''Knowitalls'' was a British quiz show hosted by

Gyles Brandreth Gyles Daubeney Brandreth (born 8 March 1948) is an English broadcaster, writer and former politician. He has worked as a television presenter, theatre producer, journalist, author and publisher. He was a presenter for TV-am's '' Good Morning ...

. It was shown on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

in 2009. Filming took place between 15 and 21 June 2009. It was first broadcast on 27 July 2009. The show's strapline is that it's "the quiz without questions". The team that wins overall will win £15,000, the Knowitalls

trophy A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as a recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals (or, in ...

and the title of "Britain's Biggest Knowitalls".

Overview

Introduction

At the beginning of the show, before the title sequence, the 2 teams of 3 are shown locked away in separate rooms with Gyles saying in a

voiceover Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...

: ''"Completely on their own. Two teams with no

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

s, no

phone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into ele ...

s and no

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. They've been given today's subjects and just one

hour An hour (symbol: h; also abbreviated hr) is a unit of time conventionally reckoned as of a day and scientifically reckoned between 3,599 and 3,601 seconds, depending on the speed of Earth's rotation. There are 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 ho ...

to pool everything they know before they try to prove that they are today's Knowitalls."''

Experts

Each show has three experts sitting on a desk at one end of the studio. Each expert has their own specialist subject. They are: *

Art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

–

Natalie Haynes Natalie Louise Haynes (born 1974) is an English writer, broadcaster, classicist, and comedian. Early life Haynes was born in Birmingham, where she attended King Edward VI High School for Girls. She read Classics at Christ's College, Cambridge, ...

Business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

Politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

– Adam Shaw *

Entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

–

Colin Paterson Colin Paterson (born 1974) is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster who is an Arts and Entertainment correspondent for the BBC and has been a presenter and reporter on BBC Three's ''Liquid News''. Early life He attended the independent Hutcheson ...

Food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

Drink A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothies a ...

–

Jay Rayner Jason Matthew Rayner (born 14 September 1966) is an English journalist and food critic. Early life Jason Matthew Rayner was born on 14 September 1966. He is the younger son of Desmond Rayner and journalist Claire Rayner. His family is Jewish. He ...

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

– Tessa Dunlop * Natural History –

Chris Packham Christopher Gary Packham CBE (born 4 May 1961) is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series ''The Really Wild Show'' from 1986 t ...

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

–

Greg Foot Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory. Greg (more commonly spelled " Gregg") is also a surname. People with the name *Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people * Greg Abel (born 1961/1962), Canad ...

Sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

– Jim White *

Travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

–

Simon Calder Simon Calder (born 25 December 1955) is a freelance UK travel journalist and broadcaster. He works for various news and travel publications as well as being travel correspondent for ''The Independent''. Biography In 1962, Calder joined the Wo ...

Round 1 – 45 Second Subject

Each player from each team has just 45 seconds to impress the experts with their knowledge of the subject given just one hour previously. They receive 1 point for an interesting fact and 2 for an astounding fact that impresses the expert. There are also bonus points if the player can find three words that the expert has chosen, which are shown on screen to the viewers at home. They get 1 point for each fact or 5, if they spot all three. No player can do 2 subjects.

Round 2 – 7 Second Sensation

One player from each team comes out to give one astounding fact about a subject chosen by one of the experts. The players have just 7 seconds to give their fact. The fact chosen by the expert as the more astounding wins the team 5 points. However, if neither player's fact is true, neither team scores. As with round 1, no player can do 2 subjects.

Round 3 – Quick-Fire

All 3 members of the team come out in front of the experts. They have 90 seconds to get as many key words as possible. Every subject given by an expert has 3 key words. If any of the key words are shouted out, then the team wins 5 points. They can pass to the next expert if they want to. The team with the most points at the end of the round wins the game.

Results

Structure

Tournament overview with scores. The show order is shown in the number in the brackets

References

Official BBC Press Release

External links

* *{{IMDb title, 1548845 2000s British game shows 2009 British television series debuts 2009 British television series endings BBC television game shows