This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2009) |
Genre | literary panel game |
---|---|
Running time | 28 mins |
Country of origin | ![]() |
Language(s) | English |
Home station | BBC Radio 4 |
Hosted by | James Walton |
Starring | Sebastian Faulks John Walsh Beth Chalmers |
Produced by | Sam Michell |
No. of series | 17 |
Website | Website |
The Write Stuff, "Radio 4's game of literary correctness", was a lighthearted quiz about literature on BBC Radio 4, taking a humorous look at famous literary figures, which ran from 1998 [1] to 2014. It was chaired and written by James Walton. [2] The two teams were captained by novelist Sebastian Faulks and journalist John Walsh, with Beth Chalmers reading literary extracts.
John Walsh and Sebastian Faulks were team captains from the programme's beginning. They were each joined by another journalist or novelist; frequent guests in later years included John O'Farrell, Mark Billingham and Lynn Truss. Truss stepped in as captain to replace Faulks for series 13 (2010).
Each week, the programme had an "Author of the Week"; W. B. Yeats, E. M. Forster, D. H. Lawrence, Robert Burns, and J. K. Rowling all featured. The programme, on occasion, featured a group of writers, rather than a single author, as its key study – for example, poets of the Beat Generation were the featured authors on 26 October 2010. Each programme began with the panellists reading favourite extracts from the author's writing, and the first round is a series of questions about the author's life and works.
The programme normally ended with panellists having to write a pastiche (or parody; the programme uses the terms interchangeably) based on that week's author of the week. Walton describes these as 'the most popular bit of the programme'. [3] Walton sets a topic that would be so out of style of the author in question that a pastiche would be humorous. For example, when Robert Burns was the author of the week, contestants were asked to write a poem, in the style of Burns, celebrating something typically English; when Philip Roth was the author of the week, contestants were asked how he might have written a children's story. Faulks has published a collection of his parodies as a book, Pistache. [4]
The intervening rounds do not focus on the author of the week. Rounds commonly included are: connections; odd one out; literary mistakes; the archive round; and a music round.
The programme was normally broadcast at 18:30 on a weekday, one of the Radio 4 comedy slots.
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
1–1 | 1998-07-31 | Jane Austen | Victoria Glendinning, Tracey MacLeod |
1–2 | 1998-08-07 | Raymond Chandler | Louise Doughty, Victoria Coren |
1–3 | 1998-08-14 | T. S. Eliot | Kate Saunders, Nigel Williams |
1–4 | 1998-08-21 | Martin Amis | Victoria Glendinning, Tracey MacLeod |
1–5 | 1998-08-28 | D. H. Lawrence | Louise Doughty, Victoria Coren |
1–6 | 1998-09-04 | Charles Dickens | Jonathan Myerson, Nigel Williams |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
2–1 | 1999-07-07 | William Shakespeare | Nigel Williams, Lynne Truss |
2–2 | 1999-07-14 | Arthur Conan Doyle | Tracey MacLeod, Philippa Gregory |
2–3 | 1999-07-21 | The Brontë Sisters | Frank Delaney, Harry Ritchie |
2–4 | 1999-07-28 | James Joyce | Lynne Truss, Nigel Williams |
2–5 | 1999-08-04 | Ernest Hemingway | Tracey MacLeod, Philippa Gregory |
2–6 | 1999-08-11 | Oscar Wilde | Frank Delaney, Harry Ritchie |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
3–1 | 2000-05-10 | Thomas Hardy | Lynne Truss, Sue Limb |
3–2 | 2000-05-17 | Agatha Christie | Jane Thynne, Harry Ritchie |
3–3 | 2000-05-24 | Geoffrey Chaucer | Imogen Stubbs, Louise Doughty |
3–4 | 2000-05-31 | Kingsley Amis | Lynne Truss, Sue Limb |
3–5 | 2000-06-07 | Samuel Beckett | Jane Thynne, Harry Ritchie |
3–6 | 2000-06-14 | Evelyn Waugh | Imogen Stubbs, Louise Doughty |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
4–1 | 2001-04-11 | William Wordsworth | Tracey MacLeod, Gary Younge |
4–2 | 2001-04-18 | Graham Greene | Jonathan Myerson, Jane Thynne |
4–3 | 2001-04-25 | Enid Blyton | Sue Limb, Victoria Coren |
4–4 | 2001-05-02 | John Updike | Tracey MacLeod, Gary Younge |
4–5 | 2001-05-09 | Harold Pinter | Jonathan Myerson, Jane Thynne |
4–6 | 2001-05-16 | John Betjeman | Sue Limb, Victoria Coren |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
5–1 | 2002-04-03 | Ian Fleming | Nigel Williams, Harry Ritchie |
5–2 | 2002-04-10 | Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Stephen Fry, Lynne Truss |
5–3 | 2002-04-17 | Virginia Woolf | Wendy Holden, Joseph Connolly |
5–4 | 2002-04-24 | J. R. R. Tolkien | Nigel Williams, Harry Ritchie |
5–5 | 2002-05-01 | Philip Larkin | Stephen Fry, Lynne Truss |
5–6 | 2002-05-08 | P. G. Wodehouse | Wendy Holden, Joseph Connolly |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
CS2002 | 2002-12-25 | Parodies Regained | Stephen Fry, Sue Limb, Lynne Truss et al. |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
6–1 | 2003-04-02 | George Orwell | John O'Farrell, Louise Doughty |
6–2 | 2003-04-09 | (no programme due to coverage of The Budget) | |
6–3 | 2003-04-16 | Samuel Johnson | Sue Limb, Joanne Harris |
6–4 | 2003-04-23 | Lewis Carroll | John O'Farrell, Louise Doughty |
6–5 | 2003-04-30 | Franz Kafka | Tracey MacLeod, Jonathan Myerson |
6–6 | 2003-05-07 | Jane Austen | Sue Limb, Joanne Harris |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
7–1 | 2004-04-21 | George Orwell (repeat of 6-1) | John O'Farrell, Louise Doughty |
7–2 | 2004-04-28 | Beatrix Potter | Tracey MacLeod, Jonathan Myerson |
7–3 | 2004-05-05 | Samuel Johnson (repeat of 6-3) | Sue Limb, Joanne Harris |
7–4 | 2004-05-12 | Dylan Thomas | John Sutherland, Sabrina Broadbent |
7–5 | 2004-05-19 | Richmal Crompton | Miles Kington, Harry Ritchie |
7–6 | 2004-05-26 | Rudyard Kipling | Nicholas Lezard, Nigel Williams |
7–7 | 2004-06-02 | Catherine Cookson | John Sutherland, Sabrina Broadbent |
7–8 | 2004-06-09 | Alexander Pope | Miles Kington, Harry Ritchie |
7–9 | 2004-06-16 | Samuel Pepys | Nicholas Lezard, Nigel Williams |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
CS2004 | 2004-12-29 | Christmas | Miles Kington, Sabrina Broadbent |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
8–1 | 2005-05-25 | Lord Byron | Simon Brett, Peter Kemp |
8–2 | 2005-06-01 | Noël Coward | Wendy Holden, Louise Doughty |
8–3 | 2005-06-08 | Iris Murdoch | Nigel Williams, Jonathan Myerson |
8–4 | 2005-06-15 | Roald Dahl | Simon Brett, Peter Kemp |
8–5 | 2005-06-22 | John Milton | Wendy Holden, Louise Doughty |
8–6 | 2005-06-29 | Charles Dickens | Nigel Williams, Kate Saunders |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
9–1 | 2006-06-12 | Alan Bennett | Michèle Roberts, Harry Ritchie |
9–2 | 2006-06-19 | Henry James | Peter Kemp, Miles Kington |
9–3 | 2006-06-26 | A. A. Milne | Sue Limb, John O'Farrell |
9–4 | 2006-07-03 | Sylvia Plath | Michèle Roberts, Harry Ritchie |
9–5 | 2006-07-10 | W. B. Yeats | Peter Kemp, Miles Kington |
9–6 | 2006-07-17 | Thomas Hardy | Sue Limb, John O'Farrell |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
10–1 | 2007-03-12 | William Shakespeare | Sabrina Broadbent, Mark Billingham |
10–2 | 2007-03-19 | John le Carré | Jane Thynne, Wendy Holden |
10–3 | 2007-03-26 | Tom Stoppard | Peter Kemp, Sue Limb |
10–4 | 2007-04-02 | Stephen King | Sabrina Broadbent, Mark Billingham |
10–5 | 2007-04-09 | F. Scott Fitzgerald | Jane Thynne, Wendy Holden |
10–6 | 2007-04-16 | John Keats | Peter Kemp, Sue Limb |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
11–1 | 2008-03-24 | E. M. Forster | Wendy Holden, John O'Farrell |
11–2 | 2008-03-31 | John Grisham | Mark Billingham, Jane Thynne |
11–3 | 2008-04-07 | Jonathan Swift | Peter Kemp, Andrew Davies |
11–4 | 2008-04-14 | Hans Christian Andersen | Wendy Holden, John O'Farrell |
11–5 | 2008-04-21 | Ted Hughes | Jane Thynne, Mark Billingham |
11–6 | 2008-04-28 | George Eliot | Peter Kemp, Andrew Davies |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
12–1 | 2008-10-06 | Raymond Chandler | Lynne Truss, Mark Billingham |
12–2 | 2008-10-13 | Seamus Heaney | Sue Limb, Andrew Motion |
12–3 | 2008-10-20 | Philip Roth | Harry Ritchie, Simon Brett |
12–4 | 2008-10-27 | J. K. Rowling | Mark Billingham, Lynne Truss |
12–5 | 2008-11-03 | D. H. Lawrence | Sue Limb, Andrew Motion |
12–6 | 2008-11-10 | Robert Burns | Harry Ritchie, Simon Brett |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
13–1 | 2010-01-27 | Arthur Conan Doyle | Mark Billingham, John O'Farrell |
13–2 | 2010-02-03 | Irvine Welsh | Jane Thynne, Christopher Brookmyre |
13–3 | 2010-02-10 | Anton Chekhov | Peter Kemp, Tibor Fischer |
13–4 | 2010-02-17 | Nancy Mitford | Mark Billingham, John O'Farrell |
13–5 | 2010-02-24 | John Donne | Jane Thynne, Christopher Brookmyre |
13–6 | 2010-03-03 | J. D. Salinger | Peter Kemp, Tibor Fischer |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
14–1 | 2010-10-05 | P. G. Wodehouse | Francis Wheen, Ian McMillan |
14–2 | 2010-10-12 | Tennessee Williams | Francesca Simon, Mark Billingham |
14–3 | 2010-10-19 | Marcel Proust | Philip Kerr, Sue Limb |
14–4 | 2010-10-26 | The Beats | Francis Wheen, Ian McMillan |
14–5 | 2010-11-02 | Stephenie Meyer | Francesca Simon, Mark Billingham |
14–6 | 2010-11-09 | Edgar Allan Poe | Philip Kerr, Sue Limb |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
Sp. | 2011-10-12 | Enid Blyton | Sue Limb, Rachel Johnson |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
15–1 | 2012-01-20 | John Betjeman | Sue Limb, Andrew Motion |
15–2 | 2012-01-27 | Daniel Defoe | Jane Thynne, Mark Billingham |
15–3 | 2012-02-03 | Gustave Flaubert | John O'Farrell, Alex Clark |
15–4 | 2012-02-10 | Terence Rattigan | Andrew Motion, Sue Limb |
15–5 | 2012-02-17 | Jackie Collins | Jane Thynne, Mark Billingham |
15–6 | 2012-02-24 | H. G. Wells | Alex Clark, John O'Farrell |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
16–1 | 2013-05-12 | The Brontës | Sue Limb, Mark Watson |
16–2 | 2013-05-19 | Mark Twain | John O'Farrell, Jane Thynne |
16–3 | 2013-05-26 | Greek tragedy | Mark Billingham, Natalie Haynes |
16–4 | 2013-06-02 | Dorothy Parker | Sue Limb, Mark Watson |
16–5 | 2013-06-09 | William Blake | John O'Farrell, Jane Thynne |
16–6 | 2013-06-16 | Ian Fleming | Mark Billingham, Natalie Haynes |
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
17–1 | 2014-10-05 | John Osborne | Mark Billingham, Lynne Truss |
17–2 | 2014-10-12 | Jilly Cooper | John O'Farrell, Jane Thynne |
17–3 | 2014-10-19 | Gerard Manley Hopkins | Russell Davies, Sue Limb |
17–4 | 2014-10-26 | Jerome K Jerome | Mark Billingham, Lynne Truss |
17–5 | 2014-11-02 | Henry Fielding | Jane Thynne, John O'Farrell |
17–6 | 2014-11-09 | Virginia Woolf | Russell Davies, Sue Limb |
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue is a BBC radio comedy panel game. Billed as "the antidote to panel games", it consists of two teams of two comedians being given "silly things to do" by a chairman. The show was launched in April 1972 as a parody of radio and TV panel games, and has been broadcast since on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, with repeats aired on BBC Radio 4 Extra and, in the 1980s and 1990s, on BBC Radio 2. The 50th series was broadcast in November and December 2007.
Mornington Crescent is an improvisational comedy game featured in the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (ISIHAC), a series that satirises panel games.
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.
Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first hosted by Mark Lamarr, then by Simon Amstell, and later by a number of guest presenters, with Rhod Gilbert hosting the final series. It first starred Phill Jupitus and Sean Hughes as team captains, with Hughes being replaced by Bill Bailey from the eleventh series, and Bailey replaced by Noel Fielding for some of series 21 and from series 23 onward. The show returned six years later, now hosted by Greg Davies, with Daisy May Cooper as the new captain and Fielding returning as a captain. The show is produced by Talkback. The title plays on the names of the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols and the band Buzzcocks.
Mastermind is a British television quiz show for the BBC, currently presented by Clive Myrie. Its creator, Bill Wright, drew inspiration from his experiences of being interrogated by the Gestapo during World War II. The show features an intimidating setting and challenging questions. Four contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the contestant's choice, the other a general knowledge round.
The News Quiz is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 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.
Shooting Stars is a British television comedy panel game broadcast on BBC Two as a pilot in 1993, then as three full series from 1995 to 1997, then on BBC Choice from January to December 2002 with two series before returning to BBC Two for another three series from 2008 until its cancellation in 2011. Created and hosted by double-act Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, it uses the panel show format but with the comedians' often slapstick, surreal and anarchic humour that does not rely on rules in order to function, with the pair apparently ignoring existing rules or inventing new ones as and when the mood takes them.
Sebastian Charles Faulks is a British novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He is best known for his historical novels set in France – The Girl at the Lion d'Or, Birdsong and Charlotte Gray.
Birdsong is a 1993 war novel and family saga by the English author Sebastian Faulks. It is Faulks's fourth novel. The plot follows two main characters living at different times: the first is Stephen Wraysford, a British soldier on the front line in Amiens during the First World War, and the second is his granddaughter, Elizabeth Benson, whose 1970s plotline follows her attempts to recover an understanding of Stephen's experience of the war.
Mock the Week is a topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. Presenter Dara Ó Briain and panellist Hugh Dennis appeared in every episode, with a variety of other stand-up comedians being regular, frequent, occasional or one-off guest panellists during the show's history.
The Blame Game is a Northern Irish comedy panel series that has been broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster and later jointly on BBC One Northern Ireland. Starting in 2005, it is hosted by Tim McGarry. Regular panellists include comedians Colin Murphy, Neil Delamere, and, until 2020, Jake O'Kane. Former guest panellist local comedian Diona Doherty, became a regular panellist since series 19. As well as the regular three panellists, they also have a regular guest panellist. The guest panellist is usually a comedian from outside Northern Ireland who is not always as familiar with the complexities of Northern Irish politics which leads to some hilarity.
Does The Team Think? was a radio panel game broadcast originally on the BBC Light Programme from 1957 to 1976, and revived, again on Radio 2, with a new cast, in 2007. It also broadcast as a TV programme.
Devil May Care is a James Bond continuation novel written by Sebastian Faulks. It was published in the UK by Penguin Books on 28 May 2008, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ian Fleming, the creator of Bond. The story centers on Bond's investigation into Dr. Julius Gorner, a megalomaniac chemist with a deep-seated hatred of England.
All the Way from Memphis was a radio programme that aired from December 2004 to June 2006. There were 12 half-hour episodes and it was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was compiled, written and presented by James Walton, with team captains Tracey MacLeod, and Andrew Collins. Readings are by Beth Chalmers.
Argumental is a British improvised comedy panel game hosted originally by John Sergeant and later Sean Lock, alongside two teams captained by Marcus Brigstocke and Rufus Hound, followed by Robert Webb and Seann Walsh, debating and arguing on various topics with help from various guests. It is made by independent production company Tiger Aspect Productions for Dave and made its debut on 27 October 2008. Series three was commissioned for Dave and four episodes from the second series aired on BBC Two, making it UKTV's most successful commission in terms of reach of audience.
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.
7 Days is a New Zealand comedy game show focused on current events, hosted by Jeremy Corbett and created by thedownlowconcept. It has aired on Three since its premiere in 2009. Two teams, consisting of a team captain — until 2022, nearly always Paul Ego and Dai Henwood — and other comedians, answer questions about stories from the last week; since 2022, the team captains have changed each week. As of 2024, 7 Days has aired for 16 seasons, with a 17th planned for 2025.
Act Your Age is a panel game on BBC Radio 4 hosted by Simon Mayo. The series, created by Ashley Blaker and Bill Matthews, was first broadcast on 27 November 2008. The show features three teams of stand-up comedians from different generations: "The Up-And-Comers", featuring younger comedians, captained by Jon Richardson; "The Current Crop", featuring comedians popular at the moment, captained by Lucy Porter; and "The Old Guard", featuring older, veteran comics, captained by Roy Walker,. Most critics disliked the show. The readers of the British Comedy Guide went as far as voting it the "Worst British Radio Panel Show / Satire 2008".
Gail Trimble is a British academic specialising in Latin poetry and literary form. She was captain of the Corpus Christi College team for the BBC television programme University Challenge in 2009 and scored a high proportion of the team's points. While her team won the challenge, they were subsequently disqualified after it was found that one of her teammates had finished his studies while the show was being recorded. Trimble has continued to appear on quiz programmes. She is now a fellow and tutor in Classics at Trinity College, Oxford.
A continuation novel is a sequel novel with continuity in the style of an established series, produced by a new author after the original author's death.