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The British Comedy Quiz

Christmas Quiz 2018: The answers

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Here are this week's answers, question-by-question. Scroll down for a bonus cryptic question.

1. In which year was the Only Fools And Horses special Heroes And Villains first broadcast?

Only Fools And Horses. Image shows from L to R: Del (David Jason), Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst). Copyright: BBC
  1. 1990
  2. 1992
  3. 1994
  4. 1996
  5. 1998

2. Which character has a birthday on Christmas Eve?

dinnerladies. Brenda (Victoria Wood). Copyright: Good Fun / Pozzitive Productions
  1. Bert Spooner from Are You Being Served?
  2. Brenda from dinnerladies
  3. Manuel from Fawlty Towers
  4. Alan Partridge
  5. Richard Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances

3. How many people watched Miranda on Boxing Day in 2012?

Miranda. Miranda (Miranda Hart). Copyright: BBC
  1. 10.47m
  2. 9.47m
  3. 8.47m
  4. 7.47m
  5. 6.47m

4. Which show had a Christmas special that featured the word 'Algarve' in its title?

One Foot In The Grave. Image shows from L to R: Victor Meldrew (Richard Wilson), Margaret Meldrew (Annette Crosbie). Copyright: BBC

One Foot In The Grave's 1993 special was called One Foot In The Algarve. The Meldrews go on holiday to Portugal.

  1. On The Buses
  2. Rab C. Nesbitt
  3. The Good Life
  4. Gimme Gimme Gimme
  5. One Foot In The Grave

5. Which festive special is hidden behind this snow storm?

Not Going Out. Image shows from L to R: Tim (Tim Vine), Lee (Lee Mack), Lucy (Sally Bretton)

It's the 2007 Not Going Out Christmas special Murder At Christmas.

  1. Outnumbered
  2. Not Going Out
  3. Gavin & Stacey
  4. After You've Gone
  5. Mrs Brown's Boys

6. In the 1973 Steptoe And Son Christmas special Harold is looking forward to a holiday; but it's cancelled. Where was he hoping to go?

Steptoe And Son. Image shows from L to R: Harold Steptoe (Harry H. Corbett), Albert Steptoe (Wilfrid Brambell). Copyright: BBC
  1. Paris
  2. Blackpool
  3. New York
  4. Rotterdam
  5. Majorca

7. Which of these sitcoms has the MOST Christmas specials?

Only Fools And Horses. Image shows from L to R: Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield), Del (David Jason), Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst). Copyright: BBC

Only Fools And Horses has 19 Christmas specials; The Royle Family had 6; Porridge and The Brittas Empire made 2; and The Good Life had just 1.

  1. Porridge
  2. The Brittas Empire
  3. The Good Life
  4. Only Fools And Horses
  5. The Royle Family

8. Who guest starred in the episode of Vicar Of Dibley shown in December 1999?

The Vicar Of Dibley. Image shows from L to R: Sean Bean, Geraldine Grainger (Dawn French). Copyright: Tiger Aspect Productions
  1. Sean Bean
  2. Maggie Smith
  3. Elton John
  4. Ian McKellen
  5. Cher

9. The 1957 festive episode of Hancock's Half Hour wasn't 30 minutes long. How long did it run for?

Hancock's Half Hour. Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock (Tony Hancock). Copyright: BBC
  1. 15 minutes, 8 seconds
  2. 27 minutes, 2 seconds
  3. 35 minutes, 0 seconds
  4. 43 minutes, 51 seconds
  5. 58 minutes, 10 seconds

10. Which show is picture from?

To The Manor Born. Image shows from L to R: Audrey fforbes-Hamilton (Penelope Keith), Richard DeVere (Peter Bowles). Copyright: BBC

It's from the To The Manor Born special shown on Christmas Day in 2007.

  1. To The Manor Born
  2. As Time Goes By
  3. Keeping Up Appearances
  4. Birds Of A Feather
  5. Never The Twain

Bonus cryptic question

Feeling brainy? BCG's Ian Wolf likes devising additional, obfuscated brain-teasers as an extra challenge. See if you can work this one out. You'll find the answer in the next quiz.

What did the one-time youngest army captain in Britain; a recently deceased newsreader who once mentioned lemon curry; and the original chair of The News Quiz all declare one Christmas Day?

Last week's cryptic question

What links a small stream, an extended month and a Ben Elton novel?

This one was really hard, partly because the obscure 'extended month' reference in the clue put people off the scent. No one got Ian's answer, but a massive well done to Dean Fraiquin who came up with some plausable alternatives.

See the answer

Ian's answer was linked to the surnames of people who played Private Walker in Dad's Army. In the north of England, a word for a small stream is a "beck", a reference to James Beck. When the series transferred to radio, Beck reprised the role for the first few episodes before his untimely death. Unlike the TV version, Walker was recast, first by Graham Stark (Stark being the title Ben Elton's debut novel). May extended becomes Mays, a reference to Daniel Mays, who played Walker in the 2016 film version the sitcom.

Dad's Army. Private Walker (James Beck). Copyright: BBC

Here's one of Dean's answers, which linked everything to Only Fools And Horses: A small stream = Peckham Spring; An extended month = David Jason (J-uly, A-ugust, S-eptember, O-ctober, N-ovember); and Ben Elton novel = Two Brothers (Del and Rodney).

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