Never Mind the Buzzcocks


Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a British comedy panel game, themed on pop music, that aired between 1996 and 2015. 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 from series 21 onward. The show was produced by Talkback for the BBC, and usually aired on BBC Two. The title plays on the names of punk rock band Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks album, and the punk band Buzzcocks. The 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.
The show was noted and known for its dry, sarcastic humour and scathing, provocative attacks on other people and objects. It also had some controversial guests throughout its 18-year run. On 26 May 2015, it was announced that the BBC had decided not to re-commission the show, in order to "create space for new entertainment formats".

History

The show ran from 1996 until 2015. From its inception until December 2005, it was presented by Mark Lamarr. Simon Amstell started hosting in October 2006. Regular team captains include Phill Jupitus, Sean Hughes, Bill Bailey, Noel Fielding, and also the guest captains. Bill Bailey had appeared as a guest in series 4 on Phill Jupitus's team and series 5 on Sean Hughes's team.
At the end of 2005, it was announced that Mark Lamarr was to take a break from the show after 150 episodes, to concentrate on other projects. The series that aired in early 2006 was hosted by guest presenters, before being permanently handed over to Simon Amstell, who had appeared twice as a panellist, and once as a guest presenter. The first time Amstell appeared as a panellist under Lamarr's tenure, coincidentally, Lamarr jokingly accused him of "stealing his act".
Following series 20, a highlights show was broadcast, presented by Alan Yentob as a parody of his own arts series Imagine. The highlights programme was sub-titled Imagine… A Mildly Amusing Panel Show. From then on, every series included a compilation highlights show, usually including some mockumentary-style "behind the scenes" footage.
Series 20 of Never Mind the Buzzcocks concluded on 7 March 2007. The show began its 21st series on 15 November 2007 with Simon Amstell as host and Phill Jupitus and Bill Bailey as team captains, although Noel Fielding temporarily replaced Bill Bailey for three episodes of series 21. Series 21 concluded on 14 February 2008.
On 18 September 2008, the BBC announced that Bill Bailey would be leaving the show, after eleven series, to concentrate on other commitments. While Simon Amstell and Phill Jupitus returned for the show's 22nd series, Bailey was replaced by a series of guest captains, including comedians Bob Mortimer, Jack Dee, Frank Skinner, Stephen Fry, James Corden, Mark Watson, Russell Brand, producer Mark Ronson and television presenters Dermot O'Leary and Davina McCall.
On 25 April 2009, Amstell announced via his internet mailing list that he would not be hosting another series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks because of his desire to concentrate on his live tours and performances instead.
The new series began 1 October with Noel Fielding as a new permanent captain. Guest hosts included Alex James, Dermot O'Leary, Jack Whitehall, Rhod Gilbert, David Walliams, Claudia Winkleman, Frank Skinner, Frankie Boyle, James Corden, Mark Watson, Martin Freeman and David Tennant.
In 2010, guest hosts continued to present the show's 24th series, including Mark Ronson, Jack Dee, Josh Groban, Terry Wogan, Tim Minchin, Robert Webb, Tim Westwood, Catherine Tate, Frankie Boyle and David O'Doherty, who also hosted a compilation show transmitted on 11 January 2011. On 16 July 2011, the first ever live Never Mind the Buzzcocks special was hosted at Latitude. It lasted roughly two hours, was hosted by David O'Doherty, had the team captains Phil Jupitus and Noel Fielding, and featured guests Seann Walsh, Charlie Baker, Paloma Faith and Robert Milton.
On 9 July 2014, it was confirmed that Rhod Gilbert had been named the next permanent host, beginning with series 28 in autumn 2014.
Between 3 June and 22 July 2013, a special eight-part retrospective programme called What a Load of Buzzcocks was aired, with narration by Alex James. The show revisited key years and events through classic moments and clips from the show's 16-year history.
Phill Jupitus is the only performer to have appeared in almost every episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, missing only the recording of series 25, episode 6, where Frankie Boyle filled in as team captain, and a special episode filmed as part of Comic Relief's 24 Hour Panel People.

Rounds

The show usually consisted of four rounds. The first round changed multiple times over the course of the show. In early series it was often Freeze Frame or I Fought The Law. Later, it usually consisted of the teams being asked a question concerning a unique fact about a musical artist or artists, such as "Why did Girls Aloud once have to cancel a show?" or "What have we pixelated in this still from a music video?" Sometimes the teams are given options to pick from; at other times they have no help. Alternatively, the first round was 'Connections' in which the teams are asked to identify the connection between two bands or artists. Series 25 introduced sets of props for the guests to identify as being part of the answer.
The second round was the Intros Round, wherein two members of a team were asked to convey the introduction of a song a cappella for their teammate to guess. During the Christmas specials, the teams were often given instruments with which to play, though they are usually inappropriate or toy instruments.
The third round was usually the Identity Parade, though this was occasionally replaced by a few other alternative rounds. The audience was shown a video of a musician, and the teams have to pick the correct person from a line-up of five people. The audience and people at home are the only ones to see the video, making it harder for the contestants. The host will go through each member of the line-up, giving them humorous names based on either the name of the musician in question or their song.
The final round was called Next Lines, in which the host spoke a line of a song and the team had to name the next line of the song. Often the songs chosen will be ones mentioned in earlier rounds and ones recorded by panel members. In the latter case, guests often prove incapable of reciting the lyrics to their own songs; for example, Romeo Stodart of The Magic Numbers failed entirely to recognise a line from a song which he joked was "like the B-side from our first single".
For the Christmas Eve 2006 Bumper Edition, the Next Lines round was omitted in order that the teams, plus a guest band and members of that show's Identity Parade, performed a particular song. Phill's team, with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, performed Rachel Stevens' "Some Girls", and Bill's, with the , performed the Rednex's "Cotton Eye Joe".
In the first series of 2005, Mark Lamarr introduced a new segment after the end of the quiz proper, wherein Lamarr tells the audience out-of-context punchlines which weren't used during the show. Often these have included incongruous references to fingerless gloves.
In most of the episodes in the Spring 2006 series, there was an intro or outro sketch where Phill, Bill and Athelston Williams played in a pub band called "Fat, Gifted and Black", or "Athelston, Lake and Palmer". The guest presenter would usually be the lead singer for this segment.
A running joke of the show was for Noel or Phil to remark on passing comments as "good band names", an example of this being "The Diabetic Squirrels".

Cast

Until series 18, Never Mind the Buzzcocks was chaired by Mark Lamarr. Until series 10, the team captains were Phill Jupitus and Sean Hughes. After series 10, Hughes departed and was replaced by Bill Bailey. Lamarr left after series 17, and series 18 was chaired by a series of guest hosts. One of these, satirical comedian and former Popworld presenter Simon Amstell, took over as presenter from series 19 to series 22. Amstell sent an email to his fans on 24 April 2009, stating "I am Simon Amstell. Here is some news, should you be interested in this sort of thing. I will not be hosting another series of the fun pop quiz, ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’. When I first took on the role of hosting ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’, my only hope was to bring joy and laughter to the world and if I was lucky, put an end to war, disease and poverty. Now that I have achieved that, I plan to concentrate on my live work." Series 23 was chaired by a series of guest hosts which continued for Series 24 because "none of the guest hosts were good enough" according to the comedic voice over on the first episode of Series 24. In July 2014, it was announced that Rhod Gilbert would be the next permanent presenter for the 28th series.
At the beginning of series 21, Bill Bailey was unable to attend filming, so Noel Fielding provided cover for three episodes starting 22 November 2007. Bill Bailey officially left the show after series 21 to pursue other commitments. His role as team captain was filled by several 'guest captains' for series 22 and permanently filled by Noel Fielding from series 23 onward.

Walk-offs and non-airings

There have been some instances of guests walking off the show, or episodes being pulled from broadcast due to guest behaviour:

Books

In 1999, BBC Worldwide published Never Mind the Buzzcocks: The Book, the CD, the Brief Intense Rush . The book includes famous moments from the first five series of the show, from selected Identity Parades, I Fought the Law, Word Up and Connections rounds, along with collections of Mark Lamarr's one-liners from the show. The book also features new material, including comic strips and "Great Moments in Rock History", in which photos of famous musical moments are altered to imply that line-up regular Athelston Williams was present. The CD features several Intros rounds from the show, in the format of a game to play at home.

Board game

In 2000, Paul Lamond Games released the Never Mind the Buzzcocks board game, licensed from the BBC and Talkback. The board game is played as follows: the players arrange themselves into two teams. They have two counters each on the board—one as a point marker along the edge of the board and the other to select the round they have to play on the roll of a die. There are six rounds that can be played:
The teams earn the number of points given for the round on the card. For "In the Style of…", it is always one point for the song, and two points for the artist they are doing the song in the style of. At the end of their turn, the team moves their counter on the outer ring clockwise, by the number of points they scored.
The team that overtakes the other on the squares on the edge of the board wins the game.
In 2015 Paul Lamond Games released an updated version of the board game.

Video and DVD

In 1998, a video titled Never Rewind the Buzzcocks was released, containing an episode of the show that was specially-recorded for the video.
A best of DVD including some of the unbroadcastable scenes from the Simon Amstell series was released on 16 November 2009. The DVD contains 3 specials including:
The DVD also includes best of clips and scenes which weren't broadcast with a compulsory commentary by Simon Amstell and Phill Jupitus.

Transmissions

Series

Specials