New Show - One Question

Heaven be praised, we have a new show to review, and you don’t have to put up with more of my witterings about the quiz in the rugby club this week. Of course, if you actually want to hear about the rugby club . . . no, let’s put that on the back burner for later.

So the new show in question, then. This is Channel Four’s One Question. In terms of quizzes Channel Four did give us the greatest tea time quiz ever in the shape of Fifteen to One. But that was a long time ago, and I can’t off the top of my head think of any Channel Four quiz since which has been absolutely essential viewing for me. But let’s give this one a fair crack of the whip.

The USP of One Question is that the contestants literally only have to answer 1 question to win £100,000. Of course, it’s not quite as simple as that. The mechanics work like this. A couple – they may be friends, cousins, whatever – come and sit down with host Claudia Winkelman. After a bit of toing and froing she announces the question – for example – What is Circle? – The contestants are then faced with a board which has 20 possible answers. Only one of them will actually be a circle. So, for example, one clue would be – the 19^th word of the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. This is actually diamond. At regular intervals Claudia asks the contestants to get rid of wrong answers. If they get rid of the right answer instead, then it’s thanks for playing anyway but you leave with nothing. Yes, there’s a couple  more rules – once you’ve got 12 answers left you get a clue you can use when you need it. When you’ve got 6 left, Claudia can get rid of 2 wrong’uns, but it costs £25k But there’s not a lot more to it than that.

It's a simple game, and sometimes that’s a virtue. Not sure that’s the case here, though. No, you’re quite right, this really isn’t my sort of thing. Still, let’s try and find some positives. Channel Four, in years gone by may well have turned to Davina McCall to present this, and I’m sorry, but I can’t stand Davina McCall. I do like Claudia Winkelman. I love Strictly, and she’s the acceptable face of the show, compared with wooden old Tess Daly. There is some challenge working out the wrong’uns. And, er, that’s about it really.

For what it is, this isn’t badly executed. But I don’t really like what it is, and that’s the problem. It’s a non-adversarial show, and one of the pitfalls of non-adversarial shows is that they can end up concentrating on the contestants and not the questions. You know what I’m going to ay here. This sort of thing brings out the misanthrope in me. I’m very happy when someone wins and I really don’t wish them any misfortune. But I don’t wish to watch two people going ‘Oh my GGGGOOOODDD! I dunno babe!!!!!!” for three quarters of an hour.

Too slow, not enough questions, and if you’re stuck with a pair of particularly annoying contestants (bear in mind that this is Channel Four, so chances are you will be) a bit tedious. Thanks but no thanks.