United Kingdom in The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 - A Song For Europe 2003

A Song For Europe 2003

Nikki French, the singer who represented the United Kingdom in 2000 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;