Fighting Talk

Fighting Talk

Other names	FT
Genre	Sports panel game
Running time	50 minutes (approx)
Country	UK
Languages	English
Home station	BBC Radio 5 Live
Hosts	Colin Murray (2006-present) Christian O'Connell (2004-2005) Johnny Vaughan (2003-2004)
Writers	Giles Boden
Producers	Simon Crosse
Recording studio	MediaCityUK (Salford Quays), Salford, Greater Manchester
Air dates	since 4th October 2003
No. of series	9 (List of episodes)
Opening theme	Sabotage by Beastie Boys
Website	The official BBC website
Podcast	Fighting Talk Podcast

Fighting Talk is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. Its first series aired in October 2003, and was presented by Johnny Vaughan, with the second series fronted by Christian O'Connell. It is currently hosted by Colin Murray and is aired on Saturday mornings for an hour between 11:00 and 12:00. It is currently in its ninth series. In 2011 the show won a second prestigious gold Sony Radio Academy Award in the sports programme category. Judges paid tribute to the old-fashioned Music Hall style of the show and Martin Kelner's many anecdotes.

Format

Colin Murray chairs the show where four guest pundits are invited to expound in turn, preferably with wit and knowledge, their views and opinions on a series of topical sporting events. Most sports are thrown into the fray but there is a strong emphasis on English top-flight football and other sports covered by the British news media.

The penultimate discussion topic on the show is known as 'Any Other Business' (AOB) where the guests are given the opportunity to talk about anything they wish, and encouraged to comment on topics or issues that have irked, annoyed or incensed them in past week, regardless of relevance to sport. There have been several notable AOBs; a particularly good example of wit and rant was Steve Bunce's recollections of an interrupted stay at a London hotel.

Listener participation

The programme is interspersed with 'listeners' homework' - listeners are asked to submit answers to one of the questions posed to the panel (normally question two) by e-mail or text message. During the course of the show, the presenter will read out the 'best' responses, with the most entertaining answers being read out the following week. Homework questions often involve likening sports people to objects, animals or concepts: for example, “If footballers were houses, what would they be?”.

Prizes were introduced to encourage respondents; in the first series, the prize for the 'best' entry was a 'soundbite' recording of a commentator or sportsman — being a brief piece of sporting commentary involving the winning respondent or recollections of the respondents' sporting prowess (both fictional). Contributors included Chris Waddle, Barry Fry and Jonathan Pierce. In keeping with the Park incident (see below), the results of this competition have been 'rigged' on occasion — for example, Giles Boden (writer — see below) is a previous 'winner'; his prize was a soundbite recorded for him by former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri.

During the second series, a tangible prize was introduced in the form of a Fighting Talk mug - and as an added incentive, listeners were offered the chance to appear as guest pundits. Jim Thane was the first listener to be invited to compete live on the show, appearing in series two alongside Steve Bunce, Greg Brady and Dominic Holland. Richard Seymour was the second guest listener, appearing in the third series next to Steve Bunce, Bob Mills, and Kriss Akabusi. During the fourth series, Christopher Briggs joined a panel consisting of Will Buckley, John Rawling, and Bob Mills.

Prizes were suspended during series 5 due to the BBC's blanket ban on hosting phone-in competitions, which came as a result of various phone-in and interactive voting scandals. Listeners were still encouraged to text and e-mail in answers by the presenter, immediately followed by a sarcastic remark from Colin about Blue Peter, one of the BBC's programmes accused of misleading viewers. When considered in the context of the arbitrary nature of the show's scoring systems, the suspension seems somewhat ironic, particularly given that presenter corruption is tolerated to the point of being encouraged.

In the latest series, listeners have been asked to submit a question, rather than answer the set question. The listener who is selected to pose the question is also given the power to award two bonus points to any panellist of his or her choice.

Defend the Indefensible

In order to decide the week’s ultimate winner the two highest scoring pundits are invited to 'Defend the Indefensible'. Each pundit is called to vigorously support a topical theme for twenty seconds that is either distasteful, politically incorrect, plainly wrong, self-derisory or entirely contrary to the pundit's known opinions. Previous examples of defending the indefensible include "I’d gladly drink a pint of Maradona’s liposuction fat for Comic Relief"; "Cricket has been cheapened now common people and ladies have jumped on the bandwagon" and "I believe the annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race should take place in Iranian territorial waters".

The shortest ever DTI was recorded on 26 January 2008, when Jim Jeffries lasted just five seconds after being asked to defend the statement "Just like Ashley Cole, vomiting is a vital part of my lovemaking". Jeffries responded, "Fair enough, because sometimes you need lube". Presenter Colin Murray immediately implied it would be Jeffries' last regular appearance on the show. However, this was not the case, with Jeffries appearing on FT on 18 October 2008, in a typically controversial performance, and made one last appearance on a pre-recorded comics special that aired on Boxing Day 2009.

On occasion, the DTI round has been specifically designed for the pundit who has to answer. Examples include propositions posed to former England football manager Graham Taylor and Henning Wehn. After the resignation of Sven-Göran Eriksson from the position of England Manager, Taylor was invited to defend the statement "The next England manager should be Graham Taylor". In a later series, Wehn was asked to defend "The German football team should wear PVC Nazi outfits as a show of support to Max Mosley", in reference to the latter's court battle following revelations about Mosley's personal life.

Finalists who refuse to take part in the round forfeit the round and by extension, the game — for example, John Rawling refused to criticise his wife's cooking on the Christmas 2006 show, with the win being awarded to fellow panellist Des Kelly. Rawling was again asked to defend the proposition exactly a year later, and did so successfully. Two episodes of Fighting Talk were won by pundits who did not have to participate in the DTI round:

• On 17 September 2005, Bob Mills won a show after fellow finalist Steve Bunce refused to defend "John Rawling's debut as ITV boxing commentator was mediocre at best"; Bunce was replaced in the final by John Rawling, who was subsequently unable to respond to the proposition "Boxing's so gay, but that's why I like it".
• In November 2006, Trevor Nelson was awarded a win after finalists Ian Stone and Clare Balding's efforts were deemed too terrible to win.
• Martin Kelner became the first (and to date, only) person to be sent off from the DTI final on 25 April 2009 after Murray had had his lot with this type of Bobby Gould-esque behaviour, with John Oliver taking Kelner's place against Gary O'Reilly.

Scoring

Guests earn arbitrary points for 'good punditry', but lose them if they waffle, use predictable clichés, or attempt to ingratiate themselves with the host. Scoring is accompanied by a variety of appropriate and humorous sound effects.

Cash Register Kerching	One Point (this sound is actually cribbed from the video game Sonic the Hedgehog, and can be heard at the end of a level)
Arrow hitting the target	Two Points
Hallelujah chorus	Three Points
Be-uuwww	minus One point

In the 24 January 2009 show, a new sound effect (being the start up music from Microsoft Windows XP) was introduced, to indicate a 'fact' that had been blatantly pulled by the contestant from Wikipedia or other online source.

Disordered and by no means fair, the system is sufficiently flexible to accommodate the presenter’s moods, likes and dislikes and personal bias.. Pundits can start the game on positive scores, with points having been awarded for complimentary comments about the presenter; by contrast, many start on minus scores, with points having been deducted due to interruptions or negative comments about the presenter.

At the beginning of series four, Colin Murray introduced the "Golden Envelope" round. The presenter places his or her own answer to a particular question into an envelope prior to the show and poses the question to the pundits during the second half of that show: matching the answer in the envelope is worth ten bonus points.

Presenters can also 'fix' the outcome of show results for personal gain. Colin Murray arranged for Richard Park to win a show in 2007 because Park was a judge in the TV show Comic Relief does Fame Academy, in which Murray was a contestant. At one point, Park was in last place, but Murray put him into the final and gifted him the win, without listening to the Defend the Indefensible round answer from fellow contestant Jim White.

Murray also decided an FA Cup Third Round show on 3 January 2009 in favour of former Wimbledon FA Cup Final goalscorer and Northern Ireland national football team manager Lawrie Sanchez, after both Sanchez and fellow finalist Martin Kelner failed to meet the 20 seconds required in Defend the Indefensible.

History

See also: List of Fighting Talk episodes

The first series began in October 2003 and was hosted by Johnny Vaughan. The inaugural show featured a panel consisting of Greg Brady, Will Buckley, Bradley Walsh and the eventual winner, Stan Collymore. After the first series ended in April 2004, Vaughan left to present the Capital FM breakfast show.

Christian O'Connell was the show's second presenter, and completed a successful second series from 2004–2005, culminating in a gold award for the show at the 24th Sony Radio Academy Awards. He left to focus on his new Virgin Radio breakfast show at the end of 2005. His last show was in December 2005, and featured his four favourite guests — John Rawling, Steve Bunce, Greg Brady and Bob Mills. That show also briefly featured the wives of three of those panellists, who were invited to answer (via telephone) a question on behalf of their husbands. Bob Mills' wife was unavailable for comment.

Colin Murray is the show's current presenter, having started back in February 2006.

Vaughan came back for 'one week only' on 10 March 2007 because Murray was appearing in the reality television programme Comic Relief does Fame Academy. However, he has since made two other guest appearances as chairman while Murray has been away. The show has also had a number of other guest presenters to cover for when the host is unavailable, including well-known British broadcasters such as Dickie Davies, Kelly Dalglish, Jimmy Tarbuck, Gabby Logan, Terry Wogan, Phil Williams, and Nick Hancock.

Assistant Producer Mike Holt has also had to present the show for one question when Colin Murray could not bring himself to adjudicate a round questioning his favourite team by asking "What's wrong with Liverpool Football Club?" Murray left the studio for the duration of the question.

Simon Crosse has produced every series of Fighting Talk.

The 'Stuart Hall incident'

Fighting Talk made national news with an episode broadcast on 12 March 2005. The panel consisted of Danny Kelly, Will Buckley, John Rawling and Stuart Hall. The presenter, Christian O'Connell, asked the panel "What other former all-conquering nations, clubs or individuals would you like to see have a renaissance?". Stuart Hall responded "Zimbabwe", and criticised what Robert Mugabe had done to the country, saying "...don your flannels, black up, play leather on willow with Mugabe cast as a witch doctor. Imagine him out at Lords casting a curse; tincture of bat's tongues, gorilla's gonads, tiger's testicles...". Shortly afterwards, O'Connell was heard to ask studio staff "Are we still on air?" During the same show, Hall was also asked for his opinion on sporting stars acting as role models for young people. In his response, he defended swearing by footballers suggesting that "your average 10-year-old can instruct you in oral or anal sex". The incidents were widely reported in the national press, although neither attracted significant criticism from listeners.

Pundits

Pundits are generally British sports journalists, sportspeople or stand-up comics. However, some non-UK pundits make appearances, notably Greg Brady (who participates regularly by ISDN from Toronto, Canada). On Saturday 27 October 2007, Greg made an appearance in the studio due to being in London for the first NFL regular season game to be played outside the USA. He has made appearances in the UK every year since then, including the 24 October 2009 broadcast which came live from Hull.

Other non-UK contestants include Australian comedians Charlie Pickering and Jim Jeffries, English-born New Zealand comedian Al Pitcher and German comedian Henning Wehn. American comic Doug Stanhope made an appearance on the 13 September 2008 episode, as he was touring Britain at the time.

Nicknames in Fighting Talk

Certain pundits who have appeared on the show have been allocated nicknames. These tend to be allocated to regular pundits or those who have made previous notable appearances.

Real Name	Nickname
Kriss Akabusi	Ak, Ak, Ak, Ak
Dougie Anderson	11 Answers, The Husky Voiced Scotsman, And while we're at it, "3 Answers", Ando
Roger Black	Roger Pretty Boy
John Bishop	"We'll have no Bashing of the Bishop"
Greg Brady	Sleepy Eyes, The Beast, "Our American-Canadian" , Morning Glory
Mark Bright	Under-rated, Mr. Brightside
Will Buckley	Son of Psycho, The Mild-Mannered Man of Fighting Talk, The Meek
Steve Bunce	The Aubergine, The Shirt, The 4th BeeGee, The Seagull, Birdman, Buncey
Steve Cram	Lights Out
David Croft	David "I'm Going For The Obvious" Croft
Andy Goldstein	The New Martin Kelner
Stuart Hall	Crayzee Talker!!
Ian Holloway	The Lunchbox Legend
Hazel Irvine	The Female Martin Kelner
Iyare	Ninja
Jim Jeffries	The Foreigner
Des Kelly	The Fonz, The Bristol Fonzerelli, The Fruit Machine
Martin Kelner	King of the One-liners, The Thinking Man's Martin Kelner, King of the Bad-Gags
Steve Lamacq	Lammo
Bob Mills	The spokesman for lower league football
Sue Mott	Her with the teeth
Eleanor Oldroyd	The First Lady of Fighting Talk
Gavin Peacock	Fu Manchu
Richard Park	The Name-Dropper
Jeff Probyn	The Lion
John Rawling	Psycho, J.R., The Boy Rawlings, Sir John of Rawling
Ian Stone	Ian "Heart Of" Stone, The Cypriot Warrior, Stand Easy for Ian Stone, The Officer of Comedy
Tom Watt	"An Annoyance" "Crow-face" "The Interrupter"
Mark Watson	"100% Mark Watson" "Metrosexual"
Henning Wehn	In it to win it, Schnell Schnell Jawohl

Pundit themes

Recurring and even guest pundits on Fighting Talk are and have sometimes been given their own themes, which are played during their introduction at the beginning of the show. Most make some kind of comedic reference to the relevant pundit.

Pundit	Theme
Kriss Akabusi	When You're Smiling by Bing Crosby
Terry Alderton	theme from Terry and June
Brian Alexander	Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Eric Idle (from Monty Python's Life of Brian)
Keith Allen John Barnes	World in Motion by New Order (England's 1990 World Cup song, which was written by Allen; Barnes was introduced with the portion of the song which includes his rap)
Dougie Anderson	Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler (later Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler) A new theme was offered during Series 8: Who Let The Dogs Out? by Baha Men
Guillem Balagué	Macarena by Los Del Río
Clare Balding Cornelius Lysaght	Galloping Home theme from The Adventures of Black Beauty
Martin Bayfield	theme from Police Academy
John Bishop	theme from Bread
Roger Black	Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) by The Offspring
Greg Brady	Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit by Fedde le Grand. A new theme was offered for Series 6: The Hockey Song by Stompin' Tom Connors.
Kevin Bridges	Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel (previously an instrumental version of same)
Mark Bright	Mr. Brightside by The Killers
Will Buckley	Country House by Blur Stacy's Mom by Fountains of Wayne or Not Fair by Lily Allen I Fought the Law by The Clash Theme from L.A. Law
Steve Bull	Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
Steve Bunce	theme from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em closing theme from Only Fools and Horses (preceded by him saying "Put it out, right out")
Tim Clark	theme from Mastermind
Gideon Coe	theme from Why Don't You?
Mike Costello	The Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni (theme from Raging Bull)
John Crace	Vertigo by U2
David Croft Jake Humphrey	The bridge of The Chain by Fleetwood Mac (as used in BBC's Formula One coverage)
Tom Davis	East Bound and Down by Jerry Reed
Matt Dawson	theme from A Question of Sport I Don't Want to Wait by Paula Cole (theme from Dawson's Creek)
Simon Day	Beautiful Day by U2
Debutant pundits	Funeral march
Neil Delamere	"NEIL DELAMERE!" voiceover à la The X Factor (no music)
Mick Dennis	Theme from The A-Team
Tony Dorigo	Soul Glo jingle from Coming to America
Jill Douglas	Chocolate Girl by Deacon Blue
Dion Dublin	Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty
Andy Dunn	Here Comes the Mirror Man by The Human League
Gail Emms	Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves by Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin A new theme was offered for Series 6: Crying by Roy Orbison
Barry Fantoni (or Italian contestants)	Italian National Anthem
Les Ferdinand	theme from Airwolf
Kevin Garside	Viva Las Vegas by Elvis Presley
Bobby Gould	Crazy by Patsy Cline Gold by Spandau Ballet
Perry Groves	We All Live in a Perry Groves World by Arsenal Fans (to tune of "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles) [1]
Stuart Hall	Bean Bag by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, well known as the theme from It's A Knockout, which Hall used to present on BBC TV
Austin Healey	Tiny Dancer by Elton John
Rob Heeney	Light and Tuneful by Keith Mansfield (opening theme of the BBC's Wimbledon coverage) Just a Song About Ping Pong by Operator Please
Dean Holdsworth	theme from The Littlest Hobo
Dominic Holland	No Limit by 2 Unlimited
Matt Holland	Tulips from Amsterdam by Max Bygraves Theme from One Foot in the Grave A new theme was offered for Series 8: Wot? by Captain Sensible
Ian Holloway	Theme from Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere
Iyare Igiehon	Volare by Dean Martin (with Colin singing "Iyare" over the chorus)
Jim Jeffries	theme from Home and Away Down Under by Men at Work
Eddie Kadi	I'm Alright by Kenny Loggins
Danny Kelly	theme from ITV's World of Sport
Des Kelly	theme from Happy Days theme from Desmond's sound of a fruit machine
Martin Kelner	A drumroll-cymbal rimshot - also regularly used when he cracks a one-liner Hammer to Fall by Queen (used on the Series 9 Football League special on 6 August 2011)
Steve Lamacq	Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin
Graeme Le Saux	theme from Bergerac
Former Liverpool F.C. players	Ferry Cross the Mersey by Gerry & the Pacemakers You'll Never Walk Alone by Gerry & the Pacemakers
Kenny Logan	Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins
Andrew Maxwell	Maxwell's Silver Hammer by The Beatles
Katherine Merry	Christmas music The Lady in Red by Chris de Burgh
Bob Mills	theme from Steptoe & Son closing theme from Only Fools and Horses A new theme was offered for Series 6: Tijuana Taxi by Herb Alpert.
Danny Mills	Theme from Casualty Danny Boy as sung by Johnny Cash
Ian Moore	More More More by The Andrea True Connection
Sue Mott	All Woman by Lisa Stansfield You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate A new series was offered for Series 6: All the Young Dudes by Mott the Hoople
Pat Nevin	Sunshine on Leith by The Proclaimers
Dara Ó Briain	Theme from The Sopranos
Eleanor Oldroyd	The Lady in Red by Chris de Burgh (later given to Katherine Merry) She's a Lady by Tom Jones A new theme was suggested for Series 6: Hail to the Chief Folding Stars by Biffy Clyro
John Oliver	Living in America by James Brown New York, New York by Frank Sinatra
Gary O'Reilly	The Liberty Bell March by John Philip Sousa (as heard on Monty Python's Flying Circus) "Let's hear it for Gary O'Reilly!" by The Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders (The clip fades out as O'Reilly exclaims "Oh, ladies!", to which Colin has been known to often make reference)
Richard Park (or Scottish contestants)	Bagpipes
Mike Parry	Theme from Z-Cars (Everton anthem)
Andy Parsons	You're the Voice by John Farnham Shipbuilding by Elvis Costello A new theme was offered for Series 8: Mandy by Barry Manilow
Colin Paterson	Hooray for Hollywood instrumental
Gavin Peacock	Opening guitar riff of Turning Japanese by The Vapors
Charlie Pickering	theme from Neighbours
Natalie Pinkham	Theme from The Pink Panther
Al Pitcher	Haka of the All Blacks
Tayo Popoola	Boom Boom Boom by The Outhere Brothers Colin sang 'Tayo' over the 'Way-o — Way-oooo' section of the track, which rather fell flat on its face
Jeff Probyn	Swing Low, Sweet Chariot MGM lion roar
John Rawling	O Fortuna theme from Psycho theme from Dallas
Jon Richardson	Oompa Loompa, Doompa-Dee-Do theme from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory Short People by Randy Newman
Ian Robertson	World in Union (Rugby World Cup theme)
Leroy Rosenior	Theme from The X Files Fame by Irene Cara
Lawrie Sanchez	Mexican Hat Dance (though he's Ecuadorian on his mother's side of the family)
Robbie Savage	Suicide Blonde by INXS
Paul Sinha	Music featured in Blue Oyster Club scenes from Police Academy films Sinnerman by Nina Simone
Alec Stewart and other cricketers	Dreadlock Holiday by 10cc (especially the line "I don't like cricket; I love it".)
Ian Stone	Hava Nagila Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits
Matthew Syed	Boris Johnson quote from after the 2008 Olympic Games: "And I say to the Chinese, and I say to the world: ping-pong is coming home."
Iwan Thomas	theme from Chariots of Fire by Vangelis
Michael Vaughan	Michael, Row the Boat Ashore
Ian Walker	Walk On By by Dionne Warwick
Mark Watson	When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob Bobbin' Along by Al Jolson
Tom Watt	Crowd chanting "You Wot?" themes from British soap operas A new theme was offered for Series 9: Theme from Escape to Victory by Bill Conti
Henning Wehn	theme from Dad's Army
Jack Whitehall	theme from To The Manor Born
Josh Widdicombe	Infinity by Guru Josh Project
Jim White	White Lines by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (Usually played with Colin saying "Bass!" during the intro)

• ^a The theme referenced Brady's previous job working for WDFN radio in Detroit. The first use of the theme coincided with Brady experiencing the worst slump of his FT career, 5 defeats in a row. The run of bad form was attributed to the Detroit theme so it was changed to "It's Raining Men" for one show. The change did not help and Brady lost. For the next show he was returned to the Detroit theme. He won that show thus breaking the curse in a manner not unlike the New York Rangers winning the Stanley Cup in 1994. Despite Greg Brady's saying, he actually won his first show with this theme tune, although this was with guest host, Gabby Logan. For Brady's first appearance following his return to his native Canada in 2008, the theme tune was changed to Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On; later appearances featured other Canadian references including "Weird Al" Yankovic's Canadian Idiot.

• ^b During the early part of Colin Murray's tenure as host, Bunce and Bob Mills alternated between the two themes, given their roots in London's East End. Sometimes Bunce would be introduced by the theme from Some Mothers Do 'Ave Them, and Mills the closing theme from Only Fools and Horses.

• ^c This is due to a 'rule' introduced by Murray that no new pundits are allowed to win their first show. By contrast, several pundits have won their first show with Colin in the chair — notably Henning Wehn — although fewer debutantes have won on their first outing under Colin than the previous presenters.

• ^d No relation to Bob Mills

• ^e This is an assumed reference to Rawling's patriarchal character on the show and his initials, "JR" bearing similarities with J. R. Ewing, one of the principal characters from the former television series Dallas.

• ^f This was due to Richardson's presumed status as the shortest Fighting Talk contestant, although as was confirmed in the next episode that Steve Lamacq was in fact shorter.

• ^g The version previously used was recorded at a football ground; as of Watt's first appearance of Series 9, the chant recorded during the 2011 Champions Final is now played.

• ^h These theme tunes are ironic as Tom Watt appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. This is further compounded when he is introduced as Colin Murray purposely mistakes the famous soap character Tom Watt portrayed. Examples include Hayley Cropper and Mandy Dingle. However, from 15 March 2008, the introductory tune was replaced with an audio clip of a crowd chanting "You wot? You wot?".

Music and sound effects

The show's distinctive theme tune comes from the track Sabotage by Beastie Boys, which first appeared on their 1994 album Ill Communication. The segment used is from the middle of the track. The song was replaced with a different version due to contractual reasons in 2010.

The music usually playing while the host gives the scores is the theme from the British TV show The Professionals, and during the final segment Defending the Indefensible, the theme from the Rocky series, Gonna Fly Now, is used.

Other sound effects used throughout each show include the various pundit themes; the theme from Allo Allo; Planet Funk's Chase the Sun; the German, Italian and American national anthems; the Indiana Jones theme; and The Lonely Man from The Incredible Hulk, among others.

Records and statistics

Records

• As of 20 August 2011, the highest score achieved was by Steve Bunce on 26 November 2005. Following numerous deductions by host Christian O'Connell for Bunce's petulance, Bunce's answer to "Who is the second best dressed manager in football?" was Stuart Pearce for which O'Connell awarded 5,000 points. Bunce went on to win Defend the Indefensible. The highest "normal" score on the Show was Greg Brady`s 70 scored during the second season.
• As of 20 August 2011, the lowest score recorded was Steve Bunce's -900,000 on 31 December 2006.
• On 26 January 2008, Jim Jefferies gave the shortest ever Defend the Indefensible answer, lasting only 5 seconds. He was asked to defend 'Just Like Ashley Cole, Vomiting Is A Vital Part In My Love Making Too' and responded, 'Yeah, because sometimes... you need lube.'
• On 11 April 2009, all of the panelists (Eleanor Oldroyd, Bobby Gould, Greg Brady and Ian Stone) got the 'Golden Envelope' question correct, earning each of them 10 extra points, for the first time in the show's history. However, the answer to the question was rather obvious as the question was "What's the best sports podcast that you can download for free from iTunes or other download sites?" Everyone correctly answered: "Fighting Talk" . This also meant that the show took the record of the most points scored in total on the show.
• All the panellists also got the answer correct in the 11 November 2006 episode but this was only as Colin Murray put over 20 names in the envelope. The question was "If I wanted to get the lowest ratings in a sporting version of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here who would I put in the jungle?" Answers included John Rawling, Pele, John Rawling, Neville Neville and John Rawling
• Colin Murray put all four panelists into Defend the Indefensible on 6 February 2010, which was won by Dougie Anderson. However, this move was not without precedent. On 8 April 2006, Bob Mills, Oldroyd, Rawling, and Bunce all contested the DTI final, with Oldroyd emerging the winner.
• Murray decided three-quarters of the way through the show to scrap the scoring system on the 2 April 2011 episode, thus putting all four panelists (Tom Watt, Jack Whitehall, Dougie Anderson and Matthew Syed) through to the DTI final, with Anderson ultimately claiming victory.

Other statistics

A detailed breakdown of individual show statistics (prepared by listeners) from all series to date is available via Google Spreadsheets.

Fighting Talk in other media

The show made a brief appearance on television (2004, BBC2, in an early evening slot) presented and written by Johnny Vaughan and was true to the popular radio format. The scoring sound effects were juxtaposed with complementary images shown on large screens. At one stage negotiations were believed to be under way for Colin Murray to host a live style format in the Camden based MTV studios which would air on Sky One during the close season.

There have been several recordings of the show in front of audiences:

• The first was recorded/broadcast on 22 November 2004 at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet (following Sky Television's first pay-per-view darts event the previous day) and was hosted by Christian O'Connell - who was joined by pundits Dominic Holland, Gavin Peacock, Mark Pougatch and Steve Bunce.
• The second was recorded/broadcast on 4 October 2008 at the Cedar Court Hotel, Harrogate (as part of the Carnegie Sporting Words festival). Colin Murray (the host) was joined by pundits Bob Mills, Jim White, Martin Kelner and Will Buckley.
• The third was broadcast on 13 December 2008 from Goodison Park (as part of the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year events). Murray was again the host, and was joined by Bob Mills, John Aldridge, Pat Nevin and olympic gold medal winner Tim Brabants.
• The fourth was broadcast on 24 October 2009 from the Ferens Art Gallery in Kingston upon Hull. Colin Murray hosted, with the panel made up of Martin Kelner, John Rawling, former Hull City striker Dean Windass, and Greg Brady, who for once appeared in person rather than down the line from Canada.
• The fifth edition came live from Headingley Stadium in Leeds on 14 November 2009, the panel consisted of Ian Stone, Des Kelly, Martin Kelner and former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan. The third and final stage of their Kelnerpalooza — The Unblemished Tour Of Yorkshire (and their sixth live broadcast) was held in Sheffield (also the site of that year's BBC SPOTY events) on 12 December 2009 and starred John Rawling, Martin Kelner, John Bishop and debutant Jake Humphrey with Bishop claiming victory at Ponds Forge.
• The seventh edition was broadcast on 21 August 2010 from the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford, the site of the IBSA World Blind Football Championship. Des Kelly defeated Kelner, Rawling, and Martin Allen on his début.
• As part of the 5 Live Septemberfest series of live shows recorded on Tyneside in 2010, FT was recorded at the Sage Gateshead complex, and boasted the show's biggest audience to that time, breaking the 4-digit attendance barrier. The show was contested by Simon Day, John Rawling, Martin Kelner and former Hull City manager and South Shields native Phil Brown. As a lifelong Sunderland fan on South Tyneside, Brown was given a rough ride by the audience, but he performed well for a début appearance. Following a lacklustre DTI final, Day won after beating Kelner in an arm-wrestle.
• The ninth edition was broadcast live from the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham on 18 December 2010, one day before that year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards programme. On the panel were Bob Mills, John Rawling, Dougie Anderson and Steve Bunce, with Anderson claiming the win.
• The tenth edition came live from the Empire Theatre, Liverpool, during Grand National weekend on 9 April 2011. The largest ever audience in the programme's history (surpassing the large attendance at Gateshead from seven months earlier) saw a panel consisting of Liverpudlian radio presenter Mike Parry and former Liverpool defender Gary Gillespie, as well as Steve Bunce and comedian Ian Stone (standing in for Bob Mills, who pulled out the night before owing to illness). A month and a half later, Fighting Talk's 2011 Champions League final was aired from the BBC Radio Theatre; Tom Watt took the season championship from Bob Mills and also defeated Steve Bunce and Martin Kelner.
• The twelfth live episode was an FT film special, which was broadcast live from the Everyman Cinemas in Belsize Park, London on 17 September 2011; Martin Kelner took the win over Watt, Anderson, and film producer/director Stephen Woolley on his début.
• The programme's first live broadcast since 5live's move north (and 13th overall) came live from Salford Quays exactly three months later, with Rawling, Bunce, Vaughan and Day on the panel.

Fighting Talk: Any Other Business

A one-off, politics-based show — using the name of Fighting Talk's 'Any Other Business' round — was broadcast on Sunday 17 December 2006 at 7pm, presented by Richard Bacon. A run of four further shows billed as Fighting Talk: Any Other Business were broadcast between 15 July and 5 August 2007. The host was the original Fighting Talk presenter Johnny Vaughan and guests included Alan Duncan, Diane Abbot, Stephen Pound, Arabella Weir and Robin Ince.

Internet resources

The official Fighting Talk web page can be found on the BBC Radio Five Live website.

The most popular and well known fan-site is located on the social networking website Facebook, under the name 'The Fighting Talk Appreciation Society'. It is occasionally mentioned on the show by the presenter.

In 2009 the show introduced a "secret" group on the social networking website Facebook, called 'FT316' for listeners to post their suggestions for question 2. Originally they did not give the name of the group on air, but a link was sent to anyone who requested it by email. This idea was scrapped after a couple of shows and now the presenter just tells listeners to go to the page, giving them the name of it on air. The 316 comes from the number of one of the sound effects in the BBC library, later found to be one number out from what it should be.

For Fighting Talk listeners, a fan made website has surfaced which provides all fighting talk episodes. The website is known as 'Fighting Talk Files'. The exception being that the debut episode hosted by Johnny Vaughan on 4 October 2003 is not available.

Podcast

Fighting Talk became available as an mp3 download in October 2004, with a podcast version following as part of a BBC trial in February 2005. Each show can be accessed for download on the BBC website in either format for one week after broadcast. Much comment is made by the presenters about the performance of the podcast in the iTunes chart (in either the Sport or Comedy categories, or the overall podcast chart) - with a previous best of number 5 in the overall chart (series three).

Following the Russell Brand Show prank telephone calls row, the BBC introduced a system of editing 'controversial' content of some shows before making them available as podcasts. The two most noticeable edits to date have been made to DTI rounds — the first involved the show recorded at Goodison Park (see above), where Pat Nevin was asked to defend the statement I'd gladly swap every game I played for Everton and Tranmere for just one night with Wayne Rooney's granny. Nevin's original answer in the live broadcast included the statement "sloppy seconds from Wayne Rooney just sounds like pure class to me" but the line was cut for the podcast. The second involved the show broadcast on 16 May 2009, when Bob Mills was asked to defend a statement involving ex-cricketer Chris Lewis' appearance in court in relation to cocaine smuggling. Both the DTI statement and Mill's response were removed from the podcast.

Several podcasts in series 6 contain bonus audio clips that can be heard after several minutes of silence at the end of the broadcast recording. The sections generally consist of studio chatter between the host and panellists, often recorded during off-air audio level tests. The most notable can be found on the podcast recording of the show broadcast on 28 March 2009, when panellist Perry Groves can be heard singing along to Love Really Hurts Without You by Billy Ocean.

Book

The first Fighting Talk tie-in book, Fighting Talk: Flimsy Facts, Sweeping Statements and Inspired Sporting Hunches, edited by regular pundit Will Buckley, was published by Hodder & Stoughton on 2 October 2008.

Fighting Talk specials

A political Fighting Talk 'special' hosted by regular host Christian O'Connell - featuring MPs Lembit Opik, Steven Pound and Alan Duncan, as well as regular pundit, Bob Mills — was broadcast prior to the 2005 UK General election. Another one, hosted by Richard Bacon instead of regular host Colin Murray, was broadcast on the Monday before the 2010 elections. It featured comedian Mark Watson, the Labour Party's Caroline Flint, the Liberal Democrat Edward Davey, and the then-Conservative Party chairman (and subsequently Communities Secretary) Eric Pickles. On both occasions, the Labour politician has won the final.

At the end of the third series, Colin Murray presented a special World Cup edition of Fighting Talk. The fifth series ended with a run of four Euro 2008 specials.

On 24 March 2007, Colin Murray hosted a 'women only' edition of Fighting Talk. The panel featured regular Eleanor Oldroyd alongside three débutantes - Gail Emms, Hazel Irvine and Sue Mott.

At the end of the series from the 2008/2009 season there was a pre recorded 'correspondents' show to finish off the season; a similar special was broadcast at the end of the 2010/2011 season as well.

On 26 December 2009, there was a pre-recorded comedians show. The panel featured regulars Bob Mills, Jim Jeffries, John Bishop and débutant Dara O'Briain.

On 22 May 2010 a Fighting Talk Champions League special was aired. Martin Kelner who finished 5th in the rankings appeared in place of John Bishop who 'had a gig in Ireland' the night before. The three other panelists were Bob Mills, John Rawling & Dougie Anderson, with Mills earning the championship. The following week, the seventh series ended with a World Cup special, featuring Mills, Rawling, Danny Mills (no relation to Bob), and former Arsenal midfielder Perry Groves.

On Boxing Day 2010 a Fighting Talk Tag Team Special was held, pitting four teams against one another. The teams were Martin Kelner & Will Buckley, "Bobby Darin" (Bob Mills & Darren Campbell), Eleanor Oldroyd & Katharine Merry and Simon Day & Steve Bunce.

On 28 May 2011, the second Fighting Talk Champions League special came live from the BBC Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House in London. Tom Watt defeated reigning champion Bob Mills to win the championship, while Kelner and Steve Bunce rounded out the panel for the Series 8 finale.

In December 2011 in a Fighting Talk special Pat Nevin and Tony Livesey from Radio 5 Live competed against Steve Lamacq and Shaun Keaveny from BBC 6 Music. The questions covered music as well as sport and the programme was simulcast on both radio stations.

2011 Summer specials

For the first time in the programme's history, Fighting Talk aired a series of programs from three of the major British sporting events held during the summer. The major difference was that these special broadcasts bar the third episode were broadcast live, though not in front of an audience.

• The first episode came live from Ascot Racecourse (site of the Royal Ascot) on 18 June, with Nick Hancock as compère and Ian Stone, Will Buckley, 5live horse racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght, and former jockey Jason Weaver on the panel.
• The second episode of the series aired on 2 July, the final Saturday of The Wimbledon Championships atop Wimbledon's roof garden near Centre Court. Gabby Logan hosted a panel consisting of Robbie Savage, Bob Mills, Martin Kelner, and 2007 Mixed Doubles champion Jamie Murray.
• The third and final episode in the series was pre-recorded at the 5live studio and aired on 9 July, the weekend of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit. 5live Formula 1 trackside reporter Jake Humphrey served as host and chaired the panel of comedian Al Murray (no relation to regular host Colin Murray), F1 driver-turned-analyst Anthony Davidson, Humphrey's colleague David Croft, and Des Kelly.

See also

List of Fighting Talk episodes

External links

• Fighting Talk at BBC Programmes
• Podcast RSS feed
• FT316 on Facebook