Mastermind 2017- The Grand Final

I wish that the Beeb would make a little bit more of a fuss about the Grand Final these days. I mean, nobody’s ever likely to become a household name through winning the show again, but they could at least show a little enthusiasm for it. Well, enough of negatives, for if this was not such a close-run affair as last year’s it was still a gripping and highly enjoyable contest.

First up was Lynn Edwards. Having already given us The Forsyte Novels and Mary of Teck, Lynn offered us another change of pace with the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Now, one of my small pleasures in watching the grand final is seeing who wins the lottery of the film inserts. Lynn didn’t get a huge awayday, being given a tube ticket to Covent Garden. As for her round, well, she did make the point in her film that Alfred Hitchcock made an awful lot of films – although not a lot of awful films – and it always looked as if her score of 9, while perfectly respectable for a final, was going to leave her some way behind at the turn.

Our first insert lottery winner, then, was Frances Slack, who had offered us Rogers and Hammerstein and William Goldman in previous rounds. Frances got to visit St. Petersburg. Hardly surprising since she was offering us The City of Leningrad 1924 – 1991. To be fair it looked a bit chilly in her film, but she was obviously thrilled to be there, and I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at the chance of a visit either. A score of 11 looked quite competitive, although you still had the feeling that there was enough meat left on that joint for one of the following contenders to open up a decent lead if they had a really great round.

LAM reader Isabelle Heward scored a jackpot with her film insert. While she had already offered us Rita Hayworth and the daughters of George III, Isabelle was answering on the films of Billy Wilder. One long haul flight later, Isabelle got to go straight to the USA. That’s 2 decent awaydays so far. Are we keeping count, dearly beloved? As had Frances, Isabelle beat the previous target, and raised the bar. 12 is a competitive score in a grand final, but I did still have a feeling that we’d see higher.

As soon as I heard that LAM reader Mohan Mudigonda was answering on the sitcom Seinfeld, I thought that there was no way that the Beeb could avoid shelling out on a trip to New York for his insert. I was right. That’s 3 great awaydays – is that a record, I ask myself? Well, whatever the case, for the third round in a row, the contender outscored the previous, and set a new target. Mohan, who had answered on Nirvana and Asterix in previous shows, managed a terrific 13, and this is the kind of score which it takes something rather special to beat. Now you may remember Mohan’s forehead slapping in the semi-final. He treated us to just one more of these at the end of his round having passed on one question. Never mind the one pass – it’s the 13 correct answers that matter.

Now, dont’ get me wrong, I like Greenwich. Hey, I used to walk over to Greenwich every Sunday when I was a student lodging on the edge of Blackheath Even so though, you can’t help feeling a little sorry for Steven Marc Rhodes that in his film he only got to visit the magnificent Queen’s House, designed by his specialist subject, Inigo Jones. Previously Steven answered on Nicholas Hawksmoor and Herbert Howells. Again, another very good round, levelling out at 12 points. If he got anywhere close to the GK round he’d produced in his heat, then Steven was definitely going to be in the shakeup by the end of the show.

Last, but definitely not least, was John Cockerill. John too stayed in Blighty, but he seemed absolutely delighted with his visit to Ulverston, the birthplace of Stan Laurel. Previously John had answered on British Race Courses and Captain James Cook, but tonight he gave us another change of tack with the short films of Laurel and Hardy. And why not? Even limiting himself to the shorts, he still had to deal with over 100 of them. Let’s be honest too, he could not have dealt with them any better either. His 15 was by far the pick of the specialist rounds, a pretty much flawless performance, and one which made him the man to beat – if possible – in the GK round.

Lynn Edwards returned for her GK round. Lynn had won her place in the Grand Final with a rattling good GK round of 13 in her semi final. In that show she’d impressed me with what I judged from her reactions to her answers to be intelligent guesswork. She answered every question tonight without passing as well, but her guesses weren’t quite as successful. 8 points put her onto 17, and with the best will in the world I think it was fair to say that the contest was now between the remaining 5. Frances Slack had produced an excellent 17 in her first round, and a solid 10 in the semi. This, though was the final, and steady and solid just wouldn’t be enough. As it was the questions just didn’t seem to run for Frances, and she too finished with a total of 17.

In my review of heat 22, I said that Steven Marc Rhodes’ GK round of 19 made me want to stand up and applaud the telly. Well, I’m not ashamed to say that I got so excited by Isabelle Heward’s magnificent round of 17 that I did stand up and applaud the telly tonight. Look, I may kid myself that I’m impartial, but no, I wanted Isabelle to win tonight. Three times a semi-finalist, but never before a finalist. And she’s a LAM reader, as is Mohan. Forgive me if I wax lyrical, but Isabelle ripped that round to shreds. That wasn’t just the kind of performance to put the remaining three contenders into the corridor of doubt – it was one which added a 100 yard extension on the end of the corridor as well.

While Steven produced a good round – which John nicely acknowledged, the fact is that it didn’t really approach Isabelle’s. Mind you, at the outset of the round he needed to score 17 just to draw. The banker would only pay 18 and over. 11 is a perfectly good score, and Steven, if you’re watching you can be proud of what you’ve achieved this year.

As can our penultimate contender, Mohan. I take my hat off to Mohan for being perfectly open about how much he wanted to win during his filmed insert. As he did in his heat and his semi-final, he certainly gave it a lash. However, you could tell by the look on his face as he fought for the answer to his last question that he knew he hadn’t done it. There’s no shame there.

Only John Cockerill remained, then. To put the target into perspective, John needed 14 and no passes to force a tie break, and the banker would pay 15 and over. His 2 GK rounds so far suggested that this was do-able. So did the way he answered his first minute or so of questions. Needing such a large total, though, means you can’t afford slips – and every wrong answer you give makes your task more difficult. With half a minute to go he looked off the pace, and a run of unhelpful questions put the task beyond him. In the end he scored 11 to finish a worthy and well deserved second.

Many, many, many congratulations Isabelle. While I can accept that you might have had as good a GK performance as that before, I doubt you’ve ever had a better, or more important one. Commiserations to all of our other contenders, but please take heart from the fact that it took an exceptional performance to beat you. My thanks to the production team for another highly enjoyable series. Friday evenings are not going to be the same for a while now.

The Details

Lynn Edwards	The Films of Alfred Hitchcock	9	0	8	0	17	0
Frances Slack	The City of Leningrad 1924 - 1991	11	0	6	0	17	0
Isabelle Heward	The Life and Films of Billy Wilder	12	0	17	0	29	0
Mohan Mudigonda	Seinfeld	13	1	9	1	22	2
Steven Marc Rhodes	Inigo Jones	12	0	11	0	23	0
John Cockerill	The Short Films of Laurel and Hardy	15	0	11	0	26	0