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The decline of ‘The News Quiz’ on Radio 4

Martyn Miles

pfm Member
Perhaps it’s just me, but I feel the News Quiz has declined in quality. I didn’t like Miles Jupp, but compared with some recent guest Presenters he was excellent.
I have actually switched off the programme on a couple of occasions.
Perhaps the BBC are having difficulty actually finding a new Presenter.
 
Miles was OK, he is bright and keeps up with current affairs, and is witty. How much you might like him, depends on what sort of wit you like, or, more importantly, dislike. I actually liked him.

Presenter/chairman is always gong to be tricky, not least when listeners have previous experience. Clue dropped absolutely spot on after a few try-outs - Jack Dee is almost perfect. What happens when 96-year-old Nicholas can't referee Just a Minute, although things weren't so bad recently when he had to pass due to illness a couple of times?

Agreed, currently below par - News Quiz.
 
Its wobbling at the mo, though I liked Miles. Hopefully it'll settle.

Never liked just a minute, but I rather like Nicholas Parsons (interesting background-worth looking up).

Clue is good with Dee but Humph was a one off.
 
Miles Jupp was great, I thought. Some of the Sandi Toksvig era was just brilliant, especially with Jeremy Hardy. But Jupp wasn’t too far behind and had some great lines (describing George Osborn as an ‘adolescent haircutted butler to Satan’ was an early favourite of mine).

They can’t necessarily just snap their fingers and have a new perfect host, so a bit of a lull during an interregnum is to be expected. I just hope they can make a really good choice for the next host.

Not sure who I’d pick tbh, tricky choice. Nish Kumar is great IMO but probably wouldn’t do it and would be divisive. Marcus Brigstocke, maybe? He can vary, but was good on current affairs stuff on the Now Show back in the day. David Mitchell would probably be excellent, but may not be available. There’s a few ‘maybe, but not sure’ possibilities. But the producers might have their eye on someone else entirely.

PS, Alexei Sayle’s recent series was fantastic. Not that he’d make a good NQ host (though it could be a hilarious failure). But his Sandwich Bar has been a weekly highlight.
 
Part of the problem has been bringing in journalists who are actually not very funny and an attempt to 'balance' the political views of the guests with some 'right-wing' comedians.

Stephen
 
the problem for me with the new quiz is that it has been a loop of brexit related humour for years.

Agreed with the Alexi Sayle comments, he is still edgy.
 
What happened to Jack Dee, thought he was rather good with his dry, world-weary delivery.

Someone mentioned Brigstocke. Please, no.
 
What happened to Jack Dee, thought he was rather good with his dry, world-weary delivery.

Someone mentioned Brigstocke. Please, no.

He’s been hosting Clue for years now. And that programme continues to be an absolute treasure.

Part of the problem has been bringing in journalists who are actually not very funny and an attempt to 'balance' the political views of the guests with some 'right-wing' comedians.

Stephen

Yeah, IMO there’s Simon Evans, Geoff Norcott and probably Bob Mills who can manage funny from the right, and that’s about it. Danny Finkelstein can say some amusing stuff, but then the next thing I see from him will be some nauseatingly propagandist column or something like that. Hugo Rifkind stays fairly neutral, whatever his personal thoughts.

None of them can hold a candle to Jeremy Hardy or Linda Smith.
 


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