Eurovision Song Contest 1978 | ||||
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Participating broadcaster | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) | |||
Country | United Kingdom | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | A Song for Europe 1978 | |||
Selection date(s) | 31 March 1978 | |||
Selected artist(s) | Co-Co | |||
Selected song | "The Bad Old Days" | |||
Selected songwriter(s) |
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Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 11th, 61 points | |||
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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The United Kingdom was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 with the song "The Bad Old Days", written by Stephanie de Sykes and Stuart Slater, and performed by the band Co-Co. The British participating broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), selected its entry through a national final.
The national final was held on Friday 31 March 1978 at the Royal Albert Hall, presented by Terry Wogan. The songs were backed by the Alyn Ainsworth Orchestra. [1]
Fourteen regional juries voted on the songs: Bristol, Bangor, Leeds, Norwich, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth, Glasgow, Southampton, and London. Each jury voted internally and ranked the songs 1–12, awarding 12 points for their highest scoring song, down to 1 point for the lowest scoring entry.
"The Bad Old Days" won the national and came 11th in the contest. Broadcast on Good Friday, a national holiday in the United Kingdom, A Song for Europe 1978 was watched by 13.7 million viewers and was the 16th-most watched programme of the week – the show's highest ever rating. [1]
Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place |
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1 | Christian | "Shine It On" | Bill Martin & Phil Coulter | 114 | 3 |
2 | Brown Sugar | "Oh No, Look What You've Done" | Wayne Bickerton & Tony Waddington | 49 | 11 |
3 | Fruit Eating Bears | "Door in My Face" | Neville Crozier & Chris Crash | 49 | 11 |
4 | Jacquie Sullivan | "Moments" | Jacquie Sullivan | 106 | 6 |
5 | Sunshine | "Too Much in Love" | Wayne Bickerton & Tony Waddington | 81 | 8 |
6 | Ronnie France | "Lonely Nights" | Paul Curtis | 68 | 9 |
7 | The Jarvis Brothers | "One Glance" | Paul Curtis | 114 | 3 |
8 | Co-Co | "The Bad Old Days" | Stephanie de Sykes & Stuart Slater | 135 | 1 |
9 | Bob James | "We Got It Bad" | Bob James & Labi Siffre | 66 | 10 |
10 | Midnight | "Don't Bother to Knock" | Kenny Lynch, Steve O'Donnell & Colin Horton-Jennings | 116 | 2 |
11 | Babe Rainbow | "Don't Let Me Stand in Your Way" | Irving Martin & Peter Morris | 84 | 7 |
12 | Labi Siffre | "Solid Love" | Labi Siffre | 110 | 5 |
Both groups Co-Co and Sunshine had participated in A Song for Europe 1976 , albeit with different line-ups. Co-Co would return to A Song for Europe 1980 with another line-up, under the name The Main Event. Co-Co's member Cheryl Baker would eventually win the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the group Bucks Fizz.
Draw | Song | Aberdeen | Norwich | Manchester | Bangor | Southampton | Leeds | Belfast | Bristol | Glasgow | Birmingham | London | Cardiff | Newcastle | Plymouth | Total |
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1 | "Shine It On" | 12 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 114 |
2 | "Oh No, Look What You've Done" | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 49 |
3 | "Door in My Face" | 2 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 49 |
4 | "Moments" | 8 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 106 |
5 | "Too Much in Love" | 9 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 81 |
6 | "Lonely Nights" | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 68 |
7 | "One Glance" | 6 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 6 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 11 | 8 | 114 |
8 | "The Bad Old Days" | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 135 |
9 | "We Got It Bad" | 3 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 66 |
10 | "Don't Bother to Knock" | 4 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 116 |
11 | "Don't Let Me Stand in Your Way" | 5 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 84 |
12 | "Solid Love" | 10 | 10 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 110 |
Jury | Spokesperson |
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Aberdeen | Gerry Davis |
Norwich | Chris Denham |
Manchester | Mike Riddoch |
Bangor | Gwyn Llewelyn |
Southampton | Peter Macann |
Leeds | Brian Baines |
Belfast | Michael Baguley |
Bristol | Derek Jones |
Glasgow | Ken Bruce |
Birmingham | Tom Coyne |
London | Ray Moore |
Cardiff | Frank Lincoln |
Newcastle | Mike Neville |
Plymouth | Donald Heighway |
Only the winning song reached the UK Singles Chart.
The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was broadcast on 22 April 1978, with Terry Wogan providing the BBC Television commentary and Ray Moore providing the BBC Radio 2 commentary. The BBC appointed Colin Berry as its spokesperson to announce the British jury results.
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Co-Co was a six-piece British band who represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, staged at the Palais de Congrès in Paris, France, on 22 April 1978, with the song "The Bad Old Days". The song was written by the song writing team Stephanie de Sykes and Stuart Slater. It was finally placed eleventh of the 20 entries, which at the time was the worst showing ever for a UK entry. It would not be until 1987 that any British song fared worse in Eurovision. The group were originally called Mothers Pride.