Last night I went to Television Centre (for the first time) to be in the audience for the next series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. It was the first of the new series to be aired in March, and the first without Mark Lamarr as the host in the show’s ten year history. It sounds as though they will be doing a Have I Got News For You-style host-a-week, although no-one admitted why Mark is no longer the host. I heard a bit of his Radio 2 show at the weekend and was less than impressed, but then he did have Jo Brand as a guest.
Last night’s guest host was T4 and Popworld‘s Simon Amstell, probably best known for being a guest on the show twice previously and being one to have a dig at celebrity á là Monsieur Lamarr. He was quite nervous and I don’t think was as quite in control as what I can imagine his predecessor as being – in fact the first half of the opening round went on for over 90 minutes and will probably be edited down to five at the most! Simon also got a bit confused a couple of times during the show, but overall handled the pressure well.
Being the first show I’ve seen I think it was a good choice (Mock the Week was taking place in the next studio) and it’s interesting to see how it all goes on behind the scenes. Unfortunately most of the material will be simply unbroadcastable – I’m not sure if the ‘C’ or the ‘F’ word was the most frequently used – including the on-going joke at Kenzie‘s (oh come on, you know the one. He’s ex-Blazin’ Squad!) expense which I can’t possibly mention here.
There was no mention of the other guest hosts lined up probably for tonight and into next week, but the guests themselves were pretty poor compared to previous shows but I think they have been on the decline for a while. This used to be one of my favourite BBC2 shows, but could this be the start of the end of another institution, as happened with They Think It’s All Over? I hope not. After Angus Deayton left HIGNFY I think it in some ways improved, with the team captains being able to have regular digs back at the host, which is quite rare for that type of programme.
