Comments on: Only Connect

By: Graham Kibble-White

Graham Kibble-White — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:17:10 +0000

Amen to Nigel’s comment. Spurred on by the remarks here – and Stu’s review – I’ve been watching this on iPlayer and, yes, I Wikipedia’d the quark answer. I did get the prison slang connection, though. And my missus got the fictional captains.

By: Nigel Fishwick

Nigel Fishwick — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:22:16 +0000

Just caught the first episode on iPlayer and thoroughly enjoyed it. It had a pleasantly highbrow, middle-class feel to it (though I’m not really either of those things to be honest) which reminded me of watching the aforementioned Ask the Family as a kid just after Nationwide or Sixty Minutes had gone off.

It’s one of those shows which sparks an interest in things that you might not have known before and which, in these enlightened times, you can sate with a quick trip to Wikipedia, rather than an after-school trip to the library, or by rooting through the ancient leather-bound, pre-war encyclopaedia that was at my grandparent’s house.

By: Rob Williams

Rob Williams — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:09:19 +0000

Good intelligent show and hats off to it, though Ms Coren needs a bit more humour. At least Robert Robinson made Ask The Family work by having a self-deprocating sense of humour over the style of the show.

By: David J. Bodycombe

David J. Bodycombe — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:03:22 +0000

I thought it was ace.

Seriously though, the Greek letters are used to make sure that there’s no confusion with people asking for “Question A” or “Game 1″ and then being given A or 1 as their first clue. And on the contestants’ off-screen monitors, they’re shown as “Alpha”, “Beta”, “Gamma”… so you can just shout out a name.

By: Jack Kibble-White

Jack Kibble-White — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:05:33 +0000

I watched this and I thought it was perhaps the best of BBC4′s attempt of this kind of thing so far (although I had a soft spot for the lateral thinking one of a year or so ago). I actually thought the Greek letters was an affectation too far though, and I am not sure if Coren is the right person for the job either. On the plus side, the questions were very interesting and the concept of the programme good (although I thought the first round went on a shade too long). I noticed the name “David J Bodycombe” in the credits – always a mark of quality in my book see – http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/?page_id=1043