We all sighed when the BBC released the news a couple of months ago that for the first time ever (that's since 1957 yo!), their response to an uneven, yet sadly too consistent string of dire results was to deny the viewers (ergo license payers, of course but aren't Daily Telegraph types so we won't dwell on that) any input in choosing either UK song or singer.
For many years in the UK's rather grand Euro history we have been presented with an act, be it Matt Monro, Clodagh Rodgers or Michael Ball, and been given a selection of ditties to choose from. The last two years the BBC subverted this, getting us to choose a singer for a pre-ordained song. This was a huge success in 2009 with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Diane Warren, a BBC1 prime time selection show and loads of moolah spent promoting Jade and the song across Europe before the contest, and UK finished a grand fifth in Moscow.
Last year the same broad approach was taken, but we went from John Lewis to Primark, with a Matt Stock/Pete Waterman run-of-the-mill ditty and an "as-brief-as-we-can-get-away-with" low rent selection show. Quite why anyone was surprised when the UK were again propping up the scoreboard is anyone's guess, despite the brave efforts of the blameless Josh Dubovie.
2011 and the BBC went for a totally internal selection, beloved by several countries but not surely our Auntie. We thought, "yeah it had better be good". The song was debuted on Graham Norton's show last month and all we have the mp3 now, and it's fareing OK-ish in the fan polls. The BBC promised us something special in the absence of a national final, and we were served up with that on Saturday.
We got sixty minutes, padded to within an inch of it's life, of the usual clips, plus Blue showing us how under-rehearsed they were, Eurovision "experts" like Lulu and the inevitable John Barrowman (whose comments in previous BBC finals linger like a fart in a lift). The ratings were released today and the show got a 10 percent audience share. On Saturday prime time. A lower share even than those Sunday afternoon finals ten years ago.
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hi there, love the work and Eurovision in general :). Am i the only one who really likes Blue's song and thinks it stands a great chance in Germany come May ?
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