The British national broadcaster, BBC, has confirmed to ESCToday that the United Kingdom will participate at the Portuguese-hosted 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.

So how does the United Kingdom plan on selecting their entry for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest? Currently, the BBC is making their mind up about the country’s selection method for 2018, with further details expected to be released in due course.

The past 2 years have seen the BBC opting to select the United Kingdom’s entry via a national final, with each selection consisting of 6 potential entries for the British public and jury to choose from. Will the BBC stick with the same selection process for 2018?

United Kingdom at Eurovision

The United Kingdom debuted at the 1957 Eurovision Song Contest and have since seen a total of 60 appearances at the competition.

Throughout earlier years of the contest, the United Kingdom was one of the most successful countries at the competition, accumulating a total of 5 victories over the years as well as a grand total of 15 second placings.

The nation last won the competition in 1997 with Katrina and the Waves with Love shine a light and has since been searching for their sixth victory in the contest.

Recent years have seen a decline in results for the country, with the United Kingdom receiving their only 3 last placings in the 21st century, one of which included their infamous nul points entry in 2003 with Jemini and Cry baby.

From internal back to national

Mixed results at Eurovision saw the BBC opt for an internal selection in 2011 right up until 2015, having previously only opted to select the country’s entries via national selection.

However, recent years have seen the BBC reverting back to the national selection process, much to the delight of the British public, with last year’s public-selected entry finishing in 15th place at the Eurovision 2017 final with Lucie Jones and her entry Never give up on you.

Eurovision 2018

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 is set to take place on the 8, 10 and 12 May in the host city of Lisbon following Portugal and Salvador Sobral’s victory in Kyiv with his song Amar pelos dois.

The deadline for broadcasters to officially send in their applications for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest concludes on 15 September. Applied countries then have a grace period to either confirm or withdraw their applications without receiving a penalty until 10 October.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is set to release a final list of countries set to compete at Eurovision 2018 later in the year.