Des Lynam

It's 10 years since 'They Think It's All Over' ended

Can you believe that it's ten years since the last ever episode of They Think It's All Over? The sport-themed British comedy panel game was first shown in September 1995 and ran for nineteen seasons on BBC One before coming to an end in 2006 after over a decade on air.

David Somerset, Cult Box, 14th November 2016

If this new panel show sounds familiar it's because host Miles Jupp tested the idea in 2011 in a round called What Does My Dad Know? in Angus Deayton's It's Your Round series on Radio 4.

The brief has now expanded beyond questioning his own father to getting three guests to test someone who supposedly knows them well with questions such as "Who would I rather spend an evening with: George Clooney or God?" Des Lynam picks his agent to answer these Mr and Mrs-style questions. Rachel Johnson opts for a girlfriend she met when they were in their 20s. And Mark Steel puts his faith in his teenage son. One couple does very well indeed, another faces predictable embarrassment and there's a duo who might just as well have never met before.

Listen out for a particularly saucy comment from Mr Lynam - his agent certainly wasn't expecting this when she agreed to appear with him.

Jane Anderson, Radio Times, 23rd February 2012

New panel game, the premise of which is to see how well the contestants know their nearest and dearest. Rachel Johnson, Des Lynam and Mark Steel will each nominate a chosen relative or friend to whom, privily, a list of questions will be put. Chairman Miles Jupp will then test the panel's knowledge by asking them to predict what answers the nominees gave. Sounds oddly similar, perhaps, to those old TV games that came with loud buzzers, manic studio audiences and major prizes. No prizes though for guessing this week's celebrity guest, Michael Winner.

Gillian Reynold, The Telegraph, 22nd February 2012