Never Mind the Full Stops

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Never Mind the Full Stops
Presented by Julian Fellowes
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes22
Production
Executive producersMartin Scott
Katie Taylor
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time30 minutes
Original release
Network BBC Four
Release11 May 2006 (2006-05-11) 
24 April 2007 (2007-04-24)

Never Mind the Full Stops is a British television panel game based on the English language, its idiosyncrasies, and its misuse. It is hosted by the British actor, author and Oscar-winning screenwriter, Julian Fellowes. Each episode lasts 30 minutes. The series was filmed in March 2006 at Channel 4's studios in Horseferry Road, Westminster. It was originally broadcast on BBC Four, and aired on BBC Two from 9 October 2006.

Contents

Two teams of two people are faced with various questions and challenges concerning English grammar, spelling and usage. The show is divided into rounds, with themes such as identifying the famous author of a badly spoken sentence (John Prescott was one of those picked on in the first episode) and correcting the punctuation in a written sentence. There is also a quick-fire round with questions such as "What is a malapropism?" Points are awarded throughout the show to determine the winning team.

Each show starts with the host giving a 'difficult-to-spell' word and an example mnemonic to help remember that spelling, and by the end of the show the panellists have to have devised their own. In episode one Julian Fellowes gave the example arithmetic: ARat In The House Might Eat The Ice Cream; and Ned Sherrin's version (which earned his team the win as the final points were tied) was: As Richard Interred The Head Master Every Tiny Infant Cheered. By the end of series 1, even Julian Fellowes had realized that these so-called mnemonics were invariably harder to remember than the spellings – particularly as they were rarely related to the words in question.

Another round featured a film of someone speaking a very obscure UK dialect (often on the verge of extinction), and the teams would have to try to guess what had been said.

The programme's name is derived from that of the long-running pop music panel game Never Mind the Buzzcocks , which is itself taken from the title of the Sex Pistols album, Never Mind the Bollocks .

Episode list

Series 1

Episode numberAir dateTeam to host's rightTeam to host's left
111 May 2006 Carol Thatcher & Ned Sherrin Janet Street-Porter & David Aaronovitch
218 May 2006 Nina Wadia & John Sergeant Tim Brooke-Taylor & Rod Liddle
325 May 2006 Bonnie Greer & Dave Gorman Eve Pollard & Rod Liddle
41 June 2006 Jessica Fellowes & Gyles Brandreth Sue Carroll & Roger McGough
58 June 2006 Julia Hartley-Brewer & Hugh Dennis Andy Zaltzman & Roger McGough
615 June 2006 Hardeep Singh Kohli & Graeme Garden Janet Street-Porter & Lembit Opik
722 June 2006 Sue Perkins & Nicholas Parsons Pam Ayres & Rob Deering
829 June 2006 Jilly Cooper & Paddy O'Connell Marina Hyde & Simon Fanshawe
96 July 2006 Henry Blofeld & Sue Perkins Daisy Goodwin & Simon Hoggart
1013 July 2006Bonnie Greer & Arthur Smith Victoria Mailer & Rob Deering

Series 2

Episode numberAir dateTeam to host's rightTeam to host's left
113 Feb 2007Arthur Smith & Shappi Khorsandi Kirsty Wark & Rob Deering
220 Feb 2007Sue Perkins & David Aaronovitch Gillian Reynolds & Robin Ince
327 Feb 2007 Stewart Lee & Patricia Hodge David Nobbs & Paul Sinha
46 Mar 2007 Sid Waddell & Frederick Forsyth Eve Pollard & Simon Hoggart
513 Mar 2007 Will Smith & Edwina Currie Susie Dent & Lemn Sissay
620 Mar 2007 Phil Hammond & Shappi KhorsandiKirsty Wark & Mark Steel
727 Mar 2007Rod Liddle & Bonnie Greer Virginia Ironside & Ian McMillan
83 Apr 2007 Richard Herring & Sharon Foster Paddy O'Connell & Vanessa Feltz
910 Apr 2007Simon Hoggart & Lucy Porter Angela Rippon & Stuart Hall
1017 Apr 2007Ian McMillan & Jenny Murray Edward Stourton & Michael Rosen
1124 Apr 2007Paddy O'Connell & Aggie MacKenzie Barry Norman & Jessica Fellowes

Reception

Reviewing the first episode of series 1, Sam Wollaston of The Guardian wrote that the show was "so bad it's impossible to understand the process by which it came to be put on air. You're left stunned, pummelling your head with your fists, shouting, 'Why?' [...] The whole thing is staggeringly amateur, like a slightly drunken and badly thought-out after-dinner-party game in Islington (I'm guessing here, promise), and in no way merits a television airing." [1] The Times's Gabrielle Starkey described the series as a "slightly smug quiz". [2]

References

  1. Wollaston, Sam (12 May 2006). "Last night's TV". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  2. Starkey, Gabrielle (13 February 2007). "Multichannel choice". The Times . Retrieved 2 August 2023.