Never Mind The Buzzcocks

''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.

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". In September 2020, it was announced that Sky was reviving the show. In June 2021, Sky confirmed that eight episodes and a Christmas special would be shown later in the year, with Davies hosting.

History

The show ran on the BBC from 1996 until 2015. From its inception until December 2005, it was presented by Mark Lamarr (who also produced the show from 2004 until his departure). Simon Amstell started hosting in October 2006. Regular team captains include Phill Jupitus, Sean Hughes (until May 2002), Bill Bailey (September 2002 – February 2008), Noel Fielding (October 2009 – December 2014), and also the guest captains (October 2008 – January 2009). 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 ( series 13, episode 8 and series 16, episode 11), and once as a guest presenter ( series 18, episode 2). The first time Amstell appeared as a panellist under Lamarr's tenure, coincidentally, Lamarr jokingly accused him of "stealing his act".

Following series 20 (Amstell's second as regular host), 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 (hosting for the second time) 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 (standing in for Seasick Steve, who was supposed to be there but never arrived).

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 was the only performer to have appeared in almost every original-run 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''.

''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' returned in 2021 on Sky Max, with Noel Fielding the only returning panelist; Greg Davies was the new host, Daisy May Cooper the first female team captain, and Jamali Maddix was a regular team member in every episode.

Rounds

The show usually consists of four rounds. The first round changed multiple times over the course of the show. In early series it was often ''Freeze Frame'' (where a music video was paused at a key point and teams had to guess what happened next) or ''I Fought The Law'' (where teams had to guess which of a given list of crimes or lawsuits a pop star had been involved in, and whether they'd won or lost their case). 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 is the Intros Round, wherein two members of a team (the captain and usually the musical guest) were asked to convey the introduction of a song a cappella (but using vocal sounds for instruments rather than words) 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 is usually the Identity Parade, though this was occasionally replaced by a few other alternative rounds. The audience was shown a video of a musician (often a member of an old band or a "one hit wonder" singer), 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. When the series returned in 2021, the Identity Parade instead featured an entire band, with one impostor member who the teams had to identify.

The final round is called Next Lines, in which the host speaks a line of a song and the team has to name the next line of the song. Often the songs chosen are 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 (chosen, in a short skit, by a dreidel). Phill's team, with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, performed Rachel Stevens' "Some Girls", and Bill's, with the Bollywood Pandits (a Bollywood Bhangra band), 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 (a frequent member of the lineup in the Identity Parade round) played in a pub band called "Fat, Gifted and Black" (a play on Young, Gifted and Black), or "Athelston, Lake and Palmer" (a play on Emerson, Lake & Palmer). The guest presenter would usually be the lead singer for this segment (e. g. Lauren Laverne and Ricky Wilson).

A running joke of the show was for Noel or Phill 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.

Bill Bailey was unable to attend filming at the beginning of series 21, 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 Fielding from series 23 onward. Apart from one episode in series 25, and the 2011 Comic Relief special, Phill Jupitus appeared in every episode of the programme from its debut in 1996 until it was cancelled in 2015. Jupitus did not return for the revived series on Sky in 2021, making series 29 the first series in which he is not a regular team captain. In series 29, Greg Davies took over as host, Daisy May Cooper replaced Jupitus as team captain and Jamali Maddix joined as a regular panellist.

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:

* In episode 2 of series 3, Lemmy of Motörhead walked off the show near the end of the episode, purportedly after he realised that Mark Lamarr and most of the other panellists' jokes were making fun of him (as well as former Bucks Fizz singer Jay Aston). Lemmy's walk-off was not shown on air however as by this time, main recording for the show had already finished and only retakes were being shot.
* In episode 3 of series 20, The Ordinary Boys' lead singer Preston walked off the show after Simon Amstell read extracts from the autobiography of Preston's then-wife, Chantelle Houghton. He was replaced by audience member Ed Seymour, picked out by Bill Bailey (on the grounds that he was of the closest physical resemblance that could be found), and credited as "special guest". Bill's instructions to Seymour were "look surly and every time mstellmentions Chantelle say 'that's out of order'". Coincidentally, Preston had been sitting in the same seat as Lemmy, leading it to be called the "ejector seat" by Phill in the next episode. In an August 2009 interview, Preston admitted that he regretted walking off the show and said that he would return to the programme if asked, saying "I'm struggling to think why I would have acted so weird".
* Russell Brand recorded an appearance as guest captain for series 22, but due to the Andrew Sachs prank call scandal that surrounded him, and his suspension—and then resignation—from the BBC
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