Pop Quiz

Pop Quiz is a British television quiz programme that originally aired on BBC1 from 4 July 1981 to 28 December 1984 with a Top of the Pops special on 4 January 1994 hosted by Mike Read. It was then revived from 21 May to 9 July 1994 on the same channel but this time hosted by Chris Tarrant. It was revived again on Red TV from 14 June to 30 August 2008 with Mike Read returning as host; he also hosted two specials on BBC Four in December 2016 and January 2017.

Pop Quiz
GenreQuiz show
Presented byMike Read (1981–84, 1994, 2008, 2011, 2016–17)
Chris Tarrant (1994)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series8
No. of episodes62 (inc. 9 specials)
Production
Running time30 minutes (1981–84, 1994, 2016–17)
60 minutes (2008, 2011)
Release
Original networkBBC1 (1981–84, 1994)
Red TV (2008)
Vintage TV (2011)
BBC Four (2016–17)
Original release4 July 1981 (1981-07-04) –
9 October 1984 (1984-10-09)

Format

The teams are made up of three pop stars with one acting as team captain, although no permanent team captains. Guests who have appeared as captains include Bev Bevan, Dave Edmunds, Robert Plant, Phil Lynott, Bob Geldof, Morrissey, Roger Taylor, Cliff Richard, Midge Ure, George Michael, John Taylor, Phil Collins, David Gilmour, Dave Gahan and Ian Gillan. Occasionally, non-musical guests such as Paula Yates, John Peel, or the double act of Syd Little and Eddie Large also appeared as guests.

The Red TV version featured civilians instead of celebrities.

Rounds

The show has both team and individual rounds. The individual rounds see each player given a song then asked a question about the song (like a guest player on the recording), asked to identify three different artists who sang the same song in the correct order, or asked to name a song where a certain lyric appears. Team rounds include a naming a list of number one hits by a group, a compilation of songs of a particular theme where the teams guess the artist, or identifying a mystery guest from a clip (as in A Question of Sport), along with identifying the song playing backwards over the clip. Each episode ended with a quick-fire round of music trivia questions.

Transmissions

Series
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
14 July 1981[1]29 August 1981[2]8
23 April 1982[3]19 June 1982[4]11
39 April 198325 June 1983[5]11
426 May 1984[6]30 June 1984[7]6
54 September 1984[8]9 October 1984[9]6
621 May 1994[10]9 July 1994[11]8
714 June 200830 August 200812

Specials
DateEntitle
29 December 1981[12]Christmas Special
28 December 1982[13]Christmas Special
24 December 1983[14]Christmas Special
24 December 1984[15]Christmas Special
28 December 1984[16]Duran Duran vs. Spandau Ballet
4 January 1994[17]Top of the Pops 30th Anniversary Special
15 December 2011[18]The Vintage Christmas Pop Quiz
28 December 2016[19]The Comeback (Part 1)
4 January 2017[20]The Comeback (Part 2)

Theme tune

The theme tune is called "The Saturn Stomp" and was composed by Howard Massey, it was released as a single in 1981.[21] "The Saturn Stomp" was rerecorded for the fourth series, and rearranged by Marc Sylvan for the 2016 specials.

References
  1. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 4 July 1981". BBC Genome Project. 4 July 1981. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  2. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 29 August 1981". BBC Genome Project. 29 August 1981. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  3. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 3 April 1982". BBC Genome Project. 3 April 1982. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  4. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 19 June 1982". BBC Genome Project. 19 June 1982. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  5. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 25 June 1983". BBC Genome Project. 25 June 1983. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  6. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 26 May 1984". BBC Genome Project. 26 May 1984. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  7. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 30 June 1984". BBC Genome Project. 30 June 1984. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  8. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 4 September 1984". BBC Genome Project. 4 September 1984. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  9. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 9 October 1984". BBC Genome Project. 9 October 1984. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  10. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 21 May 1994". BBC Genome Project. 21 May 1994. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  11. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 9 July 1994". BBC Genome Project. 9 July 1994. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  12. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 29 December 1981". BBC Genome Project. 29 December 1981. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  13. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 29 December 1982". BBC Genome Project. 28 December 1982. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  14. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 24 December 1983". BBC Genome Project. 24 December 1983. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  15. "Pop Quiz Christmas Special – BBC One London – 24 December 1984". BBC Genome Project. 24 December 1984. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  16. "Pop Quiz Special – BBC One London – 28 December 1984". BBC Genome Project. 28 December 1984. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  17. "Pop Quiz – BBC One London – 4 January 1994". BBC Genome Project. 4 January 1994. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  18. "Vintage TV". Archived from the original on 25 December 2011.
  19. "BBC Four - Pop Quiz: The Comeback, Episode 1".
  20. "BBC Four - Pop Quiz: The Comeback, Episode 2".
  21. "Howard Massey – The Theme From Pop Quiz (The Saturn Stomp) / Red Hot (1981, Vinyl)". Discogs. 11 October 1981. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
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