on the UK's Channel 4 and the Dream Ticket on BBC 6 Music.... |
| Midlands | Mel and Sue Mel and Sue Mel and Sue are a British comedy duo, consisting of Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.-Early career:The two women met whilst students at the University of Cambridge in England where both were members of the famous comedy club Footlights.-Television:Their television breakthrough came on the French &... |
| North England | Matt Baker |
| Scotland | Nicholas Parsons Nicholas Parsons Nicholas Parsons OBE is a British actor and radio and television presenter.-Early life:... |
Results
After the first few votes had been announced, it was obvious that it would be a two horse race between Cry Baby and Help Me, with Ever Since That Night trailing behind. The eventual winner was Cry BabyCry Baby (Jemini song)
"Cry Baby", written and composed by Martin Isherwood, was the United Kingdom's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, and was performed by the duo Jemini...
, written and composed by Martin Isherwood and sung by Jemini
Jemini
Jemini were a British pop group from Liverpool, best known for scoring "nul points" and finishing in last place with their song "Cry Baby" at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia.-Early career:...
, a duo hailing from Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
.
| Artist | Song | Place | Total | South England |
Wales | Northern Ireland |
Midlands | North England |
Scotland | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jemini Jemini Jemini were a British pop group from Liverpool, best known for scoring "nul points" and finishing in last place with their song "Cry Baby" at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia.-Early career:... |
Cry Baby Cry Baby (Jemini song) "Cry Baby", written and composed by Martin Isherwood, was the United Kingdom's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, and was performed by the duo Jemini... |
1 | 68 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 12 | |||
| Simon Chapman | Now and Forever | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| Mimi | Ever since that Night | 3 | 54 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | |||
| Emily Reed | Help Me | 2 | 64 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 10 | |||
| Scores are shown in the order they were awarded on the night | ||||||||||||
At Eurovision
At Eurovision, the song fared badly and gained the worst result ever for the United Kingdom last, with the infamous nul points. Some blame the United Kingdoms involvement in the Iraq War the reason why no points were given to the song and others put it down to just a bad song. The female half of JeminiJemini
Jemini were a British pop group from Liverpool, best known for scoring "nul points" and finishing in last place with their song "Cry Baby" at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia.-Early career:...
put it down that the monitors were switched off, so was unable to hear the backing track in her earpiece. The duo's dressing room was also attacked by vandals after the contest had ended.
During the "Liquid Eurovision" show that was broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
after the contest ended, it was revealed that Ireland
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003
After a disappointing 21st placing in the 2001 contest, Ireland was relegated from the 2002 contest. For the 2003 contest in Riga, Ireland abandoned the "National Song Contest" format, and set up a reality show to choose their entrant for the near foreseeable future, You're A Star...
had received the most votes in every region of the country, apart from in the South of England where Turkey
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003
Turkey took part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with Sertab Erener. There was no Turkish National Final in 2003. Instead, TRT decided to send Sertab Erener to Riga to represent Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003. Sertab Erener is well known in her own country...
were top. It was also revealed that if the backup jury had to be used, Turkey would also have received top marks from the United Kingdom.
After Eurovision
After Eurovision, Gemma works in a car showroom and Chris currently works in a clothes shop. During the United Kingdoms coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004Eurovision Song Contest 2004
The Eurovision Song Contest 2004, was the 49th Contest and it was held in the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. This was the first occasion in which the contest was held in Turkey after they had won the competition in 2003 with Sertab Erener singing "Everyway That I Can"...
, the duo sang a note perfect rendition of their Eurovision entry.