The United Kingdom participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Even If" written by Andy Abraham, Paul Wilson and Andy Watkins. The song was performed by Andy Abraham. The British entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia was selected via the national final Eurovision: Your Decision, organised by the British broadcaster BBC. Six acts competed in the national final and the winner was selected through three rounds of voting.
As a member of the "Big Four", the United Kingdom automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 2, the United Kingdom placed 25th (last) out of the 25 participating countries with 14 points, making it the second time the nation had placed last in the history of the competition.
Background
Prior to the 2008 contest, the United Kingdom has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty times. Thus far, the United Kingdom has won the contest five times: in 1967 with the song "Puppet on a String" performed by Sandie Shaw, in 1969 with the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang" performed by Lulu, in 1976 with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" performed by Brotherhood of Man, in 1981 with the song "Making Your Mind Up" performed by Bucks Fizz and in 1997 with the song "Love Shine a Light" performed by Katrina and the Waves. To this point, the nation is noted for having finished as the runner-up in a record fifteen contests. Up to and including 1998, the UK had only twice finished outside the top 10, in 1978 and 1987. Since 1999, the year in which the rule was abandoned that songs must be performed in one of the official languages of the country participating, the UK has had less success, thus far only finishing within the top ten once: in 2002 with the song "Come Back" performed by Jessica Garlick. For the 2007 contest, the United Kingdom finished in twenty-second place out of twenty-four competing entries with the song "Flying the Flag (For You)" performed by Scooch.
The British national broadcaster, BBC, broadcasts the event within the United Kingdom and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. BBC announced that the United Kingdom would participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 on 21 December 2007. BBC has traditionally organised a national final featuring a competition among several artists and songs to choose the British entry for Eurovision. For their 2008 entry, the broadcaster announced that a national final involving a public vote would be held to select United Kingdom's entry.
Before Eurovision
Eurovision: Your Decision
Eurovision: Your Decision was the national final developed by the BBC in order to select the British entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Six acts competed in a televised show on 1 March 2008 held at the BBC Television Centre's Studio 8 in White City, London and hosted by Terry Wogan and Claudia Winkleman. The winner was selected through a professional jury and a public televote. The show was broadcast on BBC One. The national final was watched by 5.1 million viewers in the United Kingdom with a market share of 24%.
Competing entries
Six finalists were selected to compete in the national final and split into three categories: soloists, girl groups and Joseph v Maria (consisting of the two finalists from the BBC reality television shows Any Dream Will Do and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?). The six artists were announced on 18 February 2008, while previews of the competing songs were premiered during The One Show on BBC One, hosted by Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles, between 26 and 28 February 2008.