You do realise we came 5th in the televote in 2011, right? We only came 11th overall because of a terrible jury performance.

I think Eurovision will do well this year, maybe not 2011 ratings, but in the high 8s. It has f-all in the way of competition, and our entry has a decent chance which could mean a very high peak if the voting looks to be going our way.

I dont disagree with your points but a good UK song could still win.

Some Eastern block countries send acts which are an absolute joke but end up doing well. Performers where theyre wearing some strange metal costumes from the Eastern block singing awfully have ended up in the top 10. How comes when the UK sends a 'joke act' we come near the bottom, but when someone from the Baltic state sends a 'joke act' they come in the top 10? I remember a country once sending some dreadful song with these people painted in silver and wearing tin hats and not a single vocal in tune, yet that came in the top 10.

Ah, here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfjHJneVonE

This came 2nd!! If the UK sent something like that, we'd come 22nd!

Political bias only comes into the equation when countries send poor songs. It's the same as Ireland and UK always giving each other at least some point no matter how poor. But when good songs come along, they vote accordingly. It's the same with every country.

This year, the UK has sent the right song. And Europe should vote accordingly.

I actually find this year's UK entry terribly bland, and I suspect that 2011 was rather more helped by Blue being a 'name' than the possibility of the UK doing well, but I guess we'll see.

Surprised the BBC haven't taken the "last Eurovision before we find out whether the UK is going to be sending separate entries from 2016" angle given how so many people love to view the ESC from a political angle every year but never mind.

The difference is that was actually good fun. The UK's idea of a joke act is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KAaOxPPilc See the difference?

Lets see then - although I do wonder what you will say if we are down in the bottom half again?

But, regardless of how the Referendum pans out in September, from 2016 the UK will still be sending its own entry. Scotland may be elegible to send its own but I believe the deadline for entries will have passed that year before Scotland goes it alone. The earliest feasible Scottish entry would be 2017. The entry in 2016 will already have been decided with Scotland still part of the UK.

Only the lazy and ill informed brand Eurovision a farce - it had 16 different winners in a row from 1997-2012 (inc the UK once), and the last two years the repeat winners have been from Scandanavia, not Eastern Europe.

The UK actually has a real shot this year - and that's thanks to putting forward a decent song by someone who although unknown is far more representative of the UK music industry than most of the latter entries, especially from the last couple of years. The reason the UK has done badly in recent years is simply down to poor songs - especially this notion that we have to send a "Eurovision" song - so it's no surprise that the othr nations who have gone way beyond that logic and just send a half decent song which wouldn't be out of place in the charts do far better.

The Lyricist really earned his money on that one!!!

True, it was mentioned earlier. I forgot.

Perhaps people can now stop offering him as a host.

Hmm, both are just as bad as each other imo. But one came 2nd and the other one came more like 22nd. You cant seriously say that the quality difference between those two performances was equivalent to 20 or so places?! It's clear the neighbourhood voting has a huge role in Eurovision.

You'll see in a week. Lots of optimism about Molly coming in the top 3, maybe even winning. And then she'll end up somewhere around 7th-10th. People will be saying afterwards: "oh im happy we came in the top 10, it's better than recent years". But a song like hers should be competing for top spot, however theres no chance of that happening realistically due to the biased voting.

Eurovision is such good fun, it's not meant to be taken seriously. And it delivers ratings wise so what's bad about it? Nothing.

Ah! The year we sent self indulgent claptrap and got 12 "political" points from Malta!

I have to say watching one of those above clips, Terry Wogan is missed. His comments about the other countries [and sometimes their commentators] were hilarious! Graham Norton takes it a bit too seriously and needs to joke around a little more.

My beef with Eurovision isnt the ratings, theyre brilliant. It's cheap as chips and gets 7m+ for three hours. Job done for the BBC. My main beef with it is that we could send an incredible song to it but due to loads of factors, we dont end up getting the votes we deserve. Its frustrating. It's not a pure unbiased competition.

Is that not the problem though - the rest of Europe do take it seriously and we dont because Wogan and now Norton have turned it into a joke. Not that in the great scheme of things it really matters.

The quality of the songs are better than from years ago. But these days it doesn't matter to me who wins Eurovision as all the songs are sung in English and I can fairly judge which one I like best, so although a UK win would be nice only if it merits being the right song unlike when I couldn't understand any lyrics years ago!

Anyone have the snooker rating for last night please? Thanks

You were optimistic about Let's Get Ready To Tumble?

Anyone have the Gogglebox rating?

Samuel saying Wogan is missed explains it all really, it's Wogan's fault so many people believe this "political voting" nonsense.


‏@TVRatingsUK
Away from BBC1 and ITV, the World Championship Snooker semi-final between Selby & Robertson was most watched with an average of 1.88m/9.7%.

Couldn't agree more about Britain's Got Talent Samuel. It was most watched of the week and dropped to most watched of the week!

Eurovision has an absolute white flag from ITV next week, should be some great ratings for that and BGT!

This is one rating id like to get spot on. Its one of my favourite shows of the tv year too. But to get in the high 8's it would need to jump a million viewers from last year, not unvbelievable as it follows Britians Got Talent and is against "Amazing Greys" but audience figures seem to sink by the year.

I always think the UK song is best even if it isn't because I want us to do well! But I agree with you. Most countries (asides from France who have gone down the bizarre route recently) send much better songs than us which is why they win. I still know the tune and words to "Euphoria", that magnificent Swedish entry in 2012. The one that won! The year we sent Humperdinck with the snooze fest ballad!