The BBC semi-final commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest, Scott Mills, has spoken about the United Kingdom’s recent set of results at the Eurovision Song Contest along with his view on what is is needed for the future UK entries.
Scott Mills, a British radio DJ who his most known for presenting his own radio show on BBC Radio 1, has been the BBC’s semi-final commentator since 2011 and has presented the United Kingdom’s votes as a spokesperson at the contest a total of 4 times.
Speaking to Digital Spy in a recent interview about what the United Kingdom can do to turn their luck around at the Eurovision Song Contest, Mills commented:
We [the UK] still see it as a joke, and that’s where the problem lies. They [Europe] see us seeing it as a joke, and therefore they don’t buy into what we do.
The trouble is, it’s now a multi-million Euro competition with actually quite good production values, and sometimes not half bad songs. But we still see it as the Eurovision Song Contest from the ’80s and ’90s.
When asked about what the United Kingdom needs for the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest, Mills revealed:
We’ve tried everything; novelty, brand new singer, heritage singers. I think we now just need a killer song by someone that can really perform it. We need to look like we’re taking it seriously, and then I think we’ll do a lot better.
Since the United Kingdom’s debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957 up to 2010, the British national broadcaster BBC opted to select their representatives via a national selection, selecting and producing 5 Eurovision winners in total. The last artist to be selected via a national selection was Josh Dubovie in 2010 with the internally selected entry, That sounds good to me, which received a total of 10 points in the Grand Final and finishing in last place.
From 2011 onwards, the BBC has opted to select the United Kingdom’s entries via an internal selection, sending the likes of Engelbert Humperdinck, Bonnie Tyler, Molly Smitten-Downes and, most recently, Electro Velvet. The most successful internally-selected entry to date from the United Kingdom was in 2011 where Blue received a total of 100 points at the contest with their entry I can, finishing in 11th position and bringing the UK one of their most successful results in recent years.
