| Year: | 1978 |
| Broadcaster: | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Preselection: | A Song for Europe 1978 |
| Preselection Date: | 31 March 1978 |
| Entrant: | Co-Co |
| Song: | The Bad Old Days |
| Final Result: | 11th, 61 points |
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.
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 , albeit with different line-ups. Co-Co would return to 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.
| + Detailed Jury Votes | |||||||||||||||||
| Draw | Song | Total | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 Spokespersons | ||
| Jury | Spokesperson | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 contest was broadcast on BBC1, with commentary by Terry Wogan,[3] and on radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2, with commentary by Ray Moore.[4] [5] The contest was watched by 21 million viewers.[6]
The BBC appointed Colin Berry as its spokesperson to announce the British jury results.[7]