''The Blame Game'' is a Northern Irish

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

panel series that has been broadcast on

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster ( ga, BBC Raidió Uladh) is a Northern Irish radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. It is ...

and later jointly on

BBC One Northern Ireland BBC One Northern Ireland is a Northern Irish television channel based on the UK-wide BBC One, owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland. The service is broadcast from Broadcasting House in Belfast. In the rest of the UK, BBC One Northern Irelan ...

. Starting in 2005, it is hosted by

Tim McGarry Tim McGarry ( ga, Tadhg Mag Fhearaigh) is an Irish people, Irish comedian and actor from Belfast, North Belfast in Northern Ireland. He was educated at St Malachy's College, Belfast. He is a member of the comedy group Hole in the Wall Gang (com ...

. Regular panellists include comedians

Colin Murphy Colin Murphy may refer to: * Colin Murphy (comedian) (born 1968), Irish comedian * Colin Murphy (ice hockey) (born 1980), Canadian ice hockey player * Colin Murphy (footballer, born 1950), English football (soccer) player and manager * Colin Murphy ...

Neil Delamere Neil Delamere ( ; born 1979) is an Irish comedian. He is a regular on the BBC Northern Ireland television show '' The Blame Game'', and the reigning BBC Fighting Talk Champion of Champions. Early life and education Delamere is from Edenderry, ...

, and, until 2020,

Jake O'Kane Jake O’Kane (born 12 March 1961) is a Belfast-based stand-up comedian, and a resident compère of the Northern Ireland comedy club, "The Empire Laughs Back" at The Empire Music Hall in Belfast. O'Kane has toured on the comedy circuit, and ...

. Former guest panellist local comedian

Diona Doherty Diona Doherty (born 1989) is a Northern Irish actress, writer and comedian from Derry. She starred in BBC Northern Ireland's ''Soft Border Patrol''. She played a Ukrainian student in an episode of Channel 4's ''Derry Girls''. She has been a panel ...

, 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. It is generally filmed at BBC Northern Ireland's Blackstaff House studios in Belfast, but it has in past also been filmed in the

Millennium Forum The Millennium Forum is a theatre and conference centre in Newmarket Street, Derry, Northern Ireland. It was the first purpose-built theatre in Derry and opened in 2001. It has a seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who c ...

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

Format

In the first and main round called "Pass the Buck", individual members of the audience ask the contestants who they feel responsible for a topical issue, usually in the structure "Who do you blame for...?" Example issues include

binge drinking Binge drinking, or heavy episodic drinking, is drinking alcoholic beverages with an intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time, but definitions ( see below) vary considerably. Binge drinking ...

, the "Stroke City" problem and

trick or treating Trick-or-treating is a traditional Halloween custom for children and adults in some countries. During the evening of Halloween, on October 31, people in costumes travel from house to house, asking for treats with the phrase "trick or treat". The ...

. Tim McGarry passes the question over to a contestant who attempts to answer it, normally in a humorous off-topic manner. In the second round ("Blame It on the Boogie"), a piece of music is played, and the contestants must try to figure out why it is being played. The recent years, this section has been left out altogether and the initial first round dominates the show. In the final round ("What's the Story?"), Tim McGarry reads out a recent

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

headline and the contestants state their take on the headline. The game ends with Tim McGarry telling the audience if they "blame (team) for winning, to cheer now". The television version cuts out "Blame It on the Boogie", and the majority of the show consists of "Pass the Buck". With just a few minutes to go, Tim McGarry announces "There's just time to look at this week's news", before getting out a 'newspaper' from which he reads the headlines for "What's the Story?".

Trivia

In the episode that aired after loyalist Michael Stone attempted to assassinate members of

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

at Stormont in 2006, Tim McGarry joked that Stone would claim that this it was a work of

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

. During his trial in 2008, Stone claimed that he had no intention of killing

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams ( ga, Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020 ...

and

Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness ( ga, Séamus Máirtín Pacelli Mag Aonghusa; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman from Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during ...

, and that it was all a work of performance art.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blame Game, The 2005 British television series debuts 2000s British comedy television series 2010s British comedy television series 2020s British comedy television series BBC panel games BBC Radio Ulster programmes BBC Northern Ireland television shows English-language television shows