Country United Kingdom Selected entrant Engelbert Humperdinck | Selection process Internal selection | |
Selection date(s) Artist: 1 March 2012
Song presentation: 19 March 2012 Selected song "Love Will Set You Free" Selected songwriter(s) Martin Terefe
Sacha Skarbek | ||
The United Kingdom participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The British entry was selected through an internal selection, organised by the British broadcaster BBC. Engelbert Humperdinck represented United Kingdom with the song "Love Will Set You Free" composed by Martin Terefe and Sacha Skarbek. Humperdinck finished in 25th place with a score of 12 points in the final.
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Early rumours
On 24 August 2011, the Daily Star reported that the BBC were taking an internal selection and that they were targeting Charlotte Church, JLS, The Saturdays, Pixie Lott and Katherine Jenkins. In August 2011, Geri Halliwell proposed that the Spice Girls should reunite to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. On 26 February 2012, it was reported by the Daily Star Sunday that girl band Atomic Kitten were to be the year's entry for Eurovision. These rumours were later denied by all individual members of Atomic Kitten themselves.
Internal selection
On 1 March 2012, following speculation from fans as to when the news would be announced, BBC revealed the announcement of the chosen representative would be later that day, with Eurovision.tv also confirming they would release the news simultaneously. It was revealed later that day that Engelbert Humperdinck was to represent the UK in Baku.
The song was presented on 19 March 2012 at 10:00am UTC, on eurovision.tv and BBC's own official Eurovision website at the same time.
At Eurovision
As a member of the Big Five, the United Kingdom automatically qualified to compete in the final held on 26 May. Humperdinck was drawn to perform first in the line-up. At the end of the contest, the song finished in 25th place with only 12 points, ahead of only Norway, who came last.
It was reported that after the Grand Final Humperdinck refused to turn up at the after party at Euroclub and went straight to his hotel room in disappointment. The next day Humperdinck attended a lavish party as the guest of honour hosted by Azerbaijani Singer Emin Agalarov at a luxury resort just outside Baku. Humperdinck was said to have been in good spirit drinking his favourite wine and even received a round of applause from all the other contestants when he arrived at the party.
On 18 June the EBU revealed the split televoting and jury results of the contest. In the final it was revealed that the United Kingdom had placed 21st in the televoting with 36 points, however placed last with the juries with only 11 points, leading to a combined finish of 25th place.
After Eurovision
After the contest there were calls by several media personalities for the United Kingdom to withdraw from the contest, with Phillip Schofield describing the competition as "political".
The finals got an average of 7.47 million viewers, peaking at 9.6 million viewers, down on the previous year, although the show faced additional competition from an England friendly football match.