The Big Fat Quiz of the Year is an approximately annual British television programme broadcast in the last or first week of the year on Channel 4. The show is a comedy panel game in the style of a pub quiz. Three teams of two celebrities, mostly comedians, are asked questions about the year gone by in various categories, writing answers on an electronic board in front of them. At the end of each round the answers are displayed and points awarded.
The first edition was broadcast in December 2004. There has been another at around the end of each year, as well as a special edition in November 2007 for Channel 4's 25th anniversary celebrations and three themed special editions in September 2012, to celebrate Channel 4's first three decades. A second set of 'decades' editions screened in September 2013 as well as a 10th-anniversary special in January 2015; and a Big Fat Quiz of Everything in January 2016, followed by a series of three episodes in August 2016. Repeats can usually be found days later on Channel 4's sister channel E4 and/or 4seven. Stand-up comedian Jimmy Carr has been the host and quizmaster of each edition to date. Channel 4 has made full episodes of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year available to view on All 4.
Editions
#
Original airdate
Edition
1
28 December 2004
of the Year (2004)
2
26 December 2005
of the Year (2005)
3
27 December 2006
of the Year (2006)
4
2 November 2007
Anniversary (Channel 4's 25th)
5
30 December 2007
of the Year (2007)
6
28 December 2008
of the Year (2008)
7
1 January 2010
of the Year (2009)
8
3 January 2011
of the Year (2010)
9
27 December 2011
of the Year (2011)
10
16 September 2012
of the 80s (1st)
11
23 September 2012
of the 90s (1st)
12
30 September 2012
of the 00s (1st)
13
30 December 2012
of the Year (2012)
14
22 September 2013
of the 80s (2nd)
15
29 September 2013
of the 90s (2nd)
16
26 December 2013
of the Year (2013)
17
26 December 2014
of the Year (2014)
18
2 January 2015
Anniversary (TBFQ's 10th)
19
26 December 2015
of the Year (2015)
20
5 January 2016
of Everything (1st)
21
15 August 2016
of Everything (2nd)
22
22 August 2016
of Everything (3rd)
23
28 August 2016
of Everything (4th)
24
26 December 2016
of the Year (2016)
25
6 January 2017
of Everything (5th)
26
26 December 2017
of the Year (2017)
27
12 January 2018
of Everything (6th)
28
26 December 2018
of the Year (2018)
29
4 January 2019
of Everything (7th)
30
26 December 2019
of the Year (2019)
31
2 January 2020
of the Decade (2010s)
32
26 December 2020
of the Year (2020)
33
7 January 2021
of Everything (8th)
34
26 December 2021
of the Year (2021)
35
3 April 2022
of Everything (9th)
36
26 December 2022
of the Year (2022)
37
14 May 2023
of Sport
38
26 December 2023
of the Year (2023)
39
TBA
of Telly
Cast
The following have all appeared as one of the guest panelists on the show. This does not include Jimmy Carr, who has hosted all episodes to date, nor does it include anyone who made pre-recorded appearances.
Russell Brand and Noel Fielding spent much of the show giving deliberately wrong – and surreal – answers, leaving them trailing far behind the other two teams. This was until towards the end when Jimmy Carr bowed to the pressure of the studio audience and gave them 22 points for answering one question correctly, which was the amount needed to bring them back into contention at the time and ensuring that they subsequently won the quiz. This led Walliams and Brydon, who came last as a result, to exaggerate their chagrin at the turn of events that had seen Brand and Fielding emerge on top.
During a discussion about the Bob Skeleton event at that year's Winter Olympics, the suggestion arose that a character with that name could be the star of Brand and Fielding's next show together. The pair subsequently became known as the Goth Detectives (opposed to their original name, which arose from a joke Jimmy Carr made about their supposed parentage), which was suggested for the show's title. Though it began as a joke, the pair eventually performed a Goth Detectives sketch for the Teenage Cancer Trust event at the Royal Albert Hall on 28 March 2007.
This was the first time that Rob Brydon had been on the winning team, despite having appeared on the panel every year since the first show in 2004. Also, it was the first time (and, as of the 2018 edition, the only time) that the previous year's winning team – the Goth Detectives – had both returned to try to defend their title.
The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2008 aired on 28 December on Channel 4 at 9:00 pm.
Due to the furore caused by his and Russell Brand's infamous phone call to actor Andrew Sachs, which resulted in his three-month suspension from the BBC at the end of the year, this was the first occasion that Jonathan Ross did not appear. He also declined his customary executive producer credit. Despite Big Fat Quiz not being a BBC programme, Ross himself had thought it inappropriate to do any broadcasting work during the corporation's censure (the same reason that was given for his decision to temporarily concede hosting duties of the British Comedy Awards – broadcast on ITV – around the same time).
This was also the first year that Rob Brydon was absent, leaving host Jimmy Carr as the only regular fixture throughout the Big Fat Quiz of the Year's entire run to date (although neither Brydon nor Ross had been panellists for the special Channel 4 anniversary edition).
Ross and Brand made a number of references to the Sachsgate scandal of 2008 which occurred last time they appeared together. There was also a discussion about changing Brooker and Mitchell's team name to The Curmudgeons after they refused to dance to the Lady Gaga song "Poker Face".
Mitchell and Brooker were the eventual winners and were asked by Jimmy Carr after their victory if they wanted to do a dance. Despite pressure from the audience, they kept up their premise of not dancing.
Ross and Jones' team name "Wagner" was in reference to Wagner Fiuza-Carillho, known mononymously as Wagner, who had appeared in series 7 of The X Factor that year and had progressed to the quarter final as part of the Over 28s category mentored by Louis Walsh.
Mel B's performance received notable negative attention on social media and in the press as having brought down the show by being perceived as sour and humorless.[11]
One of the running gags is the panelists deciding to make an alliance against Jimmy by helping Richard & Greg with getting their answers deliberately wrong. Rob even goes far as becoming the host of the program for two minutes however the alliance breaks down after a debate about The Dress.
A running gag on the episode was formed when, as Romesh discussed a new programme featuring his mother, Jimmy asked what Romesh's father thought of the programme, not realising that he had died, leading to the other contestants repeatedly chiding Carr about not checking beforehand. There was also a running "gag" with Mel Giedroyc's obsession with the Crossrail project currently going on in and around London.
Assisting Jimmy with the final question were the Stan Lee-created Marvel characters Thor, Black Widow, Spider-Man, Black Panther and the Hulk for the teams to guess their aliases. The Hulk then proceeded to rip up the trophy and throw it at the winners before knocking down the wall at the back of the set.
The final question was a round named "Trump or Gump" in which the teams had to guess if quotes were said by US PresidentDonald Trump or another notable figure. London wax museum Madame Tussauds lent its figure of Trump as a prop for the round.
The final question was the normal Big Fat Question, but with a time limit set using the Young-hee doll from Squid Game, with any teams failing to finish writing each answer before the doll's head turns back round being docked five points.
A special edition of the show, celebrating Channel 4's 25th anniversary, was broadcast on 2 November 2007. Carr and Dee emerged victorious at the climax, and so had to take part in a special challenge which replicated the finale of The Crystal Maze. The pair had to collect silver and gold pieces of paper being blown around in a glass dome.
The second Big Fat Anniversary Quiz was recorded on 29 September 2014 and aired on 2 January 2015, to mark the tenth anniversary of the series.[9]
Pre-recorded guest questions came from Ian McKellen, Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry, Chico, Gregg Wallace, Ellie Simmonds, Peter Andre and Abbey Clancy. Louie Spence provided the in-studio guest question in the form of an interpretive dance about the 2013 horse meat scandal. Charles Dance read from the autobiography of Jay-Z. The children of Mitchell Brook Primary School acted out the launch of the Large Hadron Collider in 2008. Jon Snow gave his news report about "Sex on Fire". The mystery guest was Jon Morter, who started the Facebook campaign to make Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name" the Christmas number 1 in 2009. A Dalek also appeared in the studio to ask the final bonus question, and to "exterminate" Carr at the end of the quiz. Brand and Fielding referenced their previous name as the "Goth Detectives" several times. They got many of their correct answers from an ongoing text conversation with members of the live studio audience. The ruse was discovered when Carr took Brand's phone, called one of the numbers, and an audience member answered. Chico also appeared via text, responding to Jack Whitehall.
The Big Fat Quiz of Everything
The Big Fat Quiz of Everything is a spin-off series to the annual. These quizzes ask questions based on various subjects including history, geography, films, television, music, science, technology, art, literature, sports and games.
The fourth New Year special was recorded at BBC Elstree Studios on 21 November 2018[23] and aired on 4 January 2019.[24] The teams did not take team names.
Pre-recorded questions came from Paloma Faith, Billy Ocean, Ralph Macchio, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Clare Balding, Tim Minchin, and Roman Kemp. The children of Mitchell Brook Primary School acted out the theft and recovery of the 1966 World Cup for a related question. Jon Snow reported on Radiohead's "Creep". Charles Dance reads book reviews from Jane Eyre, Twilight, and Moby Dick. The special guest was Barbadian British voice-over actor Redd Pepper, who offered to read Taglines from four famous movies. The mystery guest was Jessica Smith, the Sun Baby in Teletubbies.
The final question was a round in which The London Street Band played 4 different longest number one tracks from 70s-00s, and the teams had to guess the songs in their respective decades.
In 2012, three Big Fat Quizzes were recorded as part of Channel 4's 30th anniversary celebrations, each representing one of the past decades. The shows were recorded on 30 August, 12 September and 19 September.[26]
The show aired on 29 September 2013. The teams did not take team names for this special.
Diane Youdale (the one-time Gladiator Jet) provided a live guest question. The mystery guest was Todd Watkins, who gained fame for kissing a 77-year-old woman on a The Word segment called "The Hopefuls". Recorded guest questions were provided by Mr. Motivator, Goldie, Andi Peters, Tony Mortimer, Melinda Messenger, Daniela Nardini, Sally Gunnell, The Shamen's Mr. C, the members of Hanson and Charles Dance (doing a dramatic reading from the autobiography of Vanilla Ice). The children of Goldsmith Community Hall made an appearance acting out the cloning of Dolly the sheep played by Hannah MacDonald. Providing the song lyric as news story segment was Martyn Lewis, reporting on "Livin' la Vida Loca". In the penultimate round, Carr announced that he had hired the gunge tank from Noel's House Party and the losers would be gunged, however Ross convinced Carr himself to go in it and was gunged by Jet.
The show was recorded on 28 November 2022 and aired on 14 May 2023.[29]
Recorded guest questions were provided by Stephen Fry, Joe Marler, Kelly Holmes, Tim Peake, Kadeena Cox and David Haye. Will Joseph, Alex Cuthbert, and Dillon Lewis appeared in-studio wearing iconic outfits of sportspersons that the teams needed to identify. The children of Mitchell Brook Primary School made an appearance acting out the infamous "hair-dryer treatment" done by Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson to David Beckham after losing to Arsenal at the 2002-03 FA Cup's fifth round. Charles Dance read an extract from the autobiography of Andre Agassi. Fiona Walker, the tennis girl from the 1980's Athena poster, appeared as a mystery guest. Shaun Wallace, one of the chasers from The Chase, made an appearance as Joel's temporary substitute after he suffered a hand cramp.
The Big Fat Question was a three part question performed in the style of rap by John Barnes about sportspersons who had involved in sporting scandals.