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Host country: Ukraine
Venue: Palats Sportu, Kyiv
Dates: 19 May 2005 (Semi Final), 21 May 2005 (Grand Final)
Presenters: Mariya Efrosinina, Pavlo Shylko
Won by: Greece

It was perhaps no surprise that following the recent wins of Sertab and Ruslana, that Eurovision 2005 would contain a proliferation of similar big performance/big drums/Eastern-flavoured songs. But anyone hoping for a change from this kind of thing was to be sorely disappointed with the result which saw Greece win (for the first time, 31 years after their debut) with yet another Eastern-flavoured big performance.

That's not to say there wasn't a variety of musical styles in this year's contest. Rock made a comeback, most notably with the year's most memorable entrants Wig Wam, Norway's answer to The Darkness (right), who provided us with some unashamed Glam Rock. Rock also came from the likes of Russia's equivalent of Avril Lavigne, Natalia Podolskaya, Germany's Gracia and Switzerland's Vanilla Ninja. In a shrewd move, given the dominance of Eastern Europe in recent years, the Swiss took the option of importing their group from Estonia - and this gave them their best result in years. Estonia itself, meanwhile, was knocked out of the semi-final for the second year running.

Moldova, with their debut entry, brought us probably the most bizarre entry of the night, Zdob Si Zdub with their song 'Grandma Beats the Drum', in which the aforementioned Grandma sat in her rocking chair throughout the performance before rising up at the end to, um, beat a drum (left). They finished second in the semi, sixth in the final, and at one point early on seemed in danger of winning.

One of the biggest shocks of this year was Ireland's failure to make it past the semi-final. Kings of Eurovision in the 1990s, Ireland tried a different tack this year by eschewing the usual male singer/ballad approach and instead tried something more upbeat with brother/sister duo Joseph and Donna McCall. But it still didn't bring them any luck. The Netherlands also failed to make it though to the final - the country is now said to be reconsidering its future in the contest.

Another notable absence in the final was the lack of an accordion - unfortunately this year's accordion entry by Austria, which went the whole hog and also threw in trumpets, trombones and even yodelling, was also knocked out. The highest scorer in the semi, incidentally, was Romania's Ruby Wax look-a-like Luminita Anghel.

2005 turned out to be another dismal year for the UK. Not helped by choosing to go down the same big performance/Eastern-flavoured route as half the other countries, and by singing second, a position from which no one has ever won in fifty years of Eurovision, Javine could muster no better than third from bottom.

But the most notable aspect of this year's result was that the bottom four was also the 'Big Four' - the UK, France, Germany and Spain, who are the biggest contributors to the EBU and are therefore guaranteed a place in the final. Was the result a sign of resentment from the other countries who see this as unfair? Or is it all down to Eastern block voting, which has produced a winner from the Eastern half of Europe for the fifth year in succession and seen many Western European countries sidelined?

Or are we taking our priviledged position for granted and just not trying any more?

Click here to view the 2005 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 21 May 2005, 8.00-11.24pm. Commentary: BBC1 - Terry Wogan, Radio 2 - Ken Bruce. UK vote spokesperson: Cheryl Baker

The following countries had to enter the qualifying round in order to stand a chance of participating in the Grand Final. Those highlighted in light blue progressed to the Grand Final; however the scores and placings were not revealed until after the contest.

Click here to view the 2005 semi-final scoreboard (opens in new window)

Although the voting was not televised, this scoreboard shows the cumulative scores as well as the points awarded, as if the scoring had been announced in the traditional manner. Each country gave 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points to its top ten songs
BBC broadcast: Thursday 19 May 2005, 8.00-10.18pm. Commentary: BBC3 - Paddy O'Connell

There were initially two more countries expected to make their debuts in this year's semi-final - the Czech Republic withdrew in December, while Lebanon withdrew in March, due to their refusal to broadcast the Israeli entry; their entry was to have been Quand Tout S'Enfuit, sung by Aline Lahoud.

Click below to see more images from both nights' contests:

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