What will it take for the UK to score a top 10 finish again?

The UK hasn’t had much luck in this decade trying to crack the top 10. As of 2017, UK is the only Big 5 country who has not achieved an overall result that has placed them in the top 10. The UK’s highest placing in the decade so far was when Blue participated in Düsseldorf and achieved 11^th place. They were pipped to the 10^th place spot at the last minute when Latvia gave Germany 8 points!

How did the UK do in 2017?

When the rehearsals started in Kyiv, the UK was considered by many to be a shoo-in to be on the left-hand side of the scoreboard. Bookies even predicted that Lucie would do better than what Blue had achieved in Düsseldorf.

However, even with a stellar performance, a song written by a Eurovision winner and a promotional tour, Lucie missed out on the top 10. She placed 15^th on the scoreboard after finishing 10^th in the jury vote with 99 points and 20^th in the public televote with 12 points.
Lucie might not have achieved the result all the fans wanted her to achieve but she managed a modest result if you compare the Big 5 results this year:

 
If you compare it with the other Big 5 countries, the UK has always been in the middle of the pack when it comes to the Big 5 results. It has been this way for the past few years.

Top ten placings for the Big 5 in the 2010s

 
As you can see above, Italy has been successful ever since it returned to the contest in 2011. They have placed in the top 10 five out of the seven times they have participated. However, the table represents the overall results.
If only one factor of the voting is considered, then the table would mean the Big 5 would have more top 10 results. For instance, the UK would be then included on the list. Going back to the contest in 2011, Blue achieved 5^th place in the televoting and this year Lucie achieved 10^th place in the jury vote.

What can the UK do to achieve a better placing again?

For the past two years, the UK has finally listened to the public and has staged a national selection in the form of ‘Eurovision: You Decide’. This year, it was responsible for drastically improving UK’s result (15^th) compared to the result Joe and Jake achieved last year (24^th) who only matched Electro Velvet’s result from the previous year.
Overall, it has improved results a tiny bit. But personally, I think that they can do much better work with the way they stage the selection itself. I think that the BBC should take an interest in how other countries do their national selection. For example, they could possibly take inspiration from Nordic national selections such as Melodifestivalen, Melodi Grand Prix and UMK.
But knowing the BBC they would probably not want to fork out lots of cash if it means they won’t receive a top 10 placing in the end. So I suggest maybe using fresh faces in the form of BBC Introducing and have a longer national selection (perhaps two semi-finals and a grand final) using artists from this platform. For example, Molly in 2014 was found through BBC Introducing. She managed to achieve the 4^th highest UK placing since the introduction of the semi-finals.
By having an unknown artist, it would mean that the artist representing the country can have the chance to make themselves known to the whole of Europe and have their song listened to by over 200 million viewers worldwide.

Will we ever see the UK in the top 10 again?

Unfortunately, the current political climate and ‘Brexit’ situation is making the majority of the British public believe that the UK’s results will be negatively affected as a result. Perhaps, this negativity is having a knock-on effect on the quality of entries the UK can attract. However, this year proved to be the opposite, with the UK securing a better result post-Brexit than pre-Brexit!
The UK entries have done generally well with the juries but the public televote lets them down at the last hurdle. If the UK can somehow find the right equation and find a song that appeals to both the Eurovision juries and the public audience then they might have a shot again!
Do you think that the UK will ever crack the top 10 again this decade, or even at all? Leave a comment below with your opinion and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @ESCXTRA!