SW
This is sort of right. The end of March was usual Eurovision time for many years, it's presumably different now you have the requirement to tour it around Europe for several months.
Gina G wasn't especially chosen via TOTP. It used to be in the early nineties that the songs would be previewed on Wogan and then you'd have the show to allow you to vote, and when Wogan was axed there seemed to be still the idea that previewing the songs was neccessary. So in 1993 and 1994 there were short ten minute programmes dotted around the schedules where the songs would be showcased. Here's one - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1994-03-05#at-17.50
In 1995 this was replaced by a TOTP special which featured all eight songs, but there was no voting involved, it just served as a preview for the proper show the following week. It was a bit different in 1996 as the TOTP special had a purpose because there was a vote to narrow the eight songs down to four - I remember they also did the vote on Live and Kicking the next morning - and then those four would be in the proper show, which by now had been renamed The Great British Song Contest. That was the last time it was in the familiar Friday night slot it had been in for over a decade.
In 1997, as you say, the lottery was involved. Only four songs were performed on telly - I think they were narrowed down from eight on Radio 2 - and they were performed on the lottery in consecutive weeks (a bit like the old sixties and seventies format when they would do it every week as part of a Saturday night TV show). Then the main show itself was on a Sunday afternoon, from the lottery set (pretty sure the whole thing was pre-recorded), with the results not revealed until the following Saturday's lottery. That was then repeated the following year, and then in 1999 they did the same thing but because the lottery show was now quizzes, it was done via Top of the Pops, with the four songs performed in consecutive weeks, then the Sunday afternoon show and the result revealed on the next Friday's Pops (which was on BBC2 opposite Red Nose Day, so nobody watched it).
In 2000 the whole idea of previewing the songs over several weeks went for a burton (they still did it on the radio, but not on the telly) and the whole thing - performing, voting and the result - was done and dusted in a single show on Sunday afternoon BBC1. It was mounted on the Top of the Pops set but it had no other connection to TOTP. That was then the case until 2003, from 2002 moving out of the Pops set and onto its own, and that year presented by Christopher Price just a few weeks before he died. They called it A Song For Europe again at that point.
The 2003 one was actually quite interesting, as it was presented by Tel for the first time since 1996, and also had a panel revealing the votes from each part of the UK, including Mel and Sue, Uncle Matt Baker and Nicholas Parsons, in a Blankety Blank-style set, and it was actually quite entertaining with Tel on top form. Obviously the result was a disaster and, as you say, from the following year, it was back in primetime with Making Your Mind Up.
Was the EBU deadline later back then (and the contest generally a bit earlier, sometimes pushed into the end of April?) Nowadays everything has to be "in the can" by mid-March. Im guessing therefore Good Friday would have been pushing it for the British National Final on several occasions?
To answer elsewhere - Yes, there was a mix of TOTP and Lottery specials in the 90s. Gina G was chosen by.TOTP in 96, Katrina was chosen on the Lottery in 97. Think 98 might have been a more elaborate affair - I remember a VT with Katrina showing off the NIA.
Couldn't tell you how we picked after that, only that Making Your Mind Up came after Jemini. That got rebranded Eurovision Your Decision at some point. Then it was 2 years of Your Country Needs You, four years of internal then as of this year 4 years of Eurovision You Decide.
To answer elsewhere - Yes, there was a mix of TOTP and Lottery specials in the 90s. Gina G was chosen by.TOTP in 96, Katrina was chosen on the Lottery in 97. Think 98 might have been a more elaborate affair - I remember a VT with Katrina showing off the NIA.
Couldn't tell you how we picked after that, only that Making Your Mind Up came after Jemini. That got rebranded Eurovision Your Decision at some point. Then it was 2 years of Your Country Needs You, four years of internal then as of this year 4 years of Eurovision You Decide.
This is sort of right. The end of March was usual Eurovision time for many years, it's presumably different now you have the requirement to tour it around Europe for several months.
Gina G wasn't especially chosen via TOTP. It used to be in the early nineties that the songs would be previewed on Wogan and then you'd have the show to allow you to vote, and when Wogan was axed there seemed to be still the idea that previewing the songs was neccessary. So in 1993 and 1994 there were short ten minute programmes dotted around the schedules where the songs would be showcased. Here's one - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1994-03-05#at-17.50
In 1995 this was replaced by a TOTP special which featured all eight songs, but there was no voting involved, it just served as a preview for the proper show the following week. It was a bit different in 1996 as the TOTP special had a purpose because there was a vote to narrow the eight songs down to four - I remember they also did the vote on Live and Kicking the next morning - and then those four would be in the proper show, which by now had been renamed The Great British Song Contest. That was the last time it was in the familiar Friday night slot it had been in for over a decade.
In 1997, as you say, the lottery was involved. Only four songs were performed on telly - I think they were narrowed down from eight on Radio 2 - and they were performed on the lottery in consecutive weeks (a bit like the old sixties and seventies format when they would do it every week as part of a Saturday night TV show). Then the main show itself was on a Sunday afternoon, from the lottery set (pretty sure the whole thing was pre-recorded), with the results not revealed until the following Saturday's lottery. That was then repeated the following year, and then in 1999 they did the same thing but because the lottery show was now quizzes, it was done via Top of the Pops, with the four songs performed in consecutive weeks, then the Sunday afternoon show and the result revealed on the next Friday's Pops (which was on BBC2 opposite Red Nose Day, so nobody watched it).
In 2000 the whole idea of previewing the songs over several weeks went for a burton (they still did it on the radio, but not on the telly) and the whole thing - performing, voting and the result - was done and dusted in a single show on Sunday afternoon BBC1. It was mounted on the Top of the Pops set but it had no other connection to TOTP. That was then the case until 2003, from 2002 moving out of the Pops set and onto its own, and that year presented by Christopher Price just a few weeks before he died. They called it A Song For Europe again at that point.
The 2003 one was actually quite interesting, as it was presented by Tel for the first time since 1996, and also had a panel revealing the votes from each part of the UK, including Mel and Sue, Uncle Matt Baker and Nicholas Parsons, in a Blankety Blank-style set, and it was actually quite entertaining with Tel on top form. Obviously the result was a disaster and, as you say, from the following year, it was back in primetime with Making Your Mind Up.
Last edited by Steve Williams on 14 February 2019 9:23am
