Due to the poor reception of the British entry in the previous year's Eurovision Song Contest, the BBC wanted to revert to the method used to select its entry used in 1964–1975 and approached both Bonnie Tyler and when she was unavailable, Lena Zavaroni to represent the United Kingdom and perform all the shortlisted songs in the national final.

1970s glam rock singer Alvin Stardust (who had recently enjoyed a comeback in the charts) appeared as a performer as did Fiona Kennedy who was at the time a presenter of Record Breakers.

The show opened with a group of dancers, dancing to old Eurovision songs: "Making Your Mind Up", "Waterloo", "Puppet on a String", "Save Your Kisses for Me", "Boom Bang-a-Bang", and "Congratulations".

Nine regional juries located in Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, Belfast, Glasgow, London, Norwich, Plymouth and Bristol voted for the songs.

"Love Is..." performed by Vikki finished in fourth place, gaining 100 points overall, at the Eurovision Song Contest 1985.

The British jury awarded their twelve points to the eventual winners, Norway's "La det swinge" by Bobbysocks!.