[UPDATE - 6th August 2019]: Back for a second series, and still rather excellent. The impersonators are still enjoyable, the questions are pitched nicely at that level where you get to feel clever some of the time but interested in the answer the rest, and it's got Hugh Dennis trying to answer questions about the films that have had Hughs in. (They're not all him.) One to keep running with.
[ORIGINAL - 12th June 2018]: Do you need another panel show? How about now? Well, Radio 4 has you sorted once again. They tend to try a variety of things, hoping for a pilot that hits, (the most recent efforts being More Money Than Sense and Where's the F In News), but this is the first I've heard in a while that's sparkled.
It's chaired by Gaby Roslin, who apparently has been on the radio for ages, but in London, so I didn't notice. As per usual, we've got a couple of team captains, (John Thomson and Ellie Taylor), with various guests (this week Iain Lee and Lucy Porter). Also joining the cast are the Alastain McGowan and Ronni Ancona, who are there to perform small sections of different films, usually with wildly unsuitable impressions.
There's a good range of game formats for the rounds. There's a "guess the film based on the dialogue" round, with the lines voiced by unsuitable people, such as Kirsty Young or John Bishop. Then a "guess the film based on the foreign title", which had some amazing ones. Do you know what film was released as "Two jerked off professionals"?
There's also enjoyable use of the impressionists, with a newsreader round, but that did prove to be rather easy. Thankfully I think the majority of the point of it is to enjoy the silliness of the voices, which are also sneaked in around the show at different points. The show is finished off with a quick fire round, which was the most informative. Some decently obscure questions here.
The show will succeed or fail based on the quality of the panel, I think. Luckily, the captains have been well selected, and the first two guests are great fun. As long as a good range of people keep dropping in (and let's be honest, if Radio 4 have got access to anything, it's panel guests), it's probably possible to get a few series out of it. Maybe not quite as many as "Quote... Unquote", but it's probably a fair bit more accessible.
Worth a listen.
Tagged: Radio Comedy Cast Panel Arts/Culture