Who Dares Wins (11 May 2013)

This was the last episode of the current series of Who Dares Wins. The Champions had played 5 Money Games until this show and (spoiler) won the next two in this week’s show. That means that they will continue playing in the next series. With a total winnings of £105,000 and £52,500 each, will they really be bothered to come back a year later to play a BBC1 game show? Surely they’ll want to be off enjoying the money. It will be interesting to see how different they look next time.

It must be said that the partnership of Chrissy (female) and Joe (male) has mostly been run and won by Joe. Younger than Chrissy, he knows about popular culture, sports and geography. Without him, Chrissy would not have gone so far, and yet without her, Joe probably still would have got this far. But that’s the nature of the game and the luck of the partnerships.

11 May 2013

1. Footballers in England’s Euro 2012 Squad

It should be remembered that this show is filmed sometime in the Winter of 2012 so these kinds of lists are fresh in the mind for fans. The Champions (Joe) got the bidding up to 21 and got the list easily.

2. Muppets Characters

They had to name any Muppets characters from the original TV series (1976-1981). The Challengers bid 9 and got them easily.

3. Tie Break: Madness Songs

As both teams won one list each, it went to a sudden death tie break on naming any Madness song from their 9 studio albums or compilations. Both teams had someone who knew many Madness songs but the Challengers said ‘Camden Town’ for the 9th answer, which was wrong (it’s just a Suggs song isn’t it?) and so the Champions got a right answer on the 10th to win the game.

* Money Game: British Actors Nominated for an Oscar since 1980

Any British male actor nominate for Best Actor or Supporting Actor Oscar since 1980. Sometimes you can try to  be too clever. Having got three answers for £5000 (Firth, Bale & Kingsley), they said they would carry on for another three for £10,000 for their 5th answer they said Christopher Plummer, who recently won the Best Supporting Actor. Plummer, of course, is not British (he’s Canadian) and so they lost the £5000. They hadn’t said the obvious answers of Daniel Day-Lewis, Jim Broadbent, Ralph Fiennes and others.

***

1. Top 30 Medal-Winning Countries at the London 2012 Olympics

The Challengers won the bidding at 13 but for their fifth answer said North Korea. They were sure about it, but were of course wrong. They probably meant South Korea, but with that kind of ignorance about the difference between the two countries they didn’t deserve to win.

2. Sean Connery Films

The Challengers bid up to 13 and the Champions let them ‘Name Them’. Again, they slipped up on their 5th answer as they started going through Bond Films and said ‘For Your Eyes Only’. They weren’t even sure, and they were wrong as it was a Roger Moore film and so the Champions won 2 lists.

* Money Game: Capital Cities in Africa

They got up to 9 with a 9th correct answer of Sao Tome. They (Joe) could have gone on as he hadn’t even done the multiple South African capitals yet, or some other well known Central African cities, but with the weight of carrying the team by himself they stopped at 9 and £15,000 for a grand total now of £105,000.

Who Dares Wins (4 May 2013)

The National-Lottery game show is not an expensive programme to make, but it is one of the biggest earning game shows out there on British TV at the moment – and one that winners generally earn sizeable amounts of money. One of the conceits of this game show is that the couple playing together don’t know each other before the start of the show – they’re (allegedly) randomly put together and then they have to trust each other and each other’s knowledge as they bid on how many answers they can collectively pull together for a list.

There’s also the potential for bluffing your opponents out. When it’s the early rounds of two teams playing against each other for the best of three, Nick Knowles tells both teams the list they need to answer and then they are in sound proof pods while they discuss with each other how many they know and they start the bidding. So, sometimes if a team doesn’t know many answers they will still keep on bidding to make the list unmanageable for the other team – but they’ve got the stop before the other team stops and says ‘Name Them’. Sometimes, though you’re up against an opponent whose specialist subject comes up and you have no chance, however good a team you might be….

4 May 2013

1. Clint Eastwood Films

The Challengers bid 14, both knew quite a lot of Eastwood films off the top of their head, and got to the list easily.

2. Non-American Winners of the Four Golf Majors

The Champions bid 12, and got them fairly easily and missed the obvious howlers.

3. Dinosaurs

So with one list each, it went to a tie break and a ‘penalty shoot-out’ where each team had to go back and forth naming dinosaurs, not including ones winged-dinosaurs. Unfortunately for the Challengers, the Champions had a member who once wanted to be a palaentologist on their team and so they won by getting to a correct 9th answer when the Challengers stumbled.

* Money Game: Cliff Richard Singles (including Duets and Collaborations)

So the Champions are now on their (4th?) money game and it was something they were quite confident with, getting 8 Cliff Richard songs easily. For their 9th answer though they went for the Band Aid song ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’, which was incorrect and they lost the £10,000 they had got after six correct answers, because after every third answer they have to stick or gamble and carry on, which they did and lost. But they continue on to play the next round against new Challengers

***

1. Highest Grossing Authors in the UK

The 50 authors (fiction or non-fiction) with the highest book sales in the UK since 1998. Nick Knowles gave both teams a hint that most of the authors on the list were present day authors. The Challengers bid 16 but for their 3rd answer said Nigel Slater, which was wrong.

2. 75 Largest Cities/Towns in Germany

The Challengers bid 13, but again, despite ‘daring’ they did not win. On their 9th answer, one team member said Baden Baden, saying she had been there and it was quite large (maybe she’d been there when England had camped there for the World Cup?). Anyway, it was wrong and the reigning Champions got to play another Money Game.

* Money Game: Actors in the Batman Trilogy (Nolan)

Any male or female actor credited in the three Christopher Nolan Batman Films. If you know your Batman films, then this is quite easy – and one of the team members knew his Batman Trilogy. They got all 15 answers for the maximum of £50,000. He even gave a relatively obscure answer for his 15th of Nestor Carbonell, omitting the more obvious Aaron Eckhart from this list. So the Champions now have £90,000 winnings and may even continue to win more next week.

Who Dares Wins (27 April 2013)

Sometimes you know things and sometimes you hit a blind spot. The current Champions on the National Lottery game show (hosted by Nick Knowles), Who Dares Wins, have a good rounded general knowledge and have been doing well after amassing £15,000 at the end of last week’s show.

As ever, the game with the lists does depend on those who ‘dare’ to ‘win’ because if you don’t go for a list you think you know then the other team will take it and win it…

27 April 2013

1. 80 most common words in English language ending in -ch

This list did not include proper nouns. The Challengers did ‘dare’ and got the bidding up to 23. Unfortunately the ‘cleverer’ team member allowed the other to say glitch for their 5th answer, which was wrong and they lost the list to the Champions.

2. England’s most capped test cricketers

A list of 101 men who have more than 30 England cricket test caps since 1884. The Champions won the bid for 14 and got them easily and so with 2 lists they went on to the Money Game again.

* Money Game: Characters in the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Speaking parts in the 1937 film – and there are only 15 characters. The Champions got to 9 and £15,000 and then took the money rather than risk another 3 and lose the money

***

1. Male Characters in Shakespeare Plays

The top 200 male characters in William Shakespeare plays according to lines. A very low bid of 11 by the Champions was given to them by the Challengers and they got it quite easily.

2. Judi Dench Films and TV shows

Up to September 2012. Again the Challengers were too scared to go for it and let the Champions bid for 12, which they got without much hesitation. The reigning Champions go on for another week then and have played 3 money games so far.

* Money Game: Rolling Stones Songs

Only one team member really knew any Rolling Stones songs but they got to 6 answers for £10,000 quite easily. They then decided to stick with that and now have £30,000 winnings. Now that they have this money in the bank, will they be even more daring next week?

Who Dares Wins (20 April 2013)

Someone (or many someones) out there has a job thinking about lists for the game show Who Dares Wins… Well this week, there were certainly a variety of categories.

As ever two teams of two strangers – one returning ‘Champions’ and one the ‘Challengers’ try and bid or bluff each other out to take control of a list that they have to answer. The first to two lists gets to play in the money game where if they get 15 correct answers they earn £50,000 but at every denomination of 3 correct answers they get some money. The current ‘Champions’ got £25,000 in the last show.

*20 April 2013

1. BBC Presenters at the 2012 Olympics

They had to name any of the 146 presenters, commentators, reporters or pundits credited for the BBC TV coverage of the 2012 Olympics. With a starting bid of only 5, the Challengers ended up bidding 9 although they didn’t want the list. They to play for 9 and on their 8th answer said Daley Thompson, which was wrong. They didn’t think to mention Sue Barker, John Inverdale or Denise Lewis – who were some of the obvious ones.

2. Actors in Richard Curtis Films

This list for male or female actors who have starred in any of the five films written by Richard Curtis – i.e. Tall Guy, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually and The Boat that Rocked. The Champions bid up to 8 and although they struggled a bit, this was far too easy a list for only 8. The reigning Champions, therefore, continued on to the Money Game

* Money Game: Countries visited by UK residents

They had to name 15 of the top 30 countries visited by UK residents in 2011, according to the Office of National Statistics. They got to 9 and £15,000 easily naming the US and various obvious European destinations and then stopped. It was a good thing they did as they would have said New Zealand next, which was not in the top 30 destinations.

***

1. Coldplay Songs (including Collaborations)

In the next round, the first list was to name any of the 98 Coldplay songs (including collaborations) that they’ve produced. The Champions were Coldplay fans and bid for 10. However, perhaps trying to be a bit clever for their 10th answer one of them said ‘Xyloto Myloto’, which was incorrect. The song they were thinking of was ‘Mylo Xyloto’. So they lost the list.

2. Cities with Underground Railway Stations

They had to name any city in the world where a metro/light rail/tram has at least one underground station. The Challengers bid up to 14 and did this quite well. Nearly every major capital city appears to have some sort of underground rail system. So we now have new ‘Champions’.

* Money Game: 60 Greatest TV Detectives

They had to name 15 of the top 60 greatest TV detectives as voted by a UK sample for some tv programme. They got to 9 and £15,000 easily with old school Bergeracs, Morses, Colombos and Poirots. They stopped there although they could have gone on, but they’ll be back next week so we’ll see if they were one hit wonders or if they can carry on to win some more money.

Broadchurch (end of series 1)

‘How did you not know?’

Well it was hinted at in the penultimate episode when Pauline Quirke’s character, Susan Wright, talked about her husband who had abused and murdered her daughter. Ellie Miller, played by Olivia Colman, was incredulous that Susan hadn’t known. And from the start, Alec Hardy, played by David Tennant, had told Ellie that the murderer would probably be someone she knew from the town of Broadchurch. And she did. Because it was her husband, Joe.

The final explanation for the murder may have come out of nowhere but if Ellie is the main character, which she has always seemed to be, then we’ve been seeing it through her eyes. She really had no idea that her husband was having a ‘relationship’ with Danny Latimer, that he had been seeing Danny for ‘hugs’ and was ‘in love’ with him. Nor that he had been out that evening – it had always seemed like he had a solid alibi as the whole family had just come back from holiday – and that he had been capable and level-headed enough to murder and then cover up.

In the end, he finally gave himself up to Alec Hardy because he couldn’t take it anymore. And it wasn’t premeditated murder. But he sure had been meticulous in trying to cover his tracks by cleaning up the hut and burning the boat. And now Ellie and her sons Tom and Fred will have to live with this for the rest of their lives. She’ll move away, she tells Hardy at the end, and build a new life for her sons away from the stigma. Presumably she’ll give up police work. If this case had actually happened and we’d read in the papers that the murderer was the detective’s husband, we’d all automatically assume that she must have known something subconsciously or that she was very stupid and naive. But this drama has given more nuance to those kind of tabloid attitudes.

So the final credits ended with the image above – Broadchurch will return. With the title of the drama series being the name of the town, will the second series remain in Broadchurch? There can’t be another murder in the small town, that would be stupid. And there can’t be  a reason for David Tennant or Olivia Colman to stick around for another case, so how will it work? Well I don’t know what Chris Chibnall has planned, and I’m sure he has ideas. But, if the series were to follow the trial then perhaps that would be a good idea. We’d get to see how how the community deals with the muck-raking the trial will bring up and how the community is rebuilding itself. I’d get rid of the ‘psychic’ Will Mellor character though, who didn’t add anything – were they implying that he wasn’t a charlatan? Ellie will have to come back for the trial – and so will Hardy – how will people react to them? How are the Latimer family – and the family and particularly Jodie Whittaker were always the emotional heart of the show – getting on? I’d continue to watch that.

Broadchurch (penultimate episode)

Although I have concerns about the public appetite for news and dramas about crimes and murders, I think Broadchurch has been a really good British tv drama – perfect appointment tv. Mainly, as I’ve indicated before, because of it’s stellar cast, because it has been rather melodramatic otherwise – but perfectly good fun.

So in the penultimate episode of this series, we learn some more about the characters but as an audience we’re still in the dark about who actually killed Danny Latimer. Previously we found out that the newsagent had a complicated past having been convicted for sleeping with his 15 year old student, whom he later married, but then having a son who was killed in a car crash. This week, we found out that ‘Susan Wright’ played by Pauline Quirke, who previously seemed like a particularly odd and scary woman, used to be married to a man who abused and killer her older daughter and then hung himself in prison. We then found out that she is the mother of ‘Nigel’, the plumber who works for Mark Latimer, the father of the dead child. Although Nigel did not know he was the son of a convicted murderer, his mother, Susan, thinks he has it in his genes – she tells the police that she saw him on a boat, and laying Danny’s dead body on the beach.

We find out that Nigel was poaching pheasants from farmland – and was doing it the night of the murder. We also find out through Chloe’s(Danny’s sister) boyfriend that Danny used to poach pheasants with Nigel quite often. We also know that Nigel has a crossbow and various other weapons.

Meanwhile our head detective, Alec Hardy (David Tennant), has arrythmia. Throughout the series, people have been talking about ‘Sandbrook’, an earlier child murder case that Hardy failed to solve or at least failed to be able to convict the main suspect. In this penultimate episode we found out that the reason why they did not have the evidence to convict the suspect was because Hardy’s former wife, who was a DS on the case, had the crucial evidence of a pendant that would have convicted the murderer, but then she went to a hotel before taking the evidence to the police station, to have a drink with her lover, and then her car was broken into and the evidence lost. Hardy took the blame and pretended his car had been broken into and that he had lost the evidence because he didn’t want his daughter to know that her mother had been having an affair. He confesses this all to the local newspaper, The Echo, now because with his arrythmia it doesn’t seem like he has long left – on the job or maybe even in life. However, if there is a second series and Hardy does die, then it doesn’t matter because Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) is the best thing about this show.

The episode centres around Ellie’s interviews with Susan Wright and her incredulation that Susan didn’t know before that her husband was abusing and then murdered her daughter. But the question that is raised is how much does Ellie actually know about her husband and her son. Her son, Tom, was not the ‘best friend’ with Danny that she believed. He’s broken up his hard drive to try and destroy incriminating evidence – which the vicar (Arthur Darvill) has found and handed into Alec Hardy.

In the final scenes of the episode, Hardy receives the emails from Tom Miller’s computer – although we as an audience don’t get to see them. We see Hardy have a ‘eureka’ moment and then we see some of the main suspects: Nigel, Mark Latimer, Tom Miller, Ellie’s husband, the ‘psychic’ played by Will Mellor and the vicar. Who did it? Was it an ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ style example where they all did it? One episode to go and I hope we get a satisfying conclusion and explanation.

Who Dares Wins (13 April 2013)

The quiz show with the lists is only entertaining to watch when the teams have enough knowledge to bid high for lists and go for the money lists so as a viewer you can also play along and compete. In the first round of this week’s show we had two cowardly teams, but thankfully in the second half a new, competent team emerged.

So another week of lists to play along to at home…

13 April 2013

1. Performers at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert

This included presenters and commentators on the BBC live coverage of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert in 2012. Neither team bid much and the reigning Champions had to do a list of 8. On their second answer they said Take That, which was wrong – Gary Barlow sang his special Jubilee song but Take That weren’t there together.

2. Football Teams who won the English Premier League or Old First Division

Any football team since 1888 to 2012 who had won the top division or league of English football. Neither team had any football fans and so the Champions had to do a list of 8 again. On their 8th answer, although they vacillated between Blackburn Rovers and Leeds (both of which are right, of course), they said West Ham – who have never won. And so the reigning Champions lost both lists and the new Challengers, without having named a list or even wanted a list, now went on to the Money List.

* Money Game: Dustin Hoffman Films

The cowardly, incompetent new Champions didn’t even know any Dustin Hoffman films either. They managed to scrape together Rainman, The Graduate and Meet the Fockers for 3 answers and £5000 and then gave up.

***

1. States of the USA with the letter ‘O’ in their name

The new Challengers bid up to 12 and won this easily as a lot of American States have ‘O’ in them somewhere.

2. Highest Grossing Film Franchises

The 50 highest worldwide ticket grossing film franchises i.e. series of 2 or more films with a recurring character. The Champions decided to go for a list for once and bid for 13. They didn’t even say any of the obvious Marvel/DC Comics franchises and for their 5th answer said ‘Rambo’, which was not in the top 50 (it was in fact the 51st). And so there were new Champions.

* Money Game: Female Winners of Tennis Grand Slam Tournaments since 1960

Any woman who won the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon or US Open between January 1960 and the end of 2012 – accepting either maiden or married names. One of the contestants was a tennis fan who said he took two weeks off every year to watch Wimbledon, but didn’t appear to know any contemporary stars since the 1990s. They got to 12 and £25,000 easily and then gave up – not going for three more answers to get to 15 to £50,000. They hadn’t said people like Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis or Kim Clijsters, concentrating mainly on winners in the 1970s and 1980s. But they’re a competent team and hope there will be more of a competition next week.