The United Kingdom was represented at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004, with the song "The Best Is Yet to Come", written and performed by Cory Spedding. The British participating broadcaster, ITV, organised a national final to select its entry for the contest.
The British entry was selected to perform thirteenth in the running order, following the entry from Latvia and preceding the entry from Denmark. It finished in second position with 140 points, which remains the UK's highest placing in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest as of 2023.
Before Junior Eurovision
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004: The British Final A national final was held by ITV to select its entry for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004. The final, broadcast on digital channel ITV2, was held on 4 September 2004 at the Granada Studios in Manchester and was presented by Holly Willoughby, Stephen Mulhern and Michael Underwood. Regional televoting was held to select the winner from the eight competing acts.
+ Final4 September 2004 Artist Song Points Place 1Samantha Seth"Rockstar Wannabe"177 2Kirsty Williams"Sunshine" 294 3Nathan Sykes"Born to Dance"343 4Charlie Allan"One in a Crowd"177 5Loaded Dice"Dill"245 6Jessica Hamilton"Because of You"196 7Andrew Merry"Together Again"462 8Cory Spedding"The Best is Yet to Come"481
+ Detailed regional televoting results SongRegional televoting scope="col" rowspan="2" Total scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" 1 "Rockstar Wannabe" 1 8 1 2 2 3 17 2 "Sunshine" 5 5 6 8 3 2 29 3 "Born to Dance" 10 1 5 5 8 5 34 4 "One in a Crowd" 3 4 2 3 1 4 17 5 "Dill" 6 3 4 1 4 6 24 6 "Because of You" 2 2 3 6 5 1 19 7 "Together Again" 4 10 10 4 10 8 46 8 "The Best is Yet to Come" 8 6 8 10 6 10 48
At Junior Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was initially to be held in Manchester. However, ITV abandoned the project due to finance and scheduling problems.'Junior contest not to take place in Manchester.' It was therefore moved to Lillehammer in Norway.
On the night of the contest, Cory Spedding performed 13th in the running order of the contest, following Latvia and preceding Denmark. At the close of the voting Cory received 140 points, placing 2nd of the 18 competing entries, beaten by María Isabel of Spain.
In the United Kingdom, the show was televised on digital channel ITV2 (due to poor viewing figures the previous year) with commentary by Matt Brown. The British spokesperson, who announced the British votes during the final, was national finalist Charlie Allan. A delayed broadcast, consisting of highlights, was aired on ITV1 the following afternoon.
Voting
+ Points awarded to the United Kingdom Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by the United Kingdom Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
References