New thrill

By | March 11, 2019
12 Comments

Wonderball starts on BBC Scotland tonight. Suspect it’s not going to be quite worth its own discussion post, but it’s interesting if the BBC are using BBC Scotland as a test bed for cheap potential new formats.

In other news Belgian Mole started last night (here’s our discussion page) and although I’m not going to get to watch it until this evening everybody is being very enthusiastic about it. Eventually Belgian Mole will have an underwhelming season and it will be devastating.

Anyway I’ve found a clean copy of the theme:

I literally don’t care if I’m the only one who finds this funny, sorry (weee-ooo!)

Ben Justice’s Top 100 UK Gameshows of All Time – Part 1

By | March 8, 2019
5 Comments
You can follow Ben on Twitter at @roarjustice

Kenneth Clarke’s Civilization. Attenborough’s Planet Earth. Epic documentary series both.

And now there’s a new landmark documentary to add to the list, Ben Justice’s Top 100 UK Gameshows of All Time. Justice is a little different from your average punter, he actually works in development (with shows to his name including last year’s best-selling format All Together Now, Richard Osman’s House of Games and Benchmark) and may have a different viewpoint to the audience. Will you agree with his choices? Every Friday he’ll be ticking another ten off the list and we’ll be showcasing the video at Bother’s Bar.

So without further ado:

Show Discussion: Al Murray’s Great British Pub Quiz

By | March 6, 2019
4 Comments

Thursday, 10pm,
Quest (Freeview 37) or online (live or catch-up)

Well this is a bit of an oddity and no mistake, Al Murray (the person, not the character) in a makeshift pub hosting a pub quiz with Shaun Williamson, slowly but surely losing his Barry From EastEnders moniker after about twenty years, playing the barman whereas seemingly Al Murray, the pub landlord character, is nowhere to be seen. Maybe it’s for the best, Fact Hunt and Compete For The Meat didn’t do great things after all.

Two proper pub quiz teams, along with a celebrity team captain, compete in a quiz to win a golden tankard and cash prize. Al asks the questions, Shaun is the Pointless Friend. Hopefully comedy will ensue (it was pitched as comedy I believe), but it sounds like the quizzing element will be played fairly straight.

It’s certainly a unusual commission for Quest, which is Discovery’s Freeview arm. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Show Discussion: Race Across the World

By | March 3, 2019
40 Comments

Sundays, 9pm,
BBC2

Five pairs race from Greenwich, London to Singapore without taking a plane or using a smartphone. They have enough money for the equivalent airfare (£1,329, fact fans) and if they run out they have to earn more. They’ll have to hitchhike their way around the world taking in five checkpoints, and there’s a cash prize for the winners at the end (although at time of writing we don’t know what it is).

We’re pondering if this is an official version of Peking Express, it certainly sounds very similar. Did Studio Lambert get the rights to it, or is this just a similar show along the same lines?

Anyway, let us know what you think in the comments. Will it be awarded a Dancing Dawson?