For the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest, the United Kingdom entered "Don't Play That Song Again", performed by Nicki French. It received 28 points and 16th place in Stockholm, Sweden.
| Eurovision Song Contest 2000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  United Kingdom | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | A Song for Europe 2000 | |||
| Selection date(s) | Semi-final 14 January 2000 Final 20 February 2000 | |||
| Selected entrant | Nicki French | |||
| Selected song | "Don't Play That Song Again" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 16th, 28 points | |||
| United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Before Eurovision
A Song for Europe 2000
In 2000, the BBC reverted to the historic A Song for Europe title for the national selection competition, but retained the format from the previous selection show The Great British Song Contest (1996–99). The format consisted of a radio semi-final with eight songs, with the top four songs, selected by televoting, progressing to the televised final.
Semi-final
The semi-final was held on 14 January 2000 on BBC Radio 2, hosted by Terry Wogan and Ken Bruce. Televoting selected the top 4 songs to qualify to the final.
| Draw | Artist(s) | Song | Songwriter(s) | Televote | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Helene Horlyck | "Aria" |
| 1,826 | 7 |
| 2 | Catherine Porter | "Crazy" |
| 9,140 | 1 |
| 3 | Nicki French | "Don't Play That Song Again" |
| 5,550 | 2 |
| 4 | Sexy Sadie | "I Won’t Let You Do This to Me" |
| 4,403 | 3 |
| 5 | Six Chix | "Only the Women Know" | Kimberley Rew | 4,115 | 4 |
| 6 | Jayne Tretton | "Stand Up" | Richard Silver | 2,182 | 6 |
| 7 | Catherine Porter | "The Answer" |
| 1,635 | 8 |
| 8 | India | "Wherever You Go" |
| 3,254 | 5 |
Final
The final was held on 20 February 2000 on BBC One, hosted by Katy Hill at BBC Elstree Studios in Borehamwood.[1] A public televote selected the winner, "Don't Play That Song Again" performed by Nicki French.[2]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Televote | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sexy Sadie | "I Won't Let You Do This To Me" | 10,494 | 4 |
| 2 | Catherine Porter | "Crazy" | 29,348 | 3 |
| 3 | Six Chix | "Only the Women Know" | 42,329 | 2 |
| 4 | Nicki French | "Don't Play That Song Again" | 47,355 | 1 |
At Eurovision
The United Kingdom was the third country to perform on the night of the contest, following Netherlands and preceding Estonia. Around 535,000 valid votes were registered in the UK in total during the five-minute voting window, which determined the UK's points. At the end of the voting, Nicki French scored a total of 28 points from eight countries, finishing in 16th place. At that time, it was the worst placing for the United Kingdom since it first entered the contest, and would remain so until 2003.[3] The United Kingdom televoting awarded its 12 points to contest winners Denmark.
