8 Out of 10 Cats
| 8 Out of 10 Cats | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy panel game |
| Starring | Jimmy Carr Host (All Series) Sean Lock Team Captain (All Series) Dave Spikey Team Captain (Series 1 - 4) Jason Manford Team Captain (Series 5 - present) |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 42 |
| Production | |
| Producers | Endemol Ruth Wallace (Series 4 and 5) |
| Running time | 30mins (inc. comms) |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
| Release | June 3, 2005 – present |
8 out of 10 Cats is a television comedy panel game made by Zeppotron (a subsidiary of Endemol) for Channel 4. It was first broadcast on 3 June 2005. The show's title is derived from a well-known advertising tagline for Whiskas cat food which originally claimed that "8 out of 10 Cats prefer Whiskas". The show is based on opinion polls, and draws on polls produced by a variety of organisations and new polls commissioned for the programme carried out by company Harris Poll.
Overview
The show is hosted by comedian Jimmy Carr and features two teams, captained by Sean Lock and Jason Manford. Manford is new to the show as a captain having replaced Dave Spikey who left after the fourth series to concentrate on other projects.
Every week, the captains are joined by two celebrities from the likes of David Walliams and Alan Carr. Often, celebrities who are currently topical appear on the show, for example Ruth Badger following her appearance on The Apprentice.
The show is recorded at BBC Television Centre, typically the Thursday before the Friday broadcast of the show.
Current rounds
- "What Are You Talking About?" - The polling organisation asked the public what they were talking about during the week. The teams have to try and guess the top five.
- "Pick of the Polls" - The teams are given 4 pictures to pick from and are given a poll based around that picture. The survey types vary from each pictures.
- "Believe It or Not" - The teams are given a statistic and try and guess if it is true or false.
- "And the Winner Is..." The teams are given a question from a poll and then they try and guess what came on top of that poll.
The points often do not add up correctly, but this is because the show has to be edited to fit in its 25/30 minute slot.
Retired rounds
These rounds only featured in Series 1 and the first Big Brother special:
- "Face Off" - The teams have to guess who from a list of famous people came top with respect to a particular topic.
- "Word Association" - The teams view a clip illustrating a word and have to guess the top three things people thought of when they heard that word.
- "What's the Poll?" - The teams are given five famous people, picture by picture, and they have to guess which poll they appeared on.
- "The Poll With a Hole"- each team is given a statistic but it is missing one piece of salient information. The teams have to guess what that piece of information is.
Running Gags
- Sean Lock often mocks low quality television moments by saying he was doing something minor and boring at the time of broadcast. Such as "I was going to watch Big Brother but I had all of this corn I had to glue back onto a cob, and you know how long that takes"
- Jimmy Carr brings up The United States of America's late entry into World War 1 when an American guest is present
- Likewise, Carr often mocks northern guests for being "Stuck Up", to which the northerners accuse Carr of being "Pompous"
- When David Walliams is present he always makes a sexual advance on Carr and later in the show insults him and makes attempts to embarrass him, before making another pass at him.
- When Frankie Boyle is present he makes controversial remarks about taboo subjects like Scotland, Paedophiles, Princess Diana and Iraq
- Vic Reeves never attempts to guess the correct answer but instead answers with his trademark surreal monologues and ideas. During one episode he even brought out his pre-prepared ideas, such as "A ladder to the moon", and "Monty Panesar with a glass eye"
- Jimmy Carr and Jason Manford often ridicule Scientology and Tom Cruise
- Heather Mills is a frequent target of the show with at least one jab at her per show
Episode guide
Series 1
| Air date | Episode number | Guest panellists |
|---|---|---|
| June 3 2005 | 1 | Simon Amstell, Mel Giedroyc, Lee Mack and Richard Madeley |
| June 10 2005 | 2 | David Walliams, Christian O'Connell, Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson |
| June 17 2005 | 3 | Lee Mack, Claudia Winkleman, Eamonn Holmes and Alan Carr |
| June 24 2005 | 4 | Paul Kaye, June Sarpong, Sue Perkins and Peter Serafinowicz |
| July 1 2005 | 5 | Scott Capurro, Mel Giedroyc, Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen and Debra Stephenson |
| July 8 2005 | 6 | Frankie Boyle, Iain Lee, Rob Rouse and Alan Carr |
| July 15 2005 | 7 | Lee Mack, Janet Street-Porter, Patrick McGuinness and Trisha Goddard |
| July 22 2005 | 8 | Simon Amstell, Ralf Little, Sarah Beeny and Iain Lee |
| June 29 2005 | 9 | Jayne Middlemiss, Johnny Vegas, Scott Capurro and Rob Rouse |
| August 5 2005 | 10 | Kate Garraway, Vic Reeves, Alan Carr and Frankie Boyle |
Series 2
| Air date | Episode number | Guest panellists |
|---|---|---|
| February 10 2006 | 1 | Zoe Ball, Sally Lindsay, Ben Miller, and Scott Capurro |
| February 17 2006 | 2 | Reginald D Hunter, Jade Goody, Patrick McGuinness and Ed Byrne |
| February 24 2006 | 3 | Kelly Osbourne, Vic Reeves, Richard Madeley, and Neil Morrissey |
| March 3 2006 | 4 | Sally Phillips, Alan Carr, Chris O'Dowd and Meera Syal |
| March 10 2006 | 5 | Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Frankie Boyle, Les Dennis and Chantelle Houghton |
| March 17 2006 | 6 | Johnny Vegas, Christian Slater, Rob Rouse, and Lauren Laverne. |
| March 24 2006 | 7 | Alan Carr, Carol Thatcher, Jessica Stevenson and Ulrika Jonsson |
Series 3
| Air date | Episode number | Guest panellists |
|---|---|---|
| May 26 2006 | 1 | Ulrika Jonsson, Ruth Badger, David Baddiel, and Alan Carr |
| June 2 2006 | 2 | David Walliams, Debra Stephenson, Frankie Boyle, and Bez |
| June 9 2006 | 3 | Peter Serafinowicz, Johnny Vegas, Jayne Middlemiss, and Reginald D Hunter |
| June 16 2006 | 4 | Sally Lindsay, Julian Clary, Dave Johns, and Edith Bowman |
| June 23 2006 | 5 | Vic Reeves, David Walliams, Louis Walsh, and Krishnan Guru-Murthy |
| June 30 2006 | 6 | Jason Manford, Phill Jupitus, Germaine Greer, and Fiona Allen |
| July 7 2006 | 7 | Alex Zane, Trisha Goddard, Justin Moorhouse, and Emo Philips |
| July 14 2006 | 8 | Joan Rivers, Vic Reeves, Eamonn Holmes, and Holly Willoughby |
Series 4
| Air date | Episode number | Guest panellists |
|---|---|---|
| October 20 2006 | 1 | Rich Hall, Nikki Grahame, Lee Mack and Boy George |
| October 27 2006 | 2 | Piers Morgan, Jason Manford, Kirsty Gallacher, and Scott Capurro |
| November 3 2006 | 3 | Trisha Goddard, Duncan Bannatyne, Frankie Boyle, and Jonathan Ross |
| November 10 2006 | 4 | Sally Lindsay, Louis Walsh, Reginald D Hunter, and Rhys Thomas |
| November 17 2006 | 5 | Michael McIntyre, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Johnny Vegas, and Ulrika Jonsson |
| November 24 2006 | 6 | Lee Mack, Bill Oddie, Fiona Allen, and Griff Rhys Jones |
| December 1 2006 | 7 | Vic Reeves, Jade Goody, Chris Addison, and John Barrowman |
| December 8 2006 | 8 | Alex Zane, Joan Rivers, David Gest and Alan Carr |
| December 15 2006 | Highlights Show |
Series 5
| Air date | Episode number | Guest panellists |
|---|---|---|
| June 15 2007 | 1 | Vic Reeves, Katie Hopkins, Johnny Vegas, and Danny Dyer |
| June 22 2007 | 2 | David Walliams, Griff Rhys Jones, Konnie Huq, and Rhys Thomas |
| June 29 2007 | 3 | Frankie Boyle, Gok Wan, Joan Rivers, and Alexa Chung |
| July 6 2007 | 4 | Greg Rusedski, Trisha Goddard, Alun Cochrane, and Glenn Wool |
| July 13 2007 | 5 | Alan Cumming, Liza Tarbuck, Susie Essman, and Stewart Lee |
| July 20 2007 | 6 | Peaches Geldof, Chris Addison, David Walliams and Alex Zane |
Note: Episode 6 was filmed on Saturday 14 July, due to Jimmy Carr taking part at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal, Canada. [1]
Big Brother specials
8 out of 10 Cats Big Brother specials are shown before the live final of the current series of Big Brother, in which evicted Big Brother housemates from the current series and well known housemates from previous years are on the panels. Another special aired again right before the 2007 live final.
| Air date | Episode | Guest panellists | Studio guests |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 12 2005 | Big Brother 6 Special | Jeremy Edwards, Liza Tarbuck, Derek Laud and Kieron "Science" Harvey | Nicholas Bateman, Michelle Bass, Kemal Shahin, Jade Goody, Maxwell Ward and Victor Ebuwa |
| August 18 2006 | Big Brother 7 Special | Dom Joly, Jason Manford, Lea Walker, and Grace Adams-Short | Eugene Sully, Nadia Almada, Jayne Kitt, Shahbaz Chauhdry, Mikey Dalton, Jade Goody |
| August 30 2007 | Big Brother 8 Special | Charley Uchea, Danny Wallace, James Corden, and, Gerry Stergiopoulos | Nikki Grahame, Lea Walker, Shabnam Paryani, Billi Bhatti, Tracey Barnard, Eugene Sully |
DVDs
A collection of the highlights of the past few series as a ninety-minute 8 out of 10 Cats: Claws Out, which also features scenes deleted from the show for being too offensive was released on 22 November 2006.
References
External links
- 8 out of 10 Cats at Channel4.com
- 8 out of 10 Cats at IMDb
- 8 out of 10 Cats at EpisodeWorld.com