''Does The Team Think?'' was a radio panel game broadcast originally on the BBC Light Programme (and later on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

and

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

) from 1957 to 1976, and revived, again on Radio 2, with a new cast, in 2007. It also broadcast as a TV programme.

Format

The show was a parody of '' Any Questions?'', where audience members pose questions to an assembled panel. The questions and answers were played for laughs (in contrast to the serious political debate in ''Any Questions?''), with the panellists improvising witty answers.

Original series 1957–1976

The idea of a parody version of ''Any Questions?'' was suggested by

Jimmy Edwards James Keith O'Neill Edwards, DFC (23 March 19207 July 1988) was an English comedy writer and actor on radio and television, best known as Pa Glum in ''Take It from Here'' and as headmaster "Professor" James Edwards in ''Whack-O!''. Early lif ...

in 1957. The

Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

agreed to run a short series, which ended up running almost twenty years. The panel was chaired by

Peter Haigh Peter Varley Haigh (28 July 1925 – 18 January 2001) was an English in-vision announcer for BBC Television in the years after the Second World War. Born in North London, the son of an engineer, he was educated at Aldenham School, Aldenham, H ...

for the first series and by

McDonald Hobley Dennys Jack Valentine McDonald-Hobley (9 June 1917, Stanley, Falkland Islands – 30 July 1987) was one of the earliest BBC Television continuity announcers, appearing on screen from 1946 to 1956. Childhood and early career Hobley (pronounced ...

for the majority of its run. Regular panellists were Edwards, Arthur Askey,

Tommy Trinder Thomas Edward Trinder CBE (24 March 1909 – 10 July 1989) was an English stage, screen and radio comedian whose catchphrase was "You lucky people!". Described by cultural historian Matthew Sweet as "a cocky, front-of-cloth variety turn", he was ...

and Ted Ray, with a guest fourth panellist joining them each week. Other panellists who appeared on the radio series included

Bernard Braden Bernard Chastey Braden (16 May 1916 – 2 February 1993) was a Canadian-born British actor and comedian, who is best known for his appearances in UK television and radio shows. Life Braden was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and educated ...

Kenneth Horne Charles Kenneth Horne, generally known as Kenneth Horne, (27 February 1907 – 14 February 1969) was an English comedian and businessman. He is perhaps best remembered for his work on three BBC Radio series: ''Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh ...

, Cyril Fletcher, Derek Roy, Richard Murdoch, Cardew Robinson, Alfred Marks and

Leslie Crowther Leslie Douglas Sargent Crowther, CBE (6 February 1933 – 29 September 1996) was an English comedian, actor, TV presenter, and game show host. Biography Crowther was born on Monday, 6 February, 1933 in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, son of ...

TV series

A television programme of the same name was briefly trialled in 1961, also hosted by McDonald Hobley. In 1982, a second TV series ran for 9 episodes, with

Tim Brooke-Taylor Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor Order of the British Empire, OBE (17 July 194012 April 2020) was an English actor and comedian best known as a member of The Goodies. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at the University of Cam ...

as the host. It was produced by Robert Reed for

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...

. Jimmy Edwards, Frankie Howerd, Beryl Reid and Willie Rushton were regular panellists. Guest panellists were Steve Davis,

Robert Dougall Robert Dougall, MBE (27 November 1913 – 18 December 1999) was an English broadcaster and ornithologist, mainly known as a newsreader and announcer. Early life and radio broadcasting Dougall was born and educated in Croydon, Surrey. He a ...

, Britt Ekland, Roy Plomley,

Magnus Pyke Magnus Alfred Pyke (29 December 1908 – 19 October 1992) was an English nutritional scientist, governmental scientific adviser, writer and presenter. He worked for the UK Ministry of Food, the post-war Allied Commission for Austria, and diff ...

Shaw Taylor Eric Stanley Taylor (26 October 1924 – 17 March 2015), known professionally as Shaw Taylor, was a British actor and television presenter, best known for presenting the long-running five-minute crime programme ''Police 5''. Early life and c ...

and

Barbara Woodhouse Barbara Kathleen Vera Woodhouse (née Blackburn; May 9, 1910 – 9 July 9, 1988) was an Irish-born British dog trainer, author, horse trainer and television personality. Her 1980 television series '' Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way'' made her a h ...

2007 revival

The radio show was revived in 2007. It was broadcast on

and was written and hosted by

Vic Reeves James Roderick Moir (born 24 January 1959), better known by his stage name Vic Reeves, is an English comedian, artist, surrealist, musician, actor and television presenter, best known for his double act with Bob Mortimer as Reeves & Mortimer. ...

, and produced by Paul Russell for Open Mike Productions. The title was changed slightly, to ''Does the Team Think...''. The first programme went out on 28 June 2007. It was recorded at University of London Union on 27 March, 2, 23 and 30 April 2007. A second series was aired in 2009. The first programme from this series was aired on 17 June 2009 and featured Reeves' comedy partner

Bob Mortimer Robert Renwick Mortimer (born 23 May 1959) is an English comedian, podcast presenter and actor. He is known for his work with Vic Reeves as part of their Vic and Bob comedy double act, and more recently the '' Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing ...

, and '' Shooting Stars'' team captains

Ulrika Jonsson Eva Ulrika Jonsson (born 16 August 1967) is a Swedish-British television presenter and model. She became known as a TV-am weather presenter, moved on to present the ITV show ''Gladiators'', and as a team captain of the BBC Two show '' Shooting S ...

and Jack Dee.

Episodes

References

{{reflist

External links

* 1957 version *
UKgameshows.com
*

British panel games British radio game shows 1950s British game shows 1960s British game shows 1970s British game shows 1980s British game shows 2000s British game shows BBC Radio comedy programmes Lost BBC episodes 1957 radio programme debuts 1976 radio programme endings 2007 radio programme debuts BBC Light Programme programmes