What the Dickens

For the Johnny Dankworth album of the same name, see What the Dickens!
What the Dickens?
Genre Comedy
Presented by Sandi Toksvig
Starring Team Captains
Tim Brooke-Taylor (Series 1)
Dave Gorman (Series 1)
Sue Perkins (Series 2–3)
Chris Addison (Series 2–3)
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of series 3
No. of episodes 22
Production
Running time 30 minutes
Release
Original network Sky Arts
Original release 28 May 2008 (2008-05-28) – 1 July 2009 (2009-07-01)

What the Dickens? was a television panel game hosted by Sandi Toksvig. Team captains were Dave Gorman and Tim Brooke-Taylor for the first series and Sue Perkins and Chris Addison for the second and third. It was recorded at Sky Studios in West London.

Transmissions

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 28 May 2008 2 July 2008 6
2 12 November 2008 14 January 2009 10
3 27 May 2009 1 July 2009 6

Rounds of the show

3 Steps to Heaven

Each team viewed up to three picture clues to help them identify a book, film, play, or musical from the world of fine arts and entertainment, scoring three points if they guessed the correct answer after just one picture clue, two after two, and one after all three were revealed. If they failed to guess, the other side could guess for one point.

Love It or Loathe It

Each of the guests (or team captains at least once when a guest appeared twice) chose a subject from the world of arts and entertainment and had to present two arguments, one claiming they loved the subject and the other claiming they loathed it. If the opposition could guess correctly whether the guest loved or loathed the subject, they scored two points. If not, the guest making the arguments got two points.

Yes, and I'm Mickey Mouse

Played only in series 1 and 2. The teams met members of the general public who coincidentally shared their names with characters from books, films, TV shows, plays, or musicals. They had 90 seconds to ask yes or no questions to the mystery guest and then take a guess, for two points if guessed correctly. If wrong, Sandi threw it over to the other side for one point.

Common People

Played only in Series 3, replacing Yes, and I'm Mickey Mouse. The teams were shown three famous people and had to guess what all three had in common.

Losing the Plot

The final quickfire round. Each team captain had 90 seconds to communicate the titles of books, films, plays, musicals, or TV shows, without using any proper names. A common running gag in series 2 and 3 emerged when Sue Perkins pretended to get angry with her teammates when they had troubles guessing, leading her to continuously rant on and on, and in the process, saying the titles, and leaving no time for the other person to speak. Nicholas Parsons was one teammate that had to sit and let her rant when she pretended to get angry, although he could only watch with a surprised look on his face. Because of this running gag, Chris Addison won more games than Perkins in all cases where she ranted, though he didn't necessarily win more games overall.

Comedian Richard Herring (a teammate of Perkins) scored a record 10 points in this round, and Germaine Greer (a teammate of Addison's) had to humorously guess her own 1970 international best-selling novel, The Female Eunuch.

Episodes

The coloured backgrounds denote the result of each of the shows:

     – indicates Tim's / Chris' team won.
     – indicates Dave's / Sue's team won.
     – indicates the game ended in a draw.

Series 1

Episode First broadcast Tim's guest Dave's guest
1x01 28 May 2008 Robin Ince Rory McGrath
1x02 4 June 2008 Marcus Brigstocke Adam Boulton
1x03 11 June 2008 Stephen K. Amos Ian McMillan
1x04 18 June 2008 Rich Hall Dom Joly
1x05 25 June 2008 Andre Vincent Rosie Boycott
1x06 2 July 2008 Dom Joly Paul Blezard

Series 2

Episode First broadcast Chris' guest Sue's guest Score
2x01 12 November 2008 John O'Farrell Robin Ince 16–8
2x02 19 November 2008 Jackie Clune Alun Cochrane 10–8
2x03 26 November 2008 Andrew Collins Russell Kane 13–12
2x04 3 December 2008 Phil Hammond Dave Gorman TBC
2x05 10 December 2008 Jenny Eclair and Mark Steel TBC
2x06 17 December 2008 Graeme Garden and Will Smith TBC
2x07 24 December 2008 Germaine Greer Richard Herring 15–10
2x08 31 December 2008 Dave Gorman Stephen K. Amos 7–7
2x09 7 January 2009 Josie Long Jenny Eclair 12–11
2x10 14 January 2009 Lucy Porter John O'Farrell 15–11

Series 3

Episode First broadcast Chris' guest Sue's guest Score
3x01 27 May 2009 Jan Ravens Rick Wakeman 11–10
3x02 3 June 2009 Frank Skinner John O'Farrell 14–14
3x03 10 June 2009 Dave Gorman Robin Ince 13–10
3x04 17 June 2009 Alistair McGowan Nicholas Parsons 9–8
3x05 24 June 2009 Giles Coren Josie Long 14–12
3x06 1 July 2009 Lucy Porter Robin Ince 12–9

Footnotes

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