Mastermind (TV series)

Mastermind
Also known as	Supermind Mastermind Cup Final/Sport Mastermind International Mastermind Champions/Champion of Champions Junior Mastermind
Genre	Game show
Created by	Bill Wright
Presented by	Magnus Magnusson (1972–1997) Peter Snow (1998–2000) Clive Anderson (2001–2002) John Humphrys (2003–)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	40 (Regular) 3 (Supermind) 4 (Cup Final/Sport) 5 (International) 2 (Champions/Champion of Champions) 5 (Junior)
No. of episodes	??? (Regular) 3 (Supermind) 13 (Cup Final/Sport) 5 (International) 8 (Champions/Champion of Champions) 29 (Junior)
Production
Production location(s)	MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, Greater Manchester
Running time	30 minutes (Regular) 60 minutes (Series finals)
Release
Original network	BBC1 (1972–97) BBC Radio 4 (1998–2000) Discovery Channel (2001–2) BBC Two (2003–)
Picture format	4:3 (1972–97, 2001–2) 16:9 (2003–)
Original release	11 September 1972 (1972-09-11) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Celebrity Mastermind Disney Q Family Mastermind
External links
Website

Mastermind is a British game show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting, and air of seriousness.

Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed—four and in later contests five or six contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the contestant's choice, the other a general knowledge round. Wright drew inspiration from his experiences of being interrogated by the Gestapo during World War II.^[1]

The atmosphere is helped by Mastermind's famously ominous theme music, "Approaching Menace" by the British composer Neil Richardson. The quiz programme originated and was recorded in Manchester at studios such as New Broadcasting House and Granada Studios, before permanently moving to MediaCityUK in 2011.

Format

For the first round, each contestant in turn is given a set length of time, usually two minutes (one minute and a half in semi-finals, similarly hereinafter), to answer questions on a specialised subject which he or she has chosen (see examples below). The contestant scores one point for each correct answer and may pass as often as desired. If the contestant responds incorrectly, the questioner gives the correct answer before continuing to the next question; answers to passed questions are read out only after time has expired.

If time runs out while a question is being read, the questioner will finish it and give the contestant a few seconds to answer. This convention has led to the programme's famous catchphrase, "I've started so I'll finish." If a question has been read out in full when time expires, but the contestant has not yet given an answer, they are allowed a few seconds to do so. The contestant's score is displayed on screen; beginning with the 2016–17 series, the border around the score gradually turns blue during the final 10 seconds.

During the second round, each contestant in turn answers a series of general knowledge questions. The rules from the first round apply, except that the time limit is extended (usually two and a half minutes, or two minutes in semi-finals). Originally, the contestants played in the same order as in the first round; currently, they play in ascending order by first-round score.

The winner is the contestant with the highest score after two rounds. Ties are broken in favor of the contestant with the fewest total passes. If contestants have the same score and number of passes, a five-question tiebreaker is played. One contestant at a time is asked the same set of questions, with the others exiting the studio so that they cannot hear the results. The contestant who gives the most correct answers is the winner.

The winner advances to the next round, for which they must choose a different specialised subject. The winner of the final of the BBC version is declared "Mastermind" for that year and is the only contestant to receive a prize, in the form of a cut-glass engraved bowl. During Magnus Magnusson's tenure as presenter, the trophy was specially manufactured by Caithness Glass. A special guest would always be invited to present the trophy to the winner, with the exception of the final edition in 1997, in which Magnusson presented it himself.

Versions of Mastermind

Mastermind first aired on BBC1 in 1972 and lasted until 1997. It was presented by Magnus Magnusson. It was originally broadcast late on a Sunday night and was not expected to receive a huge audience. In 1973 it was moved to a prime-time slot as an emergency replacement for a Leslie Phillips sitcom, Casanova '73, which had been moved to a later time following complaints about its risqué content. The quiz subsequently became one of the most-watched shows on British television. Magnusson was famous for his catchphrase "I've started so I'll finish," which was also the title of his history of the show (by far the most authoritative work on the show— ISBN 0-7515-2585-5). The original series was also noted for the variety of venues where filming took place—often including academic and ecclesiastical buildings. The last programme of the original series was filmed at St Magnus Cathedral in Orkney.^[2]

The original series also spawned many specials. Supermind was an annual playoff between either the first four champions of Mastermind or champions of other TV quiz shows (inc. Mastermind) from 1976 or 1977. It ran for three years between 1976 and 1978. Cup Final Mastermind was an annual playoff between experts and supporters from the FA Cup Finalist teams they are supporting. It ran from 1978 and 1980. Mastermind International was an annual playoff between winners of various international versions of the show (or the nearest equivalents in some countries) and ran for five years between 1979 and 1983. Mastermind Champions was a 1982 3-part competition where the first ten champions of the show compete to become the Mastermind Champion of Champions.

After being dropped by BBC1 in 1997, it was picked up by BBC Radio 4 and ran between 1998 and 2000. It was hosted by Peter Snow.

Mastermind then moved to Discovery Channel hosted by Clive Anderson in 2001. With Discovery Channel having commercials, this shortened the amount of time available for the answering of questions and lasted just one series. This was also the first to go 'interactive'. By using the red button viewers could play the general knowledge section throughout the series. These questions had been written specifically to afford both standard and multiple-choice format in presentation. There was a one-off competition between the four highest scoring viewers.

A new BBC Two version premiered in 2003, hosted by John Humphrys. Whereas the original series kept talk to a minimum, asking contestants only their name, occupation and specialist subject, at first the new run included some conversational elements with contestants between at the start of the General Knowledge round (normally about the contestant's specialist subject), although these have been dropped since the 2011 series. It is also distinguished from the original BBC TV series by the fact that many more contestants' specialist subjects come from popular culture, which probably reflects cultural changes in the British middle classes in recent years. Unlike the original version, this version is studio-based. It is now made in MediaCity in Salford (although, due to asbestos being found at Granada's Manchester studios, parts of the 2006 series were filmed at Yorkshire Television's Leeds studios). It came back in 2008 as a 10-part competition this time entitled Sport Mastermind. Mastermind Champion of Champions was a 2010 5-part competition that featured previous Mastermind champions.

Junior Mastermind, also hosted by John Humphrys, is a children's version of the quiz programme and has the same format, the difference being that the contestants are only ten and eleven years old. The programme aired across six nights on BBC One, ending on 4 September 2004. The winner was Daniel Parker, whose specialist subjects were the Volkswagen Beetle (heat) and James Bond villains (final). There was another series in 2005 (subjects included Black Holes and the Star Wars trilogy), which was won by Robin Geddes, whose specialist subjects were The Vicar of Dibley and A Series of Unfortunate Events, with a third series airing in 2006, won by Domnhall Ryan, and featuring subjects such as Harry Potter and Chelsea Football Club, and a fourth series in 2007 won by Robert Stutter and a fifth series later that year won by David Verghese. The Junior version was cancelled after the two 2007 series.

In the United States, the game show 2 Minute Drill on sports network ESPN had its roots in Mastermind. Contestants faced questions fired at them by a panel of four sports and entertainment celebrities for two minutes; like Mastermind, there were two rounds of questions, however slightly different: The 1st round had each panelist's questions representing a different sports category pertaining to their area of expertise, and the 2nd round had no categories and the contestant could not control who asked the questions; they were fired at random. The contestant with the highest score after two rounds would win a cash prize, and would have a chance to double those winnings by correctly answering the "Question of Great Significance," as host Kenny Mayne called it, from a specialty category chosen by the winner (usually a particular athlete or sports team from the past). In each series, winners advanced in a bracket-style playoff format, with cash prizes increasing from $5,000 in the first round to $50,000 (doubling to $100,000 by answering the final question) in the final round. Prizes such as trips to the Super Bowl or ESPY Awards were also given, known as "ESPN Experiences". The show had three series over a 15-month period, from September 2000 to December 2001. Like Mastermind, 2 Minute Drill featured a leather chair, dramatic lighting and sound effects. Willy Gibson of Columbus, Ohio, was the grand champion of the first two series; he was defeated in the second round of the third and final series. Unlike Mastermind presenters, Mayne had a very dry, quirky and sometimes sarcastic sense of humour, but did a very good job of keeping the game going; he would quickly jump in if one of the celebrity panelists was tardy in posing their question, so as not to penalise the contestant.

Records

Specialist subjects

The following is a sample of specialist subjects:^[5]

• History and genealogy of European royalty.
• The life and works of Gilbert & Sullivan.
• The Moomin saga by Tove Jansson.
• The history of Lancashire County Cricket Club.
• The life-cycle and habits of the honey-bee.
• The Buddhist sage Nichiren.
• The female agents of the Special Operations Executive.^[6][7]

A special episode of Mastermind called Doctor Who Mastermind was broadcast on 19 March 2005 as part of Doctor Who Night on BBC Two, to celebrate the return of the science fiction series to BBC One, in which all four contestants had the specialist subject Doctor Who. The prize was awarded to the winner by the current Doctor at the time, actor Christopher Eccleston. Doctor Who had previously been the specialist subject in the first round of 1993 champion Gavin Fuller.

Some specialist subjects are considered not suitable to be used. The following are examples of rejected specialist subjects:^[5]

• Routes to anywhere in mainland Britain by road from Letchworth.
• Cremation practice and law in Britain.
• The banana industry.
• Orthopaedic bone cement in total hip replacement.
• Perfect squares from 99²= 9801.

Until 1992, finalists of Mastermind were allowed to use their original first round subjects in the grand final. In 1992, a new rule was introduced, under which each finalist would choose a third subject for the final.

Champions

The chair

The most famous icon of the show is the black leather chair in which the contestants sit, lit by a solitary spotlight in an otherwise dark studio. The inspiration for this was the interrogations faced by the show's creator, Bill Wright, as a POW in World War II.^[2] The original black chair was given to Magnus Magnusson as a souvenir when he retired from the show.^[9] On one occasion the original black chair was "kidnapped" by a group of students during the BBC crew's evening meal break, and held to ransom to raise money for charity. This prank delayed the recording of two programmes. The BBC subsequently commissioned a duplicate chair which was kept locked in the scenery truck at every recording to thwart similar ransom demands. The duplicate chair was never used on air, except in the title sequence, which was recorded in London while the main chair was on the road. Its current whereabouts are unknown.^[10]

The current chair is an Eames Soft Pad Lounge Chair designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1969. Today these chairs are made under licence by Vitra.

Parodies

The programme has been the target for many television spoofs, most memorably the Two Ronnies sketch written by David Renwick (a less polished version had previously appeared in the Radio 4 series "The Burkiss Way") in 1980, featuring Ronnie Barker as Magnus Magnusson and Ronnie Corbett as a contestant named Charlie Smithers, whose specialist subject was "answering the question before last". This continually led to humorous and often rude answers. A similar sketch featured Monty Python alumni Michael Palin as Magnússon and Terry Gilliam as a contestant whose speciality was "questions to which the answer is two."

The 2003-onwards version has been spoofed by the Dead Ringers team, with Jon Culshaw playing John Humphrys. In one send-up, which appeared on the television edition of Dead Ringers, the contestant offered to answer questions on Mary Queen of Scots, but when an answer was given, John Humphrys was shown saying "Yes, but you sexed that answer up". The sketch was a reference to the controversy caused by the aftermath of the Iraq War. One episode included Mastermind: The Opera.^[11]

Another spoof was featured in Armando Iannucci's 2004: The Stupid Version, where a contestant's specialist subject was "The television series Thunderbirds and Lady Penelope's Cockney chauffeur".

Also in 2004, Johnny Vaughan's BBC Three show Live at Johnny's featured a version called Mastermind Rejects—the premise being that the specialist subjects were too ludicrously obscure even for Mastermind. In the final show of the series, Magnus Magnusson took over as the quizmaster—it was the last time he would utter the catchphrase "I've started so I'll finish" on any form of Mastermind. The specialist subject was The History of the Home Video Recorder, 1972 to 1984.^[12]

On their 2005 Christmas Special, comedy duo French & Saunders parodied the show with Jennifer Saunders playing Abigail Wilson, a pensioner whose special subject is ceramic teapots. She passes on all but one question, which she answers incorrectly anyway.

In 2005, the show was spoofed on BBC Radio 4's The Now Show where the specialist subject was "Britishness", relating to the proposed test immigrants may have to take, to prove they can fit in with British society.

In 1974, Morecambe and Wise performed a sketch based on Mastermind, which featured Magnússon and the black chair. The format was different, however, with Wise, then Morecambe, being asked 10 questions each.

In 1975 The Goodies featured Mastermind in the episode "Frankenfido" when a dog (Bill Oddie in a suit) appeared on the show and managed to correctly answer questions asked of it as they all had answers that could be represented by growls, such as 'bark' and 'ruff'.

In the late 1970s, Noel Edmonds' radio Sunday lunchtime show used to feature a send-up called "Musty Mind" where a phone-in contestant would be asked ludicrous questions on a parody of a serious subject, such as the "Toad Racing" or, on another occasion, "The Cultural and Social History of Rockall" – Rockall being a bald lump of uninhabited rock in the eastern Atlantic.

Benny Hill parodied Mastermind on The Benny Hill Show on at least two separate occasions. In one of the parodies the show was called "Masterbrane". In each, Benny played the role of Magnússon while Jackie Wright played the hapless contestant.

Spitting Image used the Mastermind format in a sketch where a Magnus Magnusson puppet asked questions of a Jeffrey Archer puppet whose specialist subject was himself. The twist was that Archer's puppet, being incapable of answering questions about himself without exaggeration or evasion, ends the round with zero points.

The BBC's satirical current affairs quiz show Have I Got News for You has parodied the show several times, by turning the lights down – except for spotlights above select chairs – and playing the theme tune, before subjecting at least one of the panel to some rigorous questioning. The first occasion happened on the 1995 video special, where only regular captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton were asked questions; Ian on (as he put it) "The Life and Lies of Jeffrey Archer", and Paul was asked questions on "Absurd Newspaper Stories Between 1990 and 1995". The second occasion was in 1998, when Magnus Magnusson appeared as a guest. All four panellists were asked questions on this occasion, Paul's being the Starr Report, Ian's being the life and times of Rupert Murdoch, while Magnus had Mastermind, which also included a moment on Quizball when he confused playwright Arthur Miller with the name of the surgeon who had once operated on his mother's kidneys. After Magnusson's questioning, the spotlight then turned onto the other guest, John Simpson, who was informed that his "specialist subject" was Christmas cracker jokes, which he received help from Ian throughout.

On another occasion, Have I Got News for You turned the Mastermind spotlight on one of its favourite guests, Boris Johnson, when he appeared in 2001. He was told his specialist subject was then-Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith "whether you like it or not". The programme's final Mastermind moment to date came when John Humphrys guest-hosted an edition in 2003, shortly after taking over as Mastermind presenter. After the opening round, HIGNFY regular Ian Hislop mentioned that in accordance with a long-running theme of Humphrys' other well-known role as anchor of BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, he was about to spring a surprise on him. Hislop then asked Humphrys several questions about quotes said by him or about him, including the revelation that Iain Duncan Smith had once remarked about his "nicely balanced package".

In his early routines Bill Bailey would often parody the Mastermind music, finding it very sinister. He would then play the music on keyboard with an over-the-top hellish sounding climax. In the last episode of "Is It Bill Bailey?" he followed on from this performance with a sketch where he was a contestant on Mastermind, and it was implied that his specialist subject was the microwave cooking instructions on supermarket ready meals. As the camera panned out it became evident that the chair itself was on a platter, slowly turning in a giant microwave oven.

The programme Balls of Steel parodied Mastermind with its sketch The Alex Zane Cleverness Game, in which experts were quizzed on their specialist subjects (included were "The Life of Anne Frank", "Eurovision Song Contest Winners", and "Hercule Poirot"). Unknowingly to the experts, the show was a complete hoax, and blatantly incorrect answers were included in order to frustrate them whenever they supplied the correct answer.

The comedy show Snuff Box had the two main characters Rich Fulcher and Matt Berry both appear on Mastermind. Berry chose his specialist subject as Alton Towers and only scored 3 points before a blackout, in which he apparently shoots the host after being told to sit down. Fulcher chooses 'Anglo-Saxon architecture', though displays no knowledge of the subject and makes up answers such as 'Toto from The Wizard Of Oz' and 'Elvis', and scoring no points.

In 2011, The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 parodied the show with a feature called 'Disastermind'. Using the back-up chair from the Mastermind studio, each team member chose a specialist subject, only to have them swapped before being questioned in the chair on their randomly selected subject and general knowledge. The specialist subjects were The World of Glee; UK Dialling Codes; U2; Husky Dogs and Back to the Future.

In 2013, Mastermind featured on the ITV show Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, as part of an Ant Vs Dec segment where Ant and Dec had to answer questions based around a school challenge they took part in. Ant won.

Transmissions

International versions

Region or country	Local name	Network	Host	Dates
Australia	Mastermind	ABC	Huw Evans	1978–1984
New Zealand	Mastermind	Television New Zealand	Peter Sinclair Peter Williams	1976–1991 2016
India	Mastermind India	BBC India	Siddhartha Basu	1998–2002
	Disney Q Family Mastermind	Disney Channel India	Benjamin Gilani	2013
Israel	מקבילית המוחות Mastermind	Channel 1	Yitzhak Shimoni Michael Dak	1990–1996
Russia	Властелин ума Vlastelin uma	Bibigon	Andrey Urgant	2007
	Гений Genij	Russia-K	Aleskey Begak	2017–present
Wales	Mastermind Cymru	S4C	Betsan Powys	2006–2007 2008–2009 (junior version)
Ireland	Mastermind Ireland	TV3	Nora Owen	2011
Turkey	Mastermind Türkiye	NTV	Altan Erkekli	2013

References

External links

• Mastermind at BBC Programmes
• Junior Mastermind at BBC Programmes
• Sport Mastermind at BBC Programmes
• Mastermind on IMDb
• Mastermind at the British Film Institute
• Mastermind at UKGameshows.com