Dan Shipton - Black Skull Creative
Tuesday 14th January 2025
When Ukraine won Eurovision in 2022, with Sam Ryder as the runner-up, the United Kingdom was invited to host the event on behalf of the winning country. Having created and directed Sam’s Spaceman performance in Turin, I was honoured to be asked by the BBC to serve as Lead Creative Director for Eurovision 2023. Collaborating closely with Andrew Cartmell as Executive Producer, Lee Smithurst as Head of Show, Rachel Ashdown as Lead Commissioner, Martin Green as Managing Director and a team of incredibly talented creatives, we worked tirelessly to bring this spectacular show to life in Liverpool in May 2023.

This is the story of how positivity, creativity, music, and collaboration united two nations while welcoming the whole of Europe to Liverpool, the host city. It’s a tale of how a modest creative idea developed for Sam Ryder in 2022 (after the UK’s last-place finish the previous year), grew into the seemingly impossible dream of hosting the Eurovision Song Contest just a year later. Most importantly, it serves as a reminder of the power of creativity can inspire positive change and shape a broader, hopeful narrative in these challenging and divisive political times.
AN IRRELEVANT BIT OF CAMP?
Many people might write Eurovision off as a show full of cheap, camp Europop, but this outdated view couldn’t be further from the truth.
In recent years, Eurovision has become nearly ten hours of TV that is watched by audiences of over 200 million. It’s renowned for having some of the highest production values in the worldwide entertainment industry and whilst viewers can still enjoy a spattering of Euro camp frivolity, the reality is that record companies now see how Eurovision can be used to break artists, not just in Europe, but also in America. Just google Manneskin or Rosa Linn.

Eurovision is about to celebrate its 70th birthday and remains as relevant today as it was when it was first established. Many would be forgiven for not knowing its history - that it was originally set up to bring together a divided Europe after the world wars. A way of healing and reminding people of our commonality as a European community. It has endured the test of time and remains a must-watch TV moment of the year.
With this legacy in mind, our tightknit creative team took on the reins of this entertainment juggernaut—only the second time in Eurovision history that one country hosted on behalf of another. This time, for a nation unable to host due to being at war. As Sam Ryder so eloquently put it, “It’s Ukraine’s party, we’re throwing it at our house.” We all understood the importance of getting it right, striving to make Ukraine, the UK, and Europe proud.
But how did we get there?
THE POWER OF POSITIVITY
In September 2022, it was officially confirmed that the UK would host Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine—three months after Kalush Orchestra's victory, leaving the UK with three fewer months of preparation than a typical host nation. With that, the incredible BBC team sprang into action, working at full speed to secure a host city, venue, and team worthy of this historic event.
Despite the seemingly late start, when I think back, the seeds of positivity that ultimately drove this project were already being sewn back in late 2021 / early 2022 when Sam Ryder was secured to represent the United Kingdom. At my first meeting with Sam I can remember coming off the call with this overwhelming sense of hopefulness that was largely born from Sam’s joyful character. Unlike previous artists, he had an overwhelmingly positive outlook on life and then, we had little idea how this would come to set the agenda for the next eighteen months.

Sam led the 2022 United Kingdom campaign with the power of positivity, which allowed him to connect with a wider audience by cutting through the usual negative chaff that often surrounds the UK entry and take us from bottom to winning the jury vote and coming second in the competition overall.

This sense of positivity also became the driving force behind our Eurovision production in Liverpool—a show that fans and critics alike have hailed as one of the best in the competition's history.
UNITED BY MUSIC
When I officially joined the production in Autumn 2022 the slogan of UNITED BY MUSIC had been confirmed. This would become our North Star in how we would produce the shows, making sure that every decision we made related to this idea.

Before we even began working on the specific ideas we needed to think conceptually about what we wanted these shows to say. We knew that we had an opportunity on our hands to metaphorically “speak” to the 200 million viewers who would join us from such broad demographics in every country in the European Broadcasting Union. We saw it as an opportunity to share stories and ideas that could have a positive impact on people’s lives, start conversations and even potentially create change.
THE AIM
We understood that first and foremost our key aim had to be to tell Ukraine’s story - guided by our Ukrainian colleagues German Nenov (Creative Director UA:PBC) and Oksana Skybinska (Head of the Ukrainian Delegation) - but we also had to represent the UK and tell the story of Liverpool, our amazing host city. Every decision was always brought back to uniting those three key aims, whilst creating a joyful celebration and hosting a competition that would never be forgotten.

We began by giving each show a title and clear message - a tongue-in-cheek internal reference point to help the wider team understand the tone of the programme we were trying to make.
Semi Final 1 which was the first broadcast of the trio was called Welcome to Eurovision, Now - a show front-loaded with amazing creativity which aimed to showcase the new modern version of Eurovision and snub all naysayers who had written the brand off from the ghosts that still haunt it from the past. We wanted people to clear their week ahead and jump on board for an unforgettable music tour.
Semi-Final 2, which was broadcast two days later, was titled We’ve Been Expecting You, Everyone Is Welcome and became the much anticipated second date where anything could happen. By this point, we wanted to have established ourselves and created a ripple through Europe that meant we could have more fun with this show and relax into the celebration.
Then came the Grand Final—the crown jewel of Eurovision week. Knowing many viewers would tune in without having seen the semi-finals, we needed a title that captured the event's significance. After much deliberation, we settled on The Big Night Where Stars Are Made and set out to create a celebratory evening filled with jaw-dropping performances and history-making drama.
We believed that by following those themes we could create an unforgettable week of television. We had no idea at the time that it would go down so well; that the shows would go on to win four BAFTAs including Best Live Event Coverage.
PERFORMANCES WITH MEANING
It was part of my remit to develop the ideas for the opening and interval acts alongside Lee, head of show. We had both grown up watching Eurovision since we were kids and so to be able to create the ideas together was an absolute dream come true. We wanted every element to be thought through and laced with meaning and authenticity - we were both aligned in the opportunity to create a positive impact.
SEMI FINAL 1
The opening of Semi-Final 1 was an important opportunity to introduce the message of United By Music, whilst also introducing Europe to our amazing stage design that would become their “home from home” for the coming week. The opening moment showed Josh - a young lad from Liverpool - in a pitch-black space, discovering a glowing neon frame lit in Ukrainian colours. As we hear the Liverpool anthem Together in Electric Dreams echo around the arena Josh touches the mirror where his reflection magically transforms into one of a Ukrainian girl - Angelina - a Ukranian refugee, the same age and height. As they begin to dance together they cause the world around them to come alive and we reveal Julia Sanina (our Ukrainian show host and lead singer of Ukrainian rock band Hardkiss) to perform Lighthouse backed by our dancers wearing the bright neon colours of the show logo. The result was an energetic opening full of energy and vitality that put Ukraine at the forefront, told through the eyes of the innocent.

The first interval performance of Semi Final 1 was called Welcome To Our House and was devised in collaboration with renowned Ukrainian creators Freckled Sky. The performance told the story of every Ukrainian woman who had been forced to leave her home, escaping the war to save her children with only the support of other people and countries to help find hope. It was a story with universal themes, a story of anyone who's had to flee from oppression, a story that many of our wider audience would relate to. On stage we saw Alyosha (a famous Ukrainian singer who has lived this reality) become the symbol of all Ukrainian women whilst Rebecca Fergusson - our famous Liverpudlian singer became the symbol of the UK and Europe, supporting Ukraine in this difficult time. Set to the Duran Duran anthem Ordinary World sung in both English and Ukrainian the very serious subject of war was softened by telling the story as an allegory with the help of artistic lighting and figurative video graphics that showed the light overcoming the darkness.

With these two performances and also a major statement performance from British popstar Rita Ora, we hoped the audience would start to see how we were seamlessly blending Ukraine and the UK with a fluidity that showed how we were truly united by music. Thought and deeper meaning were laced through every decision, but was so deep into the DNA of the show it wasn’t being forced down the audience’s throats - it just was. Messaging from all nations and the host city coexist together, leaving plenty of space for a joyful celebration of this incredible music competition.
SEMI-FINAL 2
In semi-final 2, German created an interval act called Music Unites Generations showing the connections of generations of Ukrainian music and how it has been the light that has overcome the darkness through the ages.

To add to the more lighthearted, relaxed nature of show two, we also created a performance called Be Who You Wanna Be inspired by the inclusivity of the Eurovision community and the idea that Eurovision is a place for everyone - It’s a place where everyone can be who they want to be. In a humorous moment, the three female hosts were magically transformed into their larger-than-life Drag alter egos who then lead us through a performance that tells us to find our freedom and live our life. We wanted this to be an inspirational moment that could connect with anyone who was living life from a different perspective and could potentially spark important conversation starters in some homes where being who you want to be didn’t always feel comfortable for everyone who lived there. Just last month I met someone from the fan community who said they watch this performance time and time again because it has given them so much joy and hope. Job done.
THE GRAND FINAL
We wanted to open the Grand Final with last year’s winners Kalush Orchestra, with a medley of their winning song and new song which we titled Voices of a New Generation.
As the opening performance, we wanted the meaning to attest to the future of Ukraine and how the voices of the new generation (represented by Kalush) were key. We opened with a tribute to the past: Mama Stefania, the central figure of Kalush Orchestra's winning song, crafting a traditional Ukrainian garment. Her threads transformed into dynamic overlay graphics, filling the arena and creating a larger-than-life Mama Stefania on the screens, with Kalush performing atop her "real" hands live on stage. The visual metaphor shows the older generations of Ukraine holding the new generation in their hand, a new generation who will use their voices to tell Ukraine’s story to the world, forging a new path for the future - with Kalush Orchestra leading the way.

Kalush’s performance led directly into the flag parade which took the musical theme of Ukrainian and UK mash-ups to the next level. As all of our competing countries are welcomed onto the Eurovision stage by the screams of an arena full of excited fans, British dance classics were mixed with famous Ukranian Eurovision songs, sung by the original Ukranian artists who performed them live on stage in Liverpool. A perfect meld of the three key elements of our United By Music Eurovision story and setting the tone for the evening ahead.

The first interval performance was called Mountain and took the focus to people who have used their inner fighter strength to face their fears and conquer them - a universal story many can relate to. The featured performers in Mountain were all united in their use of cutting-edge bionic technology to overcome their disability and in this next epic life moment, were able to perform shoulder to shoulder alongside our very own Sam Ryder, Queen’s Roger Taylor and many others on the Eurovision stage.
Finally, it was time for The Liverpool Songbook to take centre stage. Liverpool, renowned as the birthplace of pop music, has captivated the world with its sound since the 1960s. Similarly, Eurovision has been uniting Europe through music and hope since the 1950s. For the Eurovision Grand Final 2023, we brought together five iconic past Eurovision acts to perform massive hits from Liverpool’s rich musical legacy live on stage.
The defining moment came when Duncan Laurence, the 2019 Eurovision winner for the Netherlands, performed You’ll Never Walk Alone. This beloved anthem, deeply tied to Liverpool, was imbued with new meaning for Ukraine. As the performance reached its emotional peak, the entire arena and cast united in song, also welcoming our Ukrainian friends who joined live from Kyiv. It was a powerful moment of solidarity, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
MEASURING SUCCESS
Were we successful? That’s the question. And it’s difficult to answer without first defining what success means.
In terms of accolades? Absolutely. A year on, the show earned numerous awards, including four BAFTAs—a testament to its craftsmanship and impact.

By audience reaction—both in the arena and at home? Undoubtedly, yes. The response was overwhelming, affirming the resonance of our work with people from all walks of life.
But if success is measured by the amount of change we inspire, that’s harder to quantify. And perhaps that’s the point. As artists and creators, our role isn’t solely to count victories—it’s to stand up and be heard. We have a platform, a voice, and an opinion. We understand the transformative power of art to inspire social change. The effort feels undeniably worthwhile whether we reach one person, ten, or tens of millions.
Eurovision gave us a unique opportunity: to tell important stories that needed to be told, to showcase connection and unity, and to fight for a better, more positive future. Through art—not weapons—we could influence the world, using creativity as a force for progress.
In the day-to-day whirlwind of life, it’s easy to lose sight of how impactful our voices can be. Let this serve as a reminder: your voice matters, and it is powerful. Any form of art can spark change. Every small ripple you create has the potential to spread through your community and beyond.
It’s our duty as creators to hold a mirror to the world—to reveal truths, inspire dialogue, and provoke action. Art matters. It can create change. So let’s keep using it to shape a brighter, more compassionate world.
If you missed the brilliant ‘ Eurovision 2023: Connecting Nations Through Creativity’ discussion at the UK Creative Festival check it out here now.
Black Skull Creative
Tuesday 14th January 2025
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