Are you having a pop?
MARION McMULLEN takes a look back at Never Mind The Buzzcocks’ 25 years of music trivia and mercilessly mocking its celebrity guests
IT was the irreverent, edgy music quiz that injected a strong dose of comedy into every show.
Never Mind The Buzzcocks launched on BBC2 25 years ago with comedian Mark Lamarr as host and Phil Jupitus and Sean Hughes as team captains.
The different rounds included team members trying to identify famous song intros by having them hummed to them or trying to pick out a bygone music star from a line-up of lookalikes.
The programme was known for its sarcasm as well as its controversies. Mark Lamarr once joked during an episode “I’ll start the show properly in a minute I’m just warming myself up into a bundle of spite”.
Fun Lovin’ Criminals singer Huey Morgan smashed a mug and stormed off set during a show in 2013 while Ordinary Boys frontman Preston walked out when extracts of his then wife’s autobiography were read out.
Bill Bailey who later took over from Sean Hughes as team captain said: “Sometimes people would get a bit riled up, but that was the nature of the show.”
The comedy quiz ran for 28 series on BBC2 with Simon Amstell taking over hosting duties for the 19th series with Kelly Rowland throwing water over him in one episode.
There were also guest presenters over the years including Cilla Black, Jeremy Clarkson, Jonathan Ross, Will Young, Catherine Tate and Alice Cooper before Rhod Gilbert took over the reins. Noel Fielding also took a turn as team captain.
Bill Bailey said: “It was some of the best fun I’ve ever had on television. I mean, those records would go on for two hours.
“What you ended up with on screen was just a fraction of the mayhem that was actually going on. They were great fun.”