It's Your Round

Radio 4's It's Your Round, hosted by Angus Deayton, is another show that tests the knowledge of a group of eager-to-please comics, and is so aware of its shortcomings that this week's episode began with the disclaimer: "Any similarity between this and other panel games either past or present is something we hope you don't notice." Guests are asked to think up questions based on themes of their own choosing, thus saving producers the bother of hiring writers. This week, Will Smith, the stand-up rather than the Oscar-winning actor, masterminded a series of questions about his birthplace of Jersey, while the Australian comic Celia Pacquola got fellow contestants to pitch a charity through which they might rid themselves of their greatest irritations such as flip-flops or Jennifer Aniston, with Deayton audibly arching his eyebrows throughout. For the guests on the show it was doubtless filler for their CVs; for us it was mere filler.

It's Your Round marks a radio comeback for Angus Deayton. Deayton, like [Nicholas] Parsons, is a born host, an arch, deadpan foil to contestants' excesses. The twist in this format is that guests invent their own round, and in the first episode, Rufus Hound devised "Them Next Door" in which contestants had to guess famous neighbours from a sound recording. Sex Pistols and a sewing machine made Vivienne Westwood, "Nessun Dorma" and weeping meant Gazza, and the sound of complete silence suggested Charlie Chaplin. Miles Jupp dreamt up "What Does My Dad Know?" in which contestants guessed whether his father, a church minister, would have seen Titanic, or understand what an emo was.

It was jolly and high spirited, but the threat to this game, apart from the cruel 11pm scheduling, is that it may have inbuilt obsolescence. It's Your Round promises something different each week, whereas everything we know about radio tells us that audiences like continuity. Just a Minute is Britain's longest-running quiz show for a reason. People like to know what's coming and then to have it repeated. Again and again for several years.

It's Your Round, a new late night Radio 4 quiz show where four contestants devise a round each. Presented by old hand Angus Deayton, it was a jolly listen, with most of the jolliness provided by Miles Jupp's dad, who gave the answers for Miles's round, and Rufus Hound, who has quite the most infectious chuckle on radio.

It's Your Round, Radio 4, Thursday

A Radio 4 panel show? Your rehab is almost complete, Mr Deayton.

It's Your Round (Radio 4), a new panel game where contestants invent the rounds, sees Angus Deayton back presenting on the BBC, and sounding pleasingly like his old self.

So, it is all quips that embody a raised eyebrow; positive statements made, then qualified briefly and sardonically, and faux-ennui about the whole shenanigans. His sharp style works well to frame a game that is funnier in some parts than others, but always exuberantly freewheeling. My favourite game, devised by Miles Jupp, was What Does My Father Know?, with guests having to guess his father's answers to general knowledge questions. Nobody could guess, really, but hearing his recorded answers was very funny. Asked what "emo" means, he replied, bewildered, "Um, an email in Greenland?"

Angus Deayton returns to the bosom of the BBC, taking the chairman's seat for this do-it-yourself panel game in which four comedians each make up rounds of quiz questions. Sara Pascoe, for instance, invents Come to Romford. The others all compete to compose advertisements for even naffer places, like London, Woking or Loftus, an Australian suburb with a tram museum and a very dodgy parking area. Stick around for the last round, where you have to guess if short sayings are headlines or cryptic crossword clues. It's quite hard but curiously attractive.

Angus Deayton to host Radio 4 show

Former Have I Got News for You presenter to front It's Your Round, his first major radio comedy series in more than 20 years.