United Kingdom in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
United Kingdom | |
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Member station | ITV (UKIB) |
National selection events | National Final
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Participation summary | |
Appearances | 3 |
First appearance | 2003 |
Last appearance | 2005 |
Highest placement | 2nd: 2004 |
External links | |
United Kingdom's page at JuniorEurovision.tv | |
![]() United Kingdom in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2005 |
The participation of the United Kingdom in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest first began at the inaugural Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2003 which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. ITV, a member organisation of the United Kingdom Independent Broadcasting (UKIB) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), were responsible for the selection process of their participation. The United Kingdom used a national selection format, broadcasting a show entitled "Junior Eurovision Song Contest: The British Final", for their participation at the contests. The first representative to participate for the nation at the 2003 contest was Tom Morley with the song "My Song For The World", which finished in third place out of sixteen participating entries, achieving a score of one hundred and eighteen points. United Kingdom withdrew from competing in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2006, and have yet to return to the contest.
History[]
The United Kingdom are one of the sixteen countries to have made their debut at the inaugural Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003, which took place on 15 November 2003 at the Forum in Copenhagen, Denmark.[1] Child-singer, Tom Morley, was the first participant to represent the United Kingdom with the song "My Song For The World",[2] which finished in third place out of sixteen participating entries, achieving a score of one hundred and eighteen points.[3] Morley and Cory Spedding (2004) sang both for the peace in the world and Joni Fuller (2005) described her feelings. The country's best result at the contest was placing second in 2004 with the song "The Best is Yet to Come". The remaining British entrant finished in fourteenth position in 2005.
In 2003, the contest was broadcast live on the main channel ITV (then known as ITV1), however the broadcaster decided to relegate it and the national final to digital channel ITV2 for the next two years due to poor viewing figures that year, before their complete withdrawal in 2006. A delayed broadcast, consisting of highlights, was aired on the main channel in 2004 and 2005. The inaugural contest, broadcast live on ITV1, averaged 5 million viewers.[4] 1.9 million watched the 2004 contest on delay on ITV1 (221,000 watched the live coverage on ITV2).[5] In 2005, the contest was watched by 700,000 viewers on ITV1 (down 63.16% compared with 2004 viewing figures), with 171,000 watching live on ITV2 (down 22.62% compared with 2004).[6]
The 2004 contest originally should have been organised by Carlton Television for ITV in Manchester.[7] In May 2003, it was confirmed that the UK would take part in Copenhagen and host the next edition.[8] ITV then announced in May 2004 that due to financial and scheduling reasons, the contest would in fact not take place in the United Kingdom after all.[9] In August 2004, it was revealed that Granada Television, who would have co-produced the show with Carlton, had decided to pull out of the deal claiming the allocated budget of 1.5 million euros was too small. The EBU offered funding of 900,000 to produce the event, featuring eighteen countries, but the ITV company said it would have cost almost 2.5 million euro so asked them to find a new host broadcaster.[10] It is also thought that another factor to their decision was the previous years' audience ratings for ITV which were below the expected amount.[4]
Possible return[]
In July 2020, it was reported that BBC were considering participation in the upcoming contest in Warsaw.[11] The UK did not appear on the official list of participants as released by the EBU on 8 September 2020.[12] At a Junior Eurovision press event in May 2021, the EBU stated that they were working to bring the United Kingdom back to the contest, possibly for the 2021 edition.[13] However, once again the United Kingdom did not appear on the final list of participants for the 2021 contest which is due to take place in Paris. On 17 December 2021, at a press conference between France Télévisions and the executive supervisor of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest Martin Österdahl, Österdahl stated that he was positive about talks between the European Broadcasting Union and the BBC about a potential return of the UK to the contest in the future.[14] On 11 January 2022, it was speculated that that BBC were looking to return to the contest in 2023, the year marking the 20th anniversary of the first contest.[15]
Welsh debut[]
The Welsh broadcaster Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C) had shown interest in participating for the UK in 2008, hoping to share the Welsh language with a wider audience. Before the digital switchover, the contest would therefore be a bilingual broadcast that would be broadcast in Wales on analogue, and on S4C Digidol in the rest of the UK.[16] In the end, S4C chose not to broadcast the contest. S4C announced on 9 May 2018 that they would debut at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 to be held in Minsk, Belarus.[17][18]
Possible Scottish debut[]
On 29 June 2019, the Scottish broadcaster BBC Alba confirmed that Scotland would not debut in the 2019 Junior Eurovision Song Contest, as they would compete in Eurovision Choir 2019 instead. However, the broadcaster did confirm that talks had taken place that could enable participation for the country in 2020.[19] However, in April 2020, BBC Alba announced that they will not debut at the 2020 contest in Poland.[20]
Radio broadcast[]
On 21 November 2013, it was revealed that Edinburgh-based 98.8 Castle FM (a non EBU member) would broadcast the 2013 contest live to listeners in Scotland.[21] The broadcasting rights had been offered by the EBU to its members, however when no-one in the UK took up the offer, Castle FM – previously known as Leith FM – moved in.[22] The commentators were Ewan Spence and Luke Fisher.
It was announced on 16 October 2014 that the 2014 contest would be broadcast on a radio station across the United Kingdom.[23] Five local radio stations broadcast the contest, one in England (103 The Eye, delayed) and Wales (Oystermouth Radio), and three in Scotland (K107 in Kircaldy, Radio Six International in Glasgow and Shore Radio in Edinburgh).[24] Cotswold FM, Fun Kids, Oystermouth Radio, Radio Six International and Shore Radio transmitted the 2015 contest live with commentary again provided by Ewan Spence.[25]
On 9 November 2016, Radio Six International announced that they would broadcast the 2016 contest live.[26] Ewan Spence, Lisa-Jayne Lewis, Sharleen Wright and Ben Robertson provided the commentary for the radio stations Radio Six International, Fun Kids and 103 The Eye.[27]
Participation overview[]
2
|
Second place |
3
|
Third place |
Year | Entrant | Song | Language | Place | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tom Morley | "My Song for the World" | English | 3 | 118 | |
Cory Spedding | "The Best is Yet to Come" | English | 2 | 140 | |
Joni Fuller | "How Does It Feel?" | English | 14 | 28 |
Commentators and spokespersons[]
![]() | This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2019) |
The contests are broadcast online worldwide through the official Junior Eurovision Song Contest website junioreurovision.tv and YouTube. In 2015, the online broadcasts featured commentary in English by junioreurovision.tv editor Luke Fisher and 2011 Bulgarian Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrant Ivan Ivanov.[28] The British broadcaster, ITV, sent their own commentator to each contest in order to provide commentary in the English language. Spokespersons were also chosen by the national broadcaster in order to announce the awarding points from United Kingdom. The table below list the details of each commentator and spokesperson since 2003, however from 2013 the contest is broadcast by various non-participating radio stations.
Commentators and spokespersons[]
Year | Television | Radio | Spokesperson | Ref. | ||
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Commentator | Channel | Commentator | Station | |||
2003 | Mark Durden-Smith and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson | ITV1 | No broadcast | Sasha Stevens | ||
2004 | Matt Brown | ITV2 (live) ITV1 (delayed) |
Charlie Allan | |||
2005 | Michael Underwood | Vicky Gordon | ||||
2006–2012 | No broadcast | Did not participate | ||||
2013 | Ewan Spence and Luke Fisher | 98.8 Castle FM | ||||
2014 | Ewan Spence | Various radio stations[a] | ||||
2015 | ||||||
2016 | Ewan Spence, Lisa-Jayne Lewis, Sharleen Wright and Ben Robertson |
|||||
2017 | Ewan Spence and Lisa-Jayne Lewis | Radio Six International | ||||
2018 | Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright and Ben Robertson | |||||
2019 | Ewan Spence | Fun Kids | ||||
2020 | Ewan Spence and Ellie Chalkley | Radio Six International | ||||
2021 | No broadcast |
See also[]
- United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest – Senior version of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
- United Kingdom in the Eurovision Dance Contest – Dance version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
- United Kingdom in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
- United Kingdom in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.
- Wales in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Notes and references[]
Notes[]
- ^ In 2014, radio coverage was provided by 103 The Eye, K107, Oystermouth Radio, Radio Six International and Shore Radio. In 2015 by Cotswold FM, Fun Kids, Oystermouth Radio, Radio Six International and Shore Radio. Radio Six International, Fun Kids and 103 The Eye did so again in 2016.
References[]
- ^ García, Belén (7 September 2015). "#BestOfJESC – Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003". esc-plus.com. ESC+Plus. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
- ^ Escudero, Victor M. (9 November 2012). "Remember the first ever Junior Eurovision Song Contest?". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
- ^ "Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003 Scoreboard". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 15 November 2003. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
- ^ a b Cozens, Claire (17 November 2003). "JESC UK ratings". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
- ^ "Junior Eurovision Song History and Rules of the competition". esckaz.com. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
- ^ "Eurovision Viewing figures Junior 2005 available - ESCToday.com". 3 March 2006. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
- ^ "Confirmation of Manchester as original host". European Broadcasting Union. 16 November 2003. Archived from the original on 15 May 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2008.
- ^ "Juniors get Eurovision chance". May 30, 2003. Retrieved 15 October 2020 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "'Junior contest not to take place in Manchester'". ESC Today. 13 May 2004. Archived from the original on 28 May 2004. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
- ^ "Eurovision United Kingdom: EBU junior budget too small - ESCToday.com". August 24, 2004. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
- ^ García, Belén (2020-07-16). "UK: Is BBC considering Junior Eurovision 2020 participation?". ESCplus. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
- ^ "13 countries will 'Move the World' at Junior Eurovision 2020". Junior Eurovision. 2020-09-08. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
- ^ Washak, James (21 May 2021). WIKI