Just a Minute
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| Just a Minute | |
| Genre | Panel game |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 4 |
| Starring | Nicholas Parsons |
| Creator(s) | Ian Messiter |
| Producer(s) | Tilusha Ghelani |
| Air dates | 22 December 1967 – Present |
| No. of episodes | 664 as of 18th January 2007 and not including TV version |
| Opening theme | The Minute Waltz by Frédéric Chopin |
| Website | Just a Minute |
Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game which has been running continuously since its first broadcast on December 22, 1967.
Contents |
[edit] History
Originally known as One Minute Please, and with slightly different rules, the premise of the game came to Ian Messiter as he rode on the top of a number 13 bus, recalling a Latin master (Parry Jones) from his school days who punished him with the task of speaking for sixty seconds without hesitation or deviation. To this, he added a rule disallowing players from repeating words (other than those in the subject title), as well as a scoring system based on panellists' correct and incorrect challenges.
The show's theme music is Frédéric Chopin's piano Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1, nicknamed the "Minute Waltz".
The show broadcast on 10 July 2006 featured the highest scorer, Paul Merton, with a record-shattering 24 points (beating his previous record of 23 points). Generally, however, the points are deemphasized for the "value to the show" as Nicholas often puts it. Still, many competitors (Merton and also Clement Freud chief among them) are extremely competitive and often say things just to get bonus points.
[edit] Rules
The four panellists are challenged to speak for one minute on a given subject without "repetition, hesitation, or deviation". Over the years, the application of these rules has changed:
- "Repetition" originally meant not repeating a particular idea or concept, but is now understood to prevent repetition of any word or phrase, although challenges based upon very common words such as "and" are generally rejected except in extreme cases (for example, when repeated half a dozen times or more). Words contained in the given subject are exempt unless repeated many times in quick succession. Disagreements often occur over such things as plurals and different forms of verbs: the rulings do not seem to be consistent. Repeating the same word but pronouncing it differently (as Ross Noble did with "Diplodocus" on the 11 September 2006 episode) does not count as repetition. The general rule as stated by Nicholas is that Just a Minute is a radio show so they must go on sounds alone, which is why saying "BBC" is considered repetition.
- "Hesitation" is watched very strictly: even a momentary pause before resumption of the subject can give rise to a successful challenge, as can tripping over one's words. Even pausing during audience laughter or applause is not usually permitted.
- "Deviation" originally meant only deviating too far from the subject, but is now more broadly interpreted, allowing speakers to be challenged for "deviating from the English language as she is spoke", "deviation from grammar as we understand it", deviating from the truth, and sometimes even logic, although some of these are applied inconsistently. For example, in one episode broadcast in 2005, Paul Merton was not challenged for deviation even though he claimed that sudoku was "invented by a man called Alf Roberts.", who had "used to be the mayor in Coronation Street, but he got fed up of that and..." and had been "a car, an opera singer and also a plate of beans".
Panellists score a point for making a correct challenge against whomever is speaking, whilst the speaker gets a point if the challenge is deemed incorrect. However, if an "incorrect", but witty, interjection amuses the audience, both the challenger and speaker may possibly gain a point, at the chairman's discretion. A player who makes a correct challenge takes over the subject for the remainder of the minute, or, more likely, until he or she is correctly challenged within the rules of the game. A panellist can also score point(s) if he is the person speaking when the 60 seconds expires. He may gain another point for speaking for the entire minute without being challenged--an extremely rare scenario.
The difficult part of the game is continue to speak within the three cardinal rules for any substantial length of time, whilst remaining coherent, and hopefully also being amusing. The points system means that great rewards may go to those who make entertaining challenges, even if they do not speak for very long. An often rewarding time to challenge is a few seconds before the minute ends. Here, one could get a point for a challenge, not have to speak very much, and get another point for speaking "as the whistle sounds".
The game is scored and a winner declared, but the attraction of the show lies less in the contest than in the humour and banter of its participants.
[edit] Participants
The long-suffering but quick and good-natured host of Just a Minute is Nicholas Parsons. He has held this position since the show's inception, although on occasion he has swapped the chair with contestants including Clement Freud and Kenneth Williams. Ian Messiter also chaired on one occasion in 1977, when Clement Freud arrived late and Nicholas Parsons was required to take his place on the panel.
Until 1989, Ian Messiter sat quietly on the stage with a stopwatch and blew a whistle when the speaker's minute was up. He was replaced by a series of different whistleblowers for a decade until Janet Staplehurst became permanent whistleblower in 1999, before retiring at the end of the first 2006 series. Charlotte Davis is the current whistleblower. Messiter continued to be involved with the show, setting the subjects until his death in 1999.
For the first few decades of the programme the four regular competitors were:
- Clement Freud, a favourite strategy of whose is to slowly rattle off entertaining lists;
- Derek Nimmo, who frequently improvised descriptions of his experiences abroad, usually on a theatrical tour;
- Peter Jones, who once said that in all his years of playing the game, he never quite got the hang of it. He also, to quote Nicholas Parsons, "let others do most of the work before coming in with witty comments and ripostes";
- Kenneth Williams, the "star of the show", whose flamboyant tantrums, arch putdowns, and mock sycophancy made him the audience favourite. He often stretched out his speeches by extending every syllable to breaking point (some words lasting for up to 3 seconds).
Of these four, Freud is still alive and on, and the show now varies its line-up with a wide selection of regular competitors, including:
- Paul Merton, who often wins by challenging just before the whistle, and by accruing many bonus points, "because the audience liked his interruption", witty comment or challenge. He appears so often he could be considered to be a regular along the lines of the original "Gang of Four". Merton often launches into flights of fancy, such as claiming to have had odd occupations or to have experienced significant historical events.
- Stephen Fry, who, when transgressing, is often quick to challenge himself before anyone else can do so. Within the game's rules, he then wins the right to continue speaking.
- Chris Neill, who has been producer of many shows.
- Graham Norton, who weaves elaborate monologues with innuendo.
- Tony Hawks, who appears almost as often as Merton (and has indeed been the most senior member of the panel on several shows in recent years) and like Merton, often delves into the surreal.
Other frequently recurring panellists include:
- Kit Hesketh-Harvey
- Ross Noble, using his trademarked stream-of-consciouness Geordie delivery to great effect.
- Julian Clary
- Gyles Brandreth
- Sue Perkins
- Tim Rice
- Maria McErlane
- Stephen Frost
- Jenny Eclair and
- Linda Smith (until her death in 2006)
[edit] Recording Locations
Just a Minute has always been recorded in theatres, although the location was never given during the first 25 years of the show. The first show in 1967 was recorded in the Playhouse Theatre in central London, and the 35th anniversary show was recorded there in December 2002.
In 1992, then-new producer Sarah Smith took the show outside central London and recorded some shows in nearby Highgate. A year later, the show left Greater London for the first time; the first such show broadcast was recorded in Bury St. Edmunds. The show started going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1994 and has been there every year since.
If the show was recorded outside central London, the location was always mentioned. However, if the show was recorded in central London, the location was never mentioned until 1998. It is assumed that most of the London shows were recorded at BBC Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House. In 2002, under the reign of then-producer Claire Jones, the London recordings of Just a Minute moved out of Broadcasting House and into other theatres in the city.
[edit] TV versions
- Two pilot episodes were recorded for television but never broadcast, except in documentaries about Kenneth Williams.
- In 1994, nine shows were broadcast on a regional London channel. Two additional variations were added, a mystery object round and another where the audience suggested a topic. Tony Slattery featured in all programmes.
- Later in 1994, another five instalments were broadcast in a very similar style to the first nine.
- In 1995, fourteen more episodes were broadcast. Just a Minute became a team game, with the Midlands and London playing against each other. Tony Slattery and Dale Winton were team leaders in all the episodes. The gimmick of the audience choosing a subject was abandoned in this series.
- In 1999, the BBC tried televising the show. Twenty episodes were recorded over a single week in Birmingham. No more TV Just a Minute has been made since.
[edit] See also
- The similarly long-running I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue includes a musical parody entitled "Just a Minim", in which the contestants must sing a song, but sticking to the rules of Just a Minute. Clue also mentions Just a Minute and especially Nicholas Parsons frequently.
- A Swedish version of the show, called På minuten, has been broadcast on Sveriges Radio P1 since 1969.
[edit] External links
- Official BBC Radio 4 site
- Welcome to Just a Minute!, an unofficial fan site that has many statistics about the show and a transcript for almost every show.
- Just a Minute Unofficial Fansite, a database-driven site containing statistics and an extensive, searchable episode guide
- Just a Minute at a Kenneth Williams fan site
