Even The History Channel is getting in on the act, with Histerical with Marcus Brigstocke which looks like its filming a pilot next week. It’s like Annually Retentive never happened.
Meanwhile, if you’re interested in when Famous and Fearless is happening, you can get tickets for shows beginning 3rd January. I’m a little bit surprised Claire Balding’s co-hosting this with Chris Evans.
I’m so annoyed there have been so few new shows to go and see recently, I’m booking to go and see Pointless being filmed at the end of January. So you can have an EXCLUSIVE GLIMPSE of how they’ve watered down the premise for series four. Only joking, Pointless is brillopants, obviously.
Knowing that And Then You Die exists, the answer to the original question posed is ‘no’.
I would like to go and see the new series of Pointless – but I’m put off by two words ‘Applause’ and ‘Store’ are now doing the tickets, rather than BBC Audiences who did the first 3.
I’ve heard some horror stories about them (applying unsucessfully for 2 or 3 different shows before you finally get tickets for the ones you want – issuing more priority tickets than normal ones – Issuing far too many more tickets than the seating capacity of the studio)
If I do, should I be worried by these 31st of the 10th style yarns about them?
I don’t think they’re scare stories – all ticket companies do it to some extent to make sure the seats get filled, unfortunately, although the priority tickets thing is a new one to me.
I’ve never not got in, but then I make sure I get there 30-45 minutes before the doors opening time so…
I should just say for balance actually that the genuinely terrible Don’t Scare the HARE recording last year was through BBC Audiences, and when I turned up at my usual time discovered a shocked audience researcher saying “oh, didn’t you get the message? We wanted people an hour earlier.” Still got in anyway, and the recording still didn’t actually start until about the time it would have started anyway, but with the added bonus that I got to watch an entire episode of Pointless in the warmth of the BBC Audience foyer.
I would genuinely hate to have a job as one of the researchers who has to turn people away at recordings, and similarly I always feel very sorry for people who travel to recordings but don’t realise that it pays to get to there much earlier than the door time on the ticket. I don’t have a solution that cures all ills, unfortunately.
Applause Store have never really caused problems in the past (for me personally), SRO have always been very good – they always send me priority tickets for some reason (whether it’s because I’m just amazing or whether it’s because I’m travelling from outside of London for the recordings I don’t know). Woe betide the people who were doing the audience for Duel, who didn’t bother to get in contact when they cancelled shows after a contestant broke his leg, the security guard on the gate seemed a bit surprised when I turned up and asked where to queue up for it. And it’s lucky I like train travel.
And the first batch before the ‘break’ of Duel’s were done down at Maidstone Studio’s. Not exactly a one hop train journey.
I also had problems ‘extracting’ tickets from Clappers (for it was they or rather her) for an 10.00am Saturday recording of Duel (the Fountain tv years). I phoned them up rather than e-mailing and after giving my name and address (the other side of Birmingham) She initally refused to put name down as “I don’t think you can get down here in time”.
When I pointed out that I work for the local passenger transport exec, and therefore reading timetables and I’m very good at planning journeys and forgetting ones that I can’t, that she relented and put me down on the list to get in.
For the record, SRO are very good as are LostinTV and always stick my name down on the priority list
Clappers! That’s the people – absolutely useless.
The one time I used Applause Store was for Gladiators – of about 400 people with ‘normal’ tickets, about 100 of those actually got in. We did get in, just, and we’d been there for about 3 hours before.