Coren connects with BBC2

Only Connect (BBC2, 8.30pm)

WHEN the quiz show Only Connect began on BBC4 in 2008, it probably seemed an unlikely candidate to become a huge hit. Not only did it not have a ritzy set, there was also little in the way of catchphrases and although host Victoria Coren Mitchell is undoubtedly witty, there wasn’t an awful lot of banter with the contestants.

There were no big cash prizes up for grabs, and unlike Pointless, you only got a trophy if you won the whole series, rather than just an episode. But more than that, there were the questions. As Only Connect fans know, this is the quiz that doesn’t just test your general knowledge, but also your ability to think laterally, and uncover the links between apparently random clues,

If you want an example, here’s a question from the first episode in the new series. What connects Quintuple troth, Distress Signal, 1963 Lincoln Memorial Speech and an 1815 Belgian Battle?

In fact, the show is so highbrow, it took its title from the epigraph of EM Forster’s novel Howards End, and in its early days, contestants selected questions by choosing a letter from the Greek alphabet. At the beginning of Series Four, Coren Mitchell announced on air that the Greek letters were being dropped due to viewer complaints that it was too pretentious – and replaced with Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Even Coren Mitchell herself admitted that she would probably struggle as a contestant. She told student newspaper Cherwell: “I can come across all Jeremy Paxman on air – but by the time the shows are on TV, I can’t answer any of the questions that I asked in the recording two months before.”

So far, so forbidding. But in fact, Only Connect turned out to be one of the most addictive quizzes on TV. Maybe it’s the Connecting Walls, in which the teams have to beat the clock to sort clues into groups, the sense of achievement when you get a question right, or just the opportunity to marvel at how clever the contestants are, but the programme became a hit.

And in 2014, we received proof of its popularity when it made the jump from BBC Two to BBC Four.

At the time, Coren Mitchell sounded a note of caution – with a Greek mythology reference thrown in for good measure. “I and the rest of the Only Connect team are hugely excited about our Icarus-like flight towards the sun of mainstream broadcasting. If our wings start melting, I’ll just flap harder.”

The opening episode sees the Operational Researchers taking on the Cluesmiths – and who knows? If this latest run is a hit, maybe a move to teatime BBC1 isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.

Rookies (ITV, 9pm)

THE Met: Policing London may have ended last week, but ITV are filling the gap with another documentary series charting the work of the UK’s cops.

Filmed over the course of a year, Rookies follows trainee officers in Lincolnshire Police, charting their progress as they venture out onto the streets under the watchful eyes of experienced veterans. In the first episode, 26-year-old Jack finally moves out of the family home and away from his worried parents, while 35-year-old Dee finds the long unsociable hours actually brings her closer to her loved ones – especially her estranged father.

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen: Cracking China (BBC2, 9pm)

WITH his foppish dress sense and even more flamboyant taste in interior decoration, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen was arguably the break-out star of the hugely successful Changing Rooms.

His fame helped him to launch his own range of cushions and picture frames, which he sells through a well-known catalogue, but in the current economic climate, even household names face difficulties shifting their wares.

Luckily, Llewelyn-Bowen thinks he has spotted a potential new market, as he tries to start a business selling to emerging middle classes of China and Mexico. However, instead of sticking to home decor, he is instead branching out into lingerie, and this documentary follows him in the build up to the launch.

Share and Enjoy