Mastermind
1972
📺 48 Seasons
🎬 1127 Episodes
📅 Returning Series
🌐 EN
⏱️ 30 min/episode
Talk
Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.
Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the contestant's choice, the other a general knowledge round. Wright drew inspiration from his experiences of being interrogated by the Gestapo during World War II.
The atmosphere is helped by Mastermind's famously ominous theme music, "Approaching Menace" by the British composer Neil Richardson. The quiz programme originated and was recorded in Manchester at studios such as New Broadcasting House and Granada Studios, before permanently moving to MediaCityUK in 2011.
Seasons
Season 1
This new and exciting brain game invites contenders to take the stand and defend their claim to the title of Mastermind of the United Kingdom.
They have two minutes in which to establish their knowledge of a chosen subject with a further two minutes to consolidate their position by answering questions right across the board.
Tonight's programme comes from The University of Liverpool
Season 2
Introduced by Magnus Magnusson
Quick reactions, depth of knowledge, fast recall and concise answers. All these are required in this tense and exciting Brain Game which comes tonight from the University of Lancaster.
Season 3
Introduced by Magnus Magnusson from University of York
Are you sitting comfortably in your chair, or do you think you should be in the chair of the 'Mastermind'?
Well over 2,500 viewers thought they should be and, of those, 48 have won through the initial interviews and auditions. Tonight four of them are out to prove their worth, both in the field of specialist and general knowledge questions.
The rules of the contest are as last year, and designed to exploit the contestants' ability for concise answering, quick recall and depth of knowledge.
They are:
Dr M.L. Harris, doctor
R.S. Johnson, university lecturer
Miss S.H. Reynolds, student
S.R. Turnbull, schoolteacher
Season 4
Approximately four minutes of quick-fire specialist and general knowledge questioning confronts four doughty contenders for this year's Mastermind title.
Memory, clarity, concentration, tactics, and nerve are all required in this formidable challenge to the intellect.
Tonight's contenders are: DENNIS BIRD, Civil Servant
JACQUELINE PEARSON , postgraduate student
MICHAEL MUNN , lorry driver
MARTIN CABOURN SMITH , Chartered Accountant
Season 5
This tense, dramatic and highly-rated quiz competition embarks on its fifth series to discover the ' Mastermind ' for 1976.
The contenders for the title are faced with a formidable challenge to their intellect, requiring them to be complete masters of their chosen subject and have a wide general knowledge.
Contenders:
ROBERT ORR, student, Russo-German War, 1941-1945;
ALWYN JAMES, freelance editor, Life and Works of Dylan Thomas;
MARY KEAN , housewife, Switzerland
MICHAEL DYCHE, RAF navigator, Captain Cook
Season 6
In this 'Jubilee' year, the Mastermind series celebrates its centenary with the 100th programme coinciding with this year's Final.
To reach the Final, 48 contenders, selected from the many thousands of applicants throughout the United Kingdom, line up for the first-round heats of this intellectual marathon.
The arena for tonight's confrontation is Reading University. The contenders are:
HUGH MERRICK author and translator - The Alps
MARTIN LEADBETTER, fingerprint expert - Instruments of the Symphony Orchestra
SUE JENKINS, student teacher - Children's literature
IAN SEWELL, printer - Old Testament
Season 7
The 'black chair' stands ready in the centre of the Mastermind arena awaiting the presence of the 48 aspirants to the title 'Mastermind 1978', chosen from the many thousands of viewers who applied to take part in this year's series.
The Open University at Milton Keynes is the venue for the first of these opening heats and the contenders are:
Jean Robinson, nurse - life and works of W. S. Gilbert
Aubrey Lawrence, assistant librarian - Britain between AD 350 and 600
Jonathan Allum, civil servant - 20th-century British philosophy
Raymond Fell, Detective Sergeant, New Scotland Yard - notable British poisoners
Season 8
What do you know of the French Foreign Legion, Mammals, the Diaghilev Ballet, and 20th-century Science Fiction?
To find out join with a fireman, a zoo keeper, a barmaid and a lecturer who will be attempting to answer questions on these subjects plus a huge range of general knowledge questions.
These four contenders are the first in the field in this new Mastermind series which tonight begins at York University. The contenders are: Paul Elliott (fireman), The French Foreign Legion to 1970
Richard Green (zoo keeper), The Mammals
Diane Harris (barmaid), The Diaghilev Ballet
Albert Preston (lecturer), 20th-century Science Fiction
Season 9
Tonight Magnus is 'starting' so please stay with him until he has 'finished', the exciting search for this year's champion. Manchester Polytechnic are the hosts for this first heat of the series, and waiting to take up the challenge are: Pauline Fisher (teacher): Lives of the Hesse and Battenberg families, 1837-1937
Edward Saunders (architect): Life and works of Sir Christopher Wren
Heather Weaver (housekeeper): Life and works of Chekhov Cyril White (colour chemist): Life of Sir Richard Arkwright
Season 10
Tonight Mastermind's tenth season opens and, between now and Christmas, 48 contestants will pit their wits against each other in the quest to win television's premier quiz battle.
Magnus will be 'starting', and he hopes that you will stay with him until he has 'finished' the search for the successor to London taxi-driver Fred Housego as Mastermind 1981.
The first heat comes from the RAF College at Cranwell and the contestants are: Peter Arbuthnot (commodity broker): Indus Valley Civilisation (2500-1700 bc)
Phillida Grantham (youth worker): Wines of Europe
Leslie Grout (schoolmaster): St George's Chapel, Windsor, since 1475
Peter Wilcockson (art gallery manager): Life and Work of Picasso to 1940
Season 11
Tonight Mastermind enters its second decade and during the coming weeks 48 new contestants will be competing to win television's most prestigious quiz title.
They come from every part of Britain, their ages range from 22 to 65 and their occupations include a naval officer, a tube train driver, a doctor, a brewery clerk, a bank manager and a vet.
The first four contenders pit their wits against each other at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.
Geraldine Gregg-Smith, Education welfare officer - Novels of Evelyn Waugh
Christopher Price, Civil servant - Novels of the Bronte Sisters
Kathryn Tyson, Civil servant - Shakespeare's tragic heroes
Diggory Seacome, Schoolmaster - Percussion playing from 1700
Season 12
Mastermind's 12th season opens at the University of Dundee when four contenders from Scotland and Northern Ireland meet in the first heat of the 1984 competition.
Mary Burton (computing supervisor) The Scots Quair Trilogy of Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Stephen Bowers (unemployed) French History 1715-1799
Norman Izzett (assistant rector) Ancient Athens
Gordon McAlister (unemployed) The Bolsheviks 1914-1920
Season 13
This 13th season opens tonight at Bristol
Polytechnic when the first four of 48 hopeful contenders from Wales and south west England meet to compete for a place in the semi-finals.
Winifred Bosworth (secretarial assistant) The life of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine
Sharon Colesell (invoice clerk) The life and works of Oscar Wilde
Brian Rowlands (school teacher) Greek mythology Jan Evans (freelance translator) The life and works of Dylan Thomas
Season 14
Mastermind is back with an extended series. This time, 64 hopeful contenders set out to see who can become Mastermind 1986. This 14th season opens tonight at the University of St Andrews when the first four of the contenders from Scotland meet to decide who wins the first place in the semi-finals. David Campbell-Suttie (retired executive) Jazz, 1910-1927
Thomas Kirkpatrick (head chef) The life and work of Auguste Escoffier 1846-1935 Brian Miller (schoolteacher) The history of World Cup football, 1930-1982 Ivor Cooksey (retired company director) Exploration of the Arctic, c 1550-1909
Season 15
Mastermind is back for its 15th series. The first four of 64 hopeful contenders set out tonight to see who can become Mastermind 1987. The season opens at the University of Aberdeen when contenders from Scotland and Northern Ireland meet to decide who wins the first place in the semi-finals. Jill McFatridge (area reporter to the Children's Panel) The life and times of Ferdinand of Aragon 1452-1516
Gary Fortune (law graduate) Hungarian history 1848-1919 Hilary Frazer (charities advice officer) The history of Belfast 1600-1900
John Crippin (schoolteacher) BBC radio comedy 1947-1967
Season 16
Mastermind is back with the first of this year's 64 contenders, who tonight set out to see who can become 'Mastermind 1988'.
The season opens at the University of Exeter when the first four of the contenders from the west and south of England meet in the Great Hall to decide who wins the first place in the semi-finals.
Julian Loring (school bursar) - The life and career of Admiral of the Fleet, the Earl of St Vincent
Mildred Pugsley (retired nurse teacher) - The British Thoroughbred
Mike Rice (freelance journalist) - The history of the Duchy of Burgundy 1363-1477
Chris Hudson (clergyman) - The life and times of Dunstan 909-988
Season 17
Who will be Mastermind Champion 1989? That is the question. Hoping to have all the answers are the 64 contenders in this year's series The University College of Swansea is where the first four competitors will be demonstrating their knowledge and nerve. Jerold James Gordon (classical composer) Opera Since 1918; Timothy Brain (police inspector). British Political History 1714-1815; Wayne Stainthorpe (steelworks crane driver) Family Anatidae: Swans, Geese, Ducks of Britain and Europe; Mary-Elizabeth Raw (veterinary surgeon) The Life and Reign of Charles I
Season 18
With Magnus Magnusson from the University of Lancaster's Great Hall. Mastermind is back for its 18th series with the first of this year's 64 contenders for the title Mastermind 1990.
Who will win the, first place in the semi-finals?
Anthony Wilkinson (police officer) Roman conquest of Gaul, 58-50 BC; Arfor Wyn Hughes (art teacher) Impressionist and postimpressionist painting, 1830-1914; Hilary Forrest (teacher) Life in the English country house, 1550-1830; Jack Clark
(retired chief copytaker) Diary of Samuel Pepys , 1660-1669.
Season 19
Magnus Magnusson returns to interrogate the first four contenders for the title of Mastermind 1991. The black chair is to be found this week in the Great Hall of the University of Exeter. Contestants: James Fane-Gladwin (executive search consultant) Benedictine Order to 1532; Robin Rhoderick-Jones (retired soldier) The Archers; Christine Roderick (mature student) life and works of George Eliot ; Ian Sadler (computer analyst) British battleships, 1860-1956.
Season 20
As Mastermind celebrates its 20th anniversary, Magnus Magnusson questions this year's first contenders in the Great Hall, University of Reading: Alice Hobbs (teacher), children's literature since 1850; Christopher Wright (retired despatch clerk), Second World War in Asia and the Pacific; Jacqueline Pearce (information technology specialist), Greek mythology and heroic legend; Michael Forder (freelance editor and proofreader), life and works of Louis Armstrong.
Season 21
Returning for the 21st series, Magnus Magnusson puts more general knowledge questions to this year's first four contenders whose specialist subjects are: the life of Tiberius; the life of Admiral Lord Jellicoe; Clarice Cliff and English art deco ceramics, 1928-36; and Doctor Who.
Season 22
The forbidding black chair returns, contestants face the gruelling interrogation of questionmaster Magnus Magnusson, and the search is on to find the Mastermind of 1994. Tonight's first round heat comes from the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, where the specialised subjects of the first four competitors are the life and music of Bob Dylan, the life and career of Alexander the Great, the Monmouth Rebellion, and the life and films of Charlton Heston.
Season 23
The quest to find the Mastermind champion begins in Aberystwyth at the National
Library of Wales. Tonight's subjects include American president Benjamin Franklin and poet Philip Larkin. Magnus Magnusson asks the questions.
Season 24
Magnus Magnusson returns with the 24th series of the television quiz, which tonight comes from the Drapers' Hall in the City of London.
Season 25
The first of 13 programmes, introduced by Magnus Magnusson, in the final series tonight comes from Blenheim Palace. Contenders are Stephen Quick, Judith Falcon, Clare Ockwell and Ivan Limmer, and their chosen subjects are Formula One Racing from 1970, the life and works of Roald Dahl, anorexia nervosa, and the Russian Revolutions of 1917.
Season 30
The pre-eminent quiz show that first gripped the nation in the 1970s returns for a new series, the first since 1997. Each week four contenders are interrogated on a chosen subject and general knowledge in the famous black chair by new host John Humphrys, who takes over from Magnus Magnusson.
Season 31
The life and career of Joyce Grenfell, the RMS Titanic, the life and works of Gustav Mahler and world heavyweight boxing championships 1895-1978 are the specialist subjects as the celebrated quiz returns for a new run. John Humphrys invites the contestants to take the lonely walk to the black chair.
Season 32
The forbidding black chair beckons as the evergreen general-knowledge quiz returns. What weird and wonderful subjects will the four contestants choose? John Humphrys asks the questions.
Season 33
The forbidding black chair awaits its next nervous occupants as the demanding quiz returns for its 30th season.
Tonight's quartet of contenders will be answering questions on a typically eclectic mix of specialist subjects - the history of US submarines, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books, the Blackadder TV comedy series and the life and works of Ivor Novello. John Humphrys asks the questions and delivers the verdicts.
Season 34
Four contestants answer questions on the famous black chair. Tonight's specialised subjects include Tottenham Hotspur FC, The Alan Clark Diaries, the electric guitar and the medieval abbeys and priories of England. With John Humphrys.
Season 35
New series John Humphrys quizzes on Simon Raven, Newcastle United, Edward IV and Laurence Olivier.
Season 36
The general knowledge series returns for the 32nd time. Tonight's topics comprise the life and works of Louis Wain, the Greeks in Sicily from to 212 BC, the Sherlock Holmes films of Basil Rathbone and the life of Kurt Vonnegut. With John Humphrys.
Season 37
Britain's toughest quiz returns for a new series. Host John Humphrys invites four contestants to answer questions in the black chair, first on their chosen specialist subject and then on general knowledge in their quest to become the nations's Mastermind.
Season 38
The hunt for the nation's Mastermind gets under way once more as John Humphrys questions four contenders on their specialist subject and general knowledge. Topics in this first heat are the life of Robert Bruce Lockhart, human parasites, the siege of Malta and the life and work of AC Swinburne.
Season 39
The hunt for the nation's Mastermind gets under way once more as John Humphrys questions four contenders on their specialist subject and general knowledge. Subjects in this first heat are the completed novels of Jane Austen, the life and times of Elizabeth I, Fawlty Towers and the Savoy Operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Season 40
John Humphrys and the famous black chair return for another series of TV's toughest quiz. Over the next thirty-one weeks, 96 contenders will be whittled down to just one Mastermind champion. Subjects in tonight's first heat are the Muppet films, Alexander the Great, the Biblical writings of St John and the life and work of Benjamin Britten.
Season 41
John Humphrys and the famous black chair return for another series of TV's toughest quiz. 96 contenders start the journey towards the final but only one will be crowned Mastermind Champion.
Subjects in the first heat are Yes Minister, the Battle of Lepanto, JM Barrie and St Paul's Cathedral.
Season 42
John Humphrys and the famous black chair return for another series of television's toughest quiz. 96 contenders start the path towards the final but only one can be crowned Mastermind Champion. Subjects in this first heat are Marvel Comics, Shakespeare's comedies, John Martyn and Pu Yi, the Last Emperor of China.
Season 43
In this first heat of the new series, John Humphrys starts the search for the nation's Mastermind.
Specialist subjects tonight are Joni Mitchell, the Radio 4 sitcom Bleak Expectations, Alan Turing, and the history of aviation to 1914.
Season 44
John Humphrys and the famous black chair return for another series of television's toughest quiz. Ninety-six contenders start the journey towards the final but only one can be crowned Mastermind Champion. Subjects tonight are Paul Simon, the feature films of Hayao Miyazaki, the Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna and the life and poetry of John Donne.
Season 45
John Humphrys presents the first heat of the series as the hunt for the nation's Mastermind gets back underway. This episode's specialist subjects are The West Wing, Bob Marley, Neil Gaiman's Sandman series and John Hawkwood.
Season 46
John Humphrys presents the first heat of the relaunched series of the classic quiz, where contenders take the famous black chair under the glare of the spotlight and the ticking clock in an attempt to become the next Mastermind.
Tonight’s specialist subjects are the Lake District, Sue Townsend novels, Stephen King and Dorothy Hodgkin.
Season 47
John Humphrys presents the first heat of the series. The specialist subjects are The Levellers, Julie Andrews, Black Books and Isabella of Castile.
Season 48
In the first heat, Clive Myrie puts four contenders to the test as they answer questions on specialist subjects including Bruce Springsteen, Switzerland and Sir Roger Moore.
Season 49
In the first heat of the series, Clive Myrie puts four contenders to the test on specialist subjects including Peaky Blinders and Team GB at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Season 50
Clive Myrie hosts the classic quiz where contenders take the famous black chair.
Season 51
Clive Myrie hosts the classic quiz where contenders take the famous black chair.
Season 52
Clive Myrie hosts the classic quiz where contenders take the famous black chair.
Crew
Producer
Jimmy Mulville, Kate Middleditch, Chris Jones
Network
BBC One, BBC Two
Production
Hat Trick Productions, Hindsight Productions
Keywords
quizknowledge