Genre | Panel game |
---|---|
Running time | 30 minutes (6:30 pm – 7:00 pm) |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Language(s) | English |
Home station | BBC Radio 4 |
Syndicates | BBC Radio 4 Extra |
Hosted by |
|
Announcer | Various BBC Radio 4 newsreaders |
Created by | John Lloyd |
Produced by | Suzy Grant |
Recording studio | BBC Radio Theatre |
Original release | 6 September 1977 |
No. of series | 108 |
No. of episodes | 1,004 (As of 27 May 2022) |
Audio format | Stereo |
Opening theme | |
Website | www |
Podcast | Friday Night comedy podcast |
The News Quiz is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4, [1] first broadcast in 1977. The show, created by John Lloyd from an idea by Nicholas Parsons, has seen several hosts, including Barry Norman, Barry Took, Simon Hoggart, Sandi Toksvig, and Miles Jupp. Andy Zaltzman was announced as the permanent host after series 103. The show involves four panellists, often comedians or journalists, who answer questions about events of the previous week, often leading to humorous and satirical exchanges. The show was adapted for television in 1981 and has also inspired other shows.
The News Quiz was created by John Lloyd, [2] based on an idea by Nicholas Parsons. [3]
The series was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman in the chair. Subsequently it was chaired by Barry Took from 1979 to 1981, Simon Hoggart from 1981 to 1986, Took again from 1986 to 1995, and then again by Hoggart from 1996 until March 2006. [4] Hoggart was replaced by Sandi Toksvig in September 2006, who in turn was replaced by Miles Jupp in September 2015 until his departure at the end of 2019. Three different hosts took the chair in 2020; Nish Kumar (series 101), Angela Barnes (series 102), and Andy Zaltzman (series 103). At the end of series 103, it was announced that Zaltzman would continue as permanent host.
Originally, Private Eye editor Richard Ingrams and Punch editor Alan Coren acted as team captains.
It was adapted for television in 1981 under the title Scoop, running for two series, and later inspired the television programme Have I Got News for You .
In 2012, the BBC piloted an American version hosted by Lewis Black. [5]
On 28 June 2013, the News Quiz paid tribute after the death of Radio 4 announcer Rory Morrison, who had read the news cuttings on the programme. [6]
During series 97, running from August to October 2018, Jupp was absent due to filming commitments overseas, so show regulars Simon Evans, Susan Calman, Fred MacAulay, Bridget Christie, Jo Brand and Lucy Porter took turns in the host's seat. Jupp himself chaired the first and last episodes of the series. [7]
In May 2019, it was announced that Jupp would leave the show at the end of the 99th series at the end of the month. [8] Series 100 had several hosts: Nish Kumar, Angela Barnes, Andy Zaltzman, Phil Wang, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Zoe Lyons, Patrick Kielty and Andrew Maxwell. The hosts for 2020 were Nish Kumar, Angela Barnes, and Andy Zaltzman. [9] Zaltzman was named as the permanent host at the conclusion of series 103. [10]
The programme is usually recorded in front of an audience on Thursday evenings at the BBC Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House in central London. It is then edited and broadcast first on Friday evening at 18:30, then repeated at Saturday lunchtime. The final 28-minute show is significantly shorter than the original recording. In 2012, the BBC began making an extended version for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Each week, four panellists appear on the show. They are usually either comedians or journalists, and sometimes politicians. Journalists predominated in the early years. The ostensible purpose of the show is to test contestants' knowledge of the events of the previous week by asking questions which are usually oblique references to those events. However, this has given way to a general free-for-all where panellists chime in with their own humorous and satirical remarks once the question has been answered. The participants frequently wander off topic. The host ends the discussion of each question with a summary of the events it refers to, usually with a scripted comic punchline, before asking the next question. It is not uncommon for the show to get through only two rounds of the panel before the final section is reached. Before the host announces the largely symbolic scores, the panellists read out statements from newspapers and other media which they find amusing. [11]
In 2020, Andy Zaltzman guest hosted series 103 and at the end of the run was announced as the new permanent host. [10]
The News Quiz once also featured input from regular BBC newsreaders (or "hacks-neutral", as Alan Coren referred to them), but have been dropped as of the post-Covid episodes.
News/continuity announcer Corrie Corfield appeared as a panellist once when Sandi Toksvig was unable to attend. As a current BBC newsreader she was bound by the BBC's code of practice for newsreaders, which prevented her from making any opinionated comments on-air. When asked, "What do you think of Bush, Corrie?", she responded, "He's an American". Peter Donaldson also appeared as a guest, in an episode broadcast in September 1999.
Each week, the chair's script is written by three main writers, with material contributed by one or two additional writers. Current regular writers include:
Former regular writers include:
The opening title music is an arrangement of The Typewriter , by Leroy Anderson played by The James Shepherd Versatile Brass. For the programme the original recording (on Decca records SB 314) has been increased in speed and pitch by about 33%. [15]
BBC MindGames Magazine regularly featured several BBC-linked puzzles, including The News Quiz, a series of questions about the last month's more unlikely news. Issue 5 (November 2006) also included an interview with Sandi Toksvig.
Entire series from series 87 onwards have been released on audio CD and made available for download. The following compilations have also been released by BBC Audio.
As of 28 September 2007, The News Quiz became downloadable as part of the "Friday Night Comedy" podcast feed for Radio 4. The podcast switches between The News Quiz and The Now Show , depending on which show is being transmitted. [16] During Miles Jupp's tenure, an extended version of the show entitled The News Quiz Extra featuring an additional 10–15 minutes of material was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in the week following the standard Radio 4 broadcast. This version was also made available as a podcast.
Have I Got News for You (HIGNFY) is a British television panel show, produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC, which premiered on 28 September 1990. The programme focuses on two teams, one always captained by Ian Hislop and one by Paul Merton, each plus a guest panelist, answering questions on various news stories on the week prior to an episode's broadcast. However, the programme's format focuses more on the topical discussions on the subject of the news stories related to questions, and the satirical humour derived from these by the teams. This style of presentation had a profound impact on panel shows in British TV comedy, making it one of the genre's key standard-bearers.
Sandra Birgitte Toksvig is a Danish-British broadcaster, comedian, presenter and writer on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She has written plays, novels and books for children. In 1994, she came out as a lesbian.
QI is a British comedy panel game quiz show for television created and co-produced by John Lloyd. The series currently airs on BBC Two and is presented by Sandi Toksvig. It features permanent panellist Alan Davies and three guest panellists per episode; the panellists are mostly comedians. The series was presented by Stephen Fry from its beginning in 2003 until 2016.
Linda Helen Smith was an English comedian and comedy writer. She appeared regularly on Radio 4 panel games, and was voted "Wittiest Living Person" by listeners in 2002. From 2004 to 2006 she was head of the British Humanist Association.
Simon David Hoggart was an English journalist and broadcaster. He wrote on politics for The Guardian, and on wine for The Spectator. Until 2006 he presented The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4. His journalism sketches have been published in a series of books.
Hamish and Dougal are two characters from the long-running BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, played by Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden, who later went on to have their own Radio 4 series, You'll Have Had Your Tea: The Doings of Hamish and Dougal. The series is occasionally broadcast on the BBC's repeat station, Radio 4 Extra.
Christopher David Addison is a British comedian, writer, actor, and director. He is perhaps best known for his role as a regular panellist on Mock the Week. He is also known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4.
Andrew Zaltzman is a British comedian who largely deals in political and sport-related material.
Miles Hugh Barrett Jupp is an English actor, singer, and comedian. He began his career as a stand-up comedian before playing the role of the inventor Archie in the children's television series Balamory. He also played John Duggan in The Thick of It, Nigel in the sitcom Rev and appeared on many comedy panel shows. Between 2015 and 2019, Jupp was the host of The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4, replacing Sandi Toksvig.
Insert Name Here is a British comedy panel game show presented by Sue Perkins. The programme made its debut on BBC Two on 4 January 2016. In each episode two teams of three compete to answer questions about famous people, past and present, who have just one thing in common: they share the same name. The team captains are Josh Widdicombe and Richard Osman. The show was cancelled in February 2020 due to low viewership.
Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive is a British radio comedy programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2005 with a second series in 2006, a third in 2007 and a fourth in 2008. Series 2, 3 and 4 of the show were broadcast in the popular Friday evening slot, which it has shared with The News Quiz and The Now Show. It is hosted by comedian Armando Iannucci and each week a panel of fellow comedians make satirical and surreal observations on current events. Vaughan Savidge provides voice overs.
The Bugle is a satirical news podcast, created by John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman in 2007. It is currently hosted by Zaltzman and a rotating cast of co-hosts including Alice Fraser, Nish Kumar, Anuvab Pal, Hari Kondabolu, Tom Ballard, Tiff Stevenson and Helen Zaltzman. It focuses on global news stories, especially about politics in the United Kingdom, United States, and India.
Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game. For more than 50 years, with a few exceptions, it was hosted by Nicholas Parsons. Following Parsons' death in 2020, Sue Perkins became the permanent host, starting with the 87th series. Just a Minute was first transmitted on Radio 4 on 22 December 1967, three months after the station's launch. The programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003.
Newsjack was a British satirical sketch show which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra between 2009 and 2021. It was hosted by Miles Jupp, Justin Edwards, Romesh Ranganathan (2014), Nish Kumar (2015–2016), Angela Barnes (2017–2018) and Kiri Pritchard-McLean (2019–2021). It was first broadcast on 4 June 2009. The series was notable for having an "Open door" policy on writing, advertising itself as "the scrapbook sketch show written entirely by the Great British public" meaning that unsolicited writers without contract to the BBC could send in material. The show was designed to give new writers an opportunity to get material broadcast. It was hoped by the people behind the show that it would be a modern version of Week Ending, an earlier sketch show which also accepted material the same way. Most shows were recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House.
7 Day Sunday is a British comedy radio talk show hosted by Al Murray on BBC Radio 5 Live. Broadcast weekly on Sunday mornings, the show takes an irreverent look at the topical news stories of the past seven days.
Angela Barnes is an English stand-up comedian, mostly known for her appearances on Mock the Week.
Helen Zaltzman is an English podcaster, broadcaster and writer. She produces the linguistics podcast The Allusionist, the entertainment podcast Answer Me This!, and the Veronica Mars recap podcast Veronica Mars Investigations.
This is a list of events in British radio during 2015.
Nishant Kumar is a British stand-up comedian, television presenter, and podcast host. He became known as the host of satirical comedy The Mash Report, now known as Late Night Mash. He has also presented BBC Radio 4 Extra's topical comedy show Newsjack, the Comedy Central series Joel & Nish vs The World, the BBC Radio 4 programme The News Quiz and Hello America on Quibi. Since May 2023, he has been the co-host of the political podcast Pod Save the UK.
The Mash Report is a British satirical comedy show originally broadcast on BBC Two and hosted by Nish Kumar. It features an array of comedians satirising the week's news. The show later continued on Dave as Late Night Mash, hosted by Kumar and then by Rachel Parris. It was cancelled in 2023.
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