The Unbelievable Truth

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This article is about the radio programme. For the film, see The Unbelievable Truth (film). For the band, see Unbelievable Truth.
The Unbelievable Truth
Genre Panel game
Running time 30 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Languages English
Home station BBC Radio 4
Starring David Mitchell
Creators Graeme Garden
Jon Naismith
Writers Iain Pattinson (Chairman's script, series 1-2)
Dan Gaster (Chairman's script, series 3-6)
Colin Swash and John Finnemore (Chairman's Script, series 7)
Producers Jon Naismith
Recording studio Shaw Theatre, London
Air dates since 19 October 2006
No. of series 7 + pilot and 2 specials
No. of episodes 45
Opening theme "My Patch" by Jim Noir
Website BBC Homepage

The Unbelievable Truth is a BBC radio comedy panel game made by Random Entertainment,[1] devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith.[2] It is very similar to the occasional I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue game "Lies, All Lies", which was first played in 1985.[3] The game is chaired by David Mitchell and is described in the programme's introduction as, "The panel game built on truth and lies." The object of the game is to lie on a subject, whilst also trying to include the truth without being detected. The series was first broadcast as a pilot on 19 October 2006,[4] with the first actual series broadcast on 23 April 2007.[5] Its eighth series began airing in December 2011.


Table of contents:

Rules · Scores · Reception

Series: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9

[edit] Rules

The panel is made up of four players. In the game each of the panellists is given a subject on which they give a short lecture. Most of the lecture is composed of lies, but during the course of the speech the lecturer must try to smuggle five true statements past the rest of the panel. The challenging panellists must buzz in when they believe that what the lecturer is saying is true. They must state what they believe the fact was. If it was true, the challenger is awarded one point. If it was a lie, then they are deducted one point. One point is given to the lecturer for each truth they smuggle successfully without it being detected at the end of the lecture. The winner is the panellist with the most points.[6] A perfect score is 20 points (by hiding all five of their truths, and spotting the five truths in all three of the other players' routines without making any wrong challenges), plus additional points for "unintentional" truths revealed during the monologue. However, nobody has reached this score yet, and in fact many contests have been amusingly low scoring, with most panellists having a negative number of points.

[edit] Scores

The quirky scoring is part of the attraction of the game. While the maximum possible score is 20 (not including spotting truths accidentally included by the other panelists), contestants have many opportunities to lose points since they lose one for every incorrect challenge. The highest total score for any game was 9 by Graeme Garden (in Series 8 Episode 4), who also had the highest non-winning score of 6 (Series 1 Episode 6). The lowest game total was -6 in Series 4 Episode 4.

Of the 49 players who've appeared up to series 6, the highest individual score is 11 by Graeme Garden in the pilot episode – Garden, who is the co-creator of the show, is also the most frequent player with 14 appearances. Lucy Porter has 5 wins from eight appearances and therefore has a better win rate than Garden.

The most successful players are Sandi Toksvig and Simon Evans who both have a 100% winning records and average scores over 4, but have only played two and three games respectively. The least successful player is Adam Hills, who has recorded -6 which is the joint lowest ever score (with Tony Hawks and Arthur Smith), but has also failed to post a positive score in either of his two appearances and has an average of -4.

The only players to win with a score of 0 were Rhod Gilbert and Reginald D. Hunter who tied at the top in Series 4 Episode 1. Series 1 Episode 4 featured the only ever four-way tie, described by Mitchell as a scenario called: "Everyone getting three".

Alan Davies, Phill Jupitus and Jo Brand are the only players to have ever managed to smuggle all five true facts past their opponents, although in Brand's case in Series 1, Clive Anderson scored a point during her lecture thanks to an incidental bonus truth she had written in. Davies has managed all five twice, once in the New Year's special, and once in Series 7; Jupitus managed his shut-out in the second episode of Series 8.

[edit] Reception

Reaction to the show is generally positive. Many reviews praised Mitchell's presentation of the programme, saying, "Mitchell's quick, intelligent wit gives it an edge that it would otherwise lack."[7] Elizabeth Mahoney in The Guardian enthused that "From the first moments of its plinky plonky theme tune, ‘The Unbelievable Truth’ is a delight… the success of the format isn’t about how convincingly you can spin a tall story, but how well you can sneak incongruous true facts into a lot of silly nonsense. The pleasure here – David Mitchell’s endearing squareness apart – is the depths to which this silliness sinks".[8] Jane Anderson in The Radio Times described the show as "the funniest thing I’ve heard on Radio 4 in years and I’m considering suing the network for irreparable damage to my sides" [9] and Chris Campling in The Times called it "The most consistently entertaining comedy panel show of the past few years" and praises David Mitchell's chairmanship.[10]

However, some critics have complained that the programme is "Too scripted" and would benefit from more improvisation. One review said, "However most of the programme is essentially listening to four rather silly pre-scripted stories, as if it's story time at primary school, and as such the real facts are often rather easy to spot in comparison. It may [sic] have been more dangerous fun if the contestants were supplied with their facts to be smuggled just before going on air, to allow even the pretence of some improvisation."[11]

Ian Dunn for One Giant Leap also wrote a mixed review of the show saying that it, "may not be the best panel game in the world, but it is enjoyable. It is a way of merrily passing away half-an-hour."[12] He commented on how the show managed to be successful in the same slot as other Radio 4 panel games Just a Minute and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (ISIHAC), although he mentioned there was a connection between ISIHAC and The Unbelievable Truth as the latter is created by the producer and one of the regular panellists from ISIHAC. Dunn also referred to the lack of input from Mitchell despite him being well known for good performances on other panel games, saying: "This sadly means that Mitchell is almost redundant and is reduced to the roll [sic]) of an umpire."[12]

Zoe Williams was more critical in The Guardian. In an article attacking Mitchell in general, she wrote: "The Unbelievable Truth, for instance, should never have been recommissioned. It's only funny when Clive Anderson is speaking. They could more profitably devise a show that was just Clive Anderson, speaking. Its failures as a quiz are admirably demonstrated by the fact that the scoring is now inverse to the drollery, so that Clive scores no points at all, and Lucy Porter sometimes wins. I don't care about scoring when it's like I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and it's meant to mean nothing, but they can't all be spoof game-shows. Some of them have to be actual games that work."[13]

The BBC received "almost 50" complaints after Mitchell opened the 2 November 2009 episode with the line, "There is absolutely no truth in the rumour that the last line in Anne Frank's diary reads: 'Today is my birthday and my dad bought me a drum kit.' " Complainants branded the line "insensitive".[14]

Recent series of the show have been described in The Guardian, The Independent and The Daily Mail as a pick of the week, being "brilliantly chaired as ever by David Mitchell. More wide ranging and inventive than its TV equivalent ... this is a classic format which might well just last as long as say, Just a Minute, "[15] and Sarah Montague on Pick of the Week describing series six as "Radio 4 doesn't always get comedy right, but its comedy series The Unbelievable Truth is so funny that most presenters of this programme want to include a clip".[16] In addition, the show received the highest AI, or Appreciation Index, figures of any comedy show on Radio 4 for 2010,[17] and has been nominated for the 2011 Sony Radio Academy Awards.[18] It won the category of "Best Radio Panel Show" in the British Comedy Guide's 2011 awards.[19]

The show's accuracy was playfully rebuffed in an episode of the television program QI, itself having been forced to accept corrections at times, when Mitchell, one of the panelists on the subject of film and fame (Series F, Episode 11), found himself supplying answers based on information gathered from The Unbelievable Truth. The answers received klaxons on QI, causing Mitchell to acknowledge that some of the show's "unbelievable truths [turn] out, unbelievably, to be untrue." Mitchell then added in comic resignation, "People give you this shit and you read it out." The show was nonetheless praised by QI's host Stephen Fry and fellow panelist Emma Thompson.

The show has spawned a spin-off as a TV show in Australia.

[edit] Episodes

Winners are highlighted in bold.

[edit] Pilot

Episode Original airdate Guests
1. Pilot 2006-10-19 Graeme Garden, Jeremy Hardy, Andy Hamilton, Neil Mullarkey

[edit] Series 1

Episode Original airdate Guests
2. 1-1 2007-04-23 Marcus Brigstocke, Tony Hawks, Frankie Boyle, Neil Mullarkey
3. 1-2 2007-04-30 Alan Davies, Clive Anderson, Jo Brand, Jeremy Hardy
4. 1-3 2007-05-07 Alan Davies, Clive Anderson, Jo Brand, Jeremy Hardy
5. 1-4 2007-05-14 Sandi Toksvig, Dara Ó Briain, Jo Caulfield, Graeme Garden
6. 1-5 2007-05-21 Marcus Brigstocke, Tony Hawks, Frankie Boyle, Neil Mullarkey
7. 1-6 2007-05-28 Sandi Toksvig, Dara Ó Briain, Jo Caulfield, Graeme Garden

[edit] Series 2

Episode Original airdate Guests
8. 2-1 2008-05-05 Phill Jupitus, Simon Evans, Alan Davies, Tony Hawks
9. 2-2 2008-05-12 Lucy Porter, Michael McIntyre, Fred MacAulay, Graeme Garden
10. 2-3 2008-05-19 Adam Buxton, Ed Byrne, Lee Mack, Tim Vine
11. 2-4 2008-05-26 Phill Jupitus, Simon Evans, Alan Davies, Tony Hawks
12. 2-5 2008-06-02 Lucy Porter, Michael McIntyre, Fred MacAulay, Graeme Garden
13. 2-6 2008-06-02 Adam Buxton, Ed Byrne, Lee Mack, Tim Vine

[edit] 2008 Christmas Special

Episode Original airdate Guests
14. Sp 2008-12-15 Jack Dee, Armando Iannucci, Sean Lock, Graeme Garden

[edit] Series 3

Episode Original airdate Guests
15. 3-1 2009-03-23 Lucy Porter, Chris Addison, Graeme Garden, Clive Anderson
16. 3-2 2009-03-30 Simon Evans, Tony Hawks, Milton Jones, Johnny Vaughan
17. 3-3 2009-04-06 Lucy Porter, Graeme Garden, Clive Anderson, Chris Addison
18. 3-4 2009-04-13 Fred MacAulay, Jeremy Hardy, Will Self, Jack Dee
19. 3-5 2009-04-20 Sean Lock, Arthur Smith, Sue Perkins, Miranda Hart
20. 3-6 2009-04-27 Jack Dee, Jeremy Hardy, Fred MacAulay, Will Self

[edit] Series 4

Episode Original airdate Guests
21. 4-1 2009-10-05 Reginald D. Hunter, Adam Hills, Shappi Khorsandi, Rhod Gilbert
22. 4-2 2009-10-12 Clive Anderson, Dom Joly, Fi Glover, Henning Wehn
23. 4-3 2009-10-19 Arthur Smith, Phill Jupitus, Tony Hawks, Graeme Garden
24. 4-4 2009-10-26 Reginald D. Hunter, Adam Hills, Shappi Khorsandi, Rhod Gilbert
25. 4-5 2009-11-02 Clive Anderson, Dom Joly, Fi Glover, Henning Wehn
26. 4-6 2009-11-09 Arthur Smith, Phill Jupitus, Tony Hawks, Graeme Garden

[edit] 2009 New Year's / QI Special

Episode Original airdate Guests
27. Sp 2009-12-28 Alan Davies, Rob Brydon, Stephen Fry, John Lloyd

[edit] Series 5

Episode Original airdate Guests
28. 5-1 2010-03-29 Lucy Porter, Henning Wehn, Graeme Garden, Marcus Brigstocke
29. 5-2 2010-04-05 Tony Hawks, Arthur Smith, Phill Jupitus, Catherine Tate
30. 5-3 2010-04-12 Charlie Brooker, Liza Tarbuck, Susan Calman, Fred MacAulay
31. 5-4 2010-04-19 Graeme Garden, Marcus Brigstocke, Lucy Porter, Henning Wehn
32. 5-5 2010-04-26 Tony Hawks, Arthur Smith, Phill Jupitus, Catherine Tate
33. 5-6 2010-05-03 Susan Calman, Liza Tarbuck, Fred MacAulay, Charlie Brooker

[edit] Series 6

Episode Original airdate Guests
34. 6-1 2010-09-27 Chris Addison, Rufus Hound, Susan Calman, Armando Iannucci
35. 6-2 2010-10-04 Tony Hawks, Arthur Smith, Henning Wehn, Graeme Garden
36. 6-3 2010-10-11 Rhod Gilbert, Kevin Bridges, Lucy Porter, Tom Wrigglesworth
37. 6-4 2010-10-18 Chris Addison, Rufus Hound, Susan Calman, Armando Iannucci
38. 6-5 2010-10-25 Tony Hawks, Arthur Smith, Henning Wehn, Graeme Garden
39. 6-6 2010-11-01 Rhod Gilbert, Kevin Bridges, Lucy Porter, Tom Wrigglesworth

[edit] Series 7

Episode Original airdate Guests
40. 7-1 2011-04-04 Lucy Porter, Jack Dee, Marcus Brigstocke, Alan Davies
41. 7-2 2011-04-11 Clive Anderson, Graeme Garden, Henning Wehn, Sue Perkins
42. 7-3 2011-04-18 Rhod Gilbert, Charlie Brooker, Tony Hawks, Arthur Smith
43. 7-4 2011-04-25 Lucy Porter, Jack Dee, Marcus Brigstocke, Alan Davies
44. 7-5 2011-05-02 Clive Anderson, Graeme Garden, Henning Wehn, Sue Perkins
45. 7-6 2011-05-09 Rhod Gilbert, Charlie Brooker, Tony Hawks, Arthur Smith

[edit] Series 8

Episode Original airdate Guests
46. 8-1 2011-12-26 Jack Dee, Lee Mack, Rufus Hound, Graeme Garden
47. 8-2 2012-01-02 Mark Watson, Ed Byrne, Phill Jupitus, Henning Wehn
48. 8-3 2012-01-09 John Finnemore, Tony Hawks, Alan Davies, Tom Wrigglesworth
49. 8-4 2012-01-16 Jack Dee, Lee Mack, Rufus Hound, Graeme Garden
50. 8-5 2012-01-23 Mark Watson, Roisin Conaty, Alex Horne, Henning Wehn
51. 8-6 2012-01-30 John Finnemore, Tony Hawks, Alan Davies, Tom Wrigglesworth

[edit] Series 9

The ninth series of the show will be recorded in March 2012.[20]

Episode Recording date Guests
52. 9-1 2012-03-08 Tony Hawks, Graeme Garden, Arthur Smith, Lucy Porter
53. 9-2 2012-03-15
54. 9-3 2012-03-26
55. 9-4 2012-03-08 Tony Hawks, Graeme Garden, Arthur Smith, Lucy Porter
56. 9-5 2012-03-15
57. 9-6 2012-03-26

[edit] International versions

Members from the Australian comedy group The Chaser, including Craig Reucassel, Andrew Hansen and Julian Morrow, are producing a TV series based on the British series.[21]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

General

Specific

  1. ^ Wolf, Ian. "The Unbelievable Truth". British Comedy Guide. http://www.comedy.org.uk/guide/radio/the_unbelievable_truth/. Retrieved 14 November 2008. 
  2. ^ Radio Times, 14-20 October 2006
  3. ^ http://www.g0akh.f2s.com/isihac/SeriesInfo.php?series=12#show3
  4. ^ "The Unbelievable Truth". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/unbelievabletruth/pip/rjs13/. Retrieved 10 September 2007. 
  5. ^ "The Unbelievable Truth". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/unbelievabletruth/pip/0k9z3/. Retrieved 10 September 2007. 
  6. ^ "Pilot". The Unbelievable Truth. 19 October 2006.
  7. ^ Widdicombe, Henry (23 April 2007). "The Unbelievable Truth". Such Small Portions. http://www.suchsmallportions.com/pagesfinal/TVradio/unbelievabletruth.html. Retrieved 10 September 2007. 
  8. ^ Mahoney, Elisabeth (30 March 2010). "The Unbelievable Truth – Radio review". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/mar/30/the-unbelievable-truth-david-mitchell. 
  9. ^ http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/radio/the_unbelievable_truth/press//
  10. ^ Asthana, Anushka. The Times (London). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article3863395.ece/. [dead link]
  11. ^ "The Unbelievable Truth". UK Game Shows.com. http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/The_Unbelievable_Truth. Retrieved 10 September 2007. 
  12. ^ a b Dunn, Ian (24 March 2009). "Radio Review: The Unbelievable Truth". One Giant Leap. http://fansonline.net/onegiantleap/article.php?id=109. Retrieved 24 March 2009. 
  13. ^ Williams, Zoe (25 March 2009). "Radio head". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/mar/25/radio-head. Retrieved 2009-03-25. 
  14. ^ Elgot, Jessica (4 November 2009). "Peep Show's David Mitchell in Anne Frank row". Jewish Chronicle. http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/21558/peep-shows-david-mitchell-anne-frank-row. Retrieved 2009-11-04. 
  15. ^ The Daily Mail, TV Guide 27/09/2010
  16. ^ Pick of the Week, Radio 4, broadcast 10/10/2010
  17. ^ BBC MC&A, 18/03/2011
  18. ^ Sony Radio Award Nominations 2011
  19. ^ The Comedy.co.uk Awards 2011 - British Comedy Guide
  20. ^ [1]
  21. ^ [2]

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