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Host country: Denmark
Venue: Parken Stadium, Copenhagen
Date: 12 May 2001
Presenters: Soren Pilmark, Natasja Crone
Won by: Estonia

The dominance of English continued apace in the 2001 Eurovision. This year all but four songs were sung either entirely or partly in English - even the French song contained lines in English!!

So once again the United Kingdom fared badly, scoring exactly the same - 28 - as last year, but finishing 15th, one place higher. Added with the fact that no one in Europe likes us, it proves the UK entry needs to be ten times as good as anything else. At least we beat Ireland...

After an astonishing run of success in the 1990s, Ireland scored a pitiful 6 points - 5 of which inevitably came from the British public. This means for the only the second time in over 35 years the Irish would be missing from the following year's contest. A change in the relegation system meant that only the top 15 countries were eligible to take part in 2002. You may think the UK only just scraped through then, but we're guaranteed a place along with France, Germany and Spain as those four put the most money into the EBU coffers.

Enough of the losers, what about the winners? There were no really stand-out songs this year; but when the voting came it was a two-horse race, with only Estonia and Denmark in contention, although France and Greece were never far behind. I must have dropped off during the Estonian entry, because quite what made the European public go for it in such a big way is a mystery to me.

My initial suspicion had been another win for Sweden (left) - after winning with a very Abba-esque song in 1999 (and indeed a very Abba-esque song in 1974, but then that was Abba after all), they entered yet another Abba-sounding song, which might as well have been called 'Waterloo Part 3'. But this time they came only fifth. Meanwhile Greece finished third, their best ever placing, even without the guarantee of 12 points from an absent Cyprus.

But other than the ironically-titled 'You Got Style' from Lithuania, and the Russian entry Mumiy Troll who had evidently lost his marbles on the way to the stage, no one, not even wildcards Germany, really tried to send up the contest this year. Most of the entertainment value instead came from the presenters. Dubbed Dr Death and the Tooth Fairy by Terry Wogan, to which the Danes took great exception, they presented the show speaking entirely in rhyming couplets. Their bizarre routines were enough to render all those watching speechless, not to mention Dr Death's conjuring tricks (right).

But away from the serious business of Eurovision; there was one small victory for a small but select band of BBC Choice viewers when Slovenian spokesperson Mojca Mavec announced her countries' votes - only those who saw the previous Thursday's RDA with John Gordillo will know what I mean...

Click here to view the 2001 scoreboard (opens in new window)

Countries voting are shown across the top, with each country's cumulative total after the country has voted shown in large type, and the points awarded in small type. Each country gave 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points to its top ten songs
BBC broadcast: Saturday 12 May 2001, 8.00-10.59pm. Commentary: BBC1 - Terry Wogan, Radio 2 - Ken Bruce. UK vote spokesperson: Colin Berry

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