House of Games (3)

Host

Richard Osman

Co-host

Alexander Armstrong (Hey Alexander narrator, 2020-1)

David O'Doherty (House of Games Night bandleader, 2021-)

Broadcast

Remarkable (part of Endemol Shine Group) for BBC Two, 4 September 2017 to present

as Richard Osman's House of Games Night, BBC One, 20 November 2020 to present

Synopsis

Four celebrities are given quizzy things to do by Richard Osman.

A selection of four celebs take on rounds of quizzes, always with a twist. Some are general knowledge questions where the answers rhyme. Some are general knowledge questions where the answer is an anagram of part of the question, or found in the contestant's name.

This week's celebs at play.

Other rounds are more inventive. We might see the initial letters of a song lyric, in the original rhythm. Another round - played in pairs - invites guesstimates for a number and takes the average for the pair.

There are visual rounds, locate an item on a picture, or place somewhere on a map. And every show ends with "Answersmash", blending a picture with a definition.

Crème caramel Giedroyc.

The show is impeccably cast: two men, two women. At least one familiar to the older viewer, at least one modern comedian from Mock the Week, at least one family entertainer. Richard Osman asks questions written with verve and wit.

A daily prize is drawn from the House of Games stall of stuff, with the winner lifting the House of Games Winners' Trophy.

Daily prizes: Lightshade, umbrella, shoehorn, binoculars, water bottle, all branded with the show's logo.

We like this show a lot, it hits just the right notes for 6pm - and other hours, at least one UKGS editor shifts episodes till late evening, go to bed with a smile. ROHOG (as it became known) effectively replaced Eggheads, running for twenty weeks in the autumn and winter.

A series of House of Games Night ran in late 2020, effectively a timeshifted (and timestretched, in that it ran over five weeks rather than five consecutive nights) version of the main series. A six-episode Night series was broadcast the following year, with panels playing three shows each. These had a small studio audience (some of whom had things to do as part of certain games) and the introduction of David O'Doherty as nominal bandleader and foil to Osman; critical consensus was that the latter episodes lost some of their sparkle.

Participants

Series 1

Week 1: Nish Kumar, Clara Amfo, Anneka Rice, and Al Murray
Week 2: Angela Scanlon, Clive Myrie, Sara Pascoe, and Rick Edwards
Week 3: Anita Rani, Chris Ramsey, Janet Ellis, and Jamie Theakston

Series 2

Week 1: Naga Munchetty, Jordan Stephens, Sally Lindsay, David O'Doherty
Week 2: Ellie Taylor, Steve Pemberton, Fern Britton, Josh Widdicombe
Week 3: Shappi Khorsandi, Michael Buerk, Amanda Abbington, Elis James
Week 4: Beattie Edmondson, Amol Rajan, Gaby Roslin, Hugh Dennis
Week 5: Chizzy Akudolu, Charlie Higson, Kate Williams, Tom Allen
Week 6: Rachel Riley, JB Gill, Katie Derham, Richard Herring
Week 7: Lolly Adefope, Dan Walker, Sarah Greene, Miles Jupp
Week 8: Samantha Womack, Rory Reid, Anne Diamond, James Acaster
Week 9: Kelly Cates, Tyger Drew-Honey, Desiree Burch, Matt Allwright
Week 10: Susie Dent, Nick Owen, Chemmy Alcott, Dane Baptiste

Series 3

Week 1: Miquita Oliver, Ed Gamble, Kate Thornton and Adrian Edmondson
Week 2: Scarlett Moffatt, Iain Stirling, Angellica Bell and Gyles Brandreth
Week 3: Kate Humble, Ivo Graham, Andi Oliver and Phill Jupitus
Week 4: June Sarpong, Dev Griffin, Debbie McGee and Alex Horne
Week 5: Nina Wadia, Johnny Ball, Suzi Ruffell and Danny Wallace
Week 6: Jay Blades, Rachel Parris, Shaun Keaveny and Jan Ravens
Week 7: Kate Bottley, John Thomson, YolanDa Brown and Joel Dommett
Week 8: Charlene White, Gregg Wallace, Holly Walsh and Chris Hollins
Week 9 (House of Champions with former winners): Scarlett Moffatt, Rick Edwards, Naga Munchetty and David O'Doherty
Week 10 (another champions week): Kate Williams, Richard Herring, June Sarpong and Dane Baptiste
Week 11: Rose Matafeo, Rav Wilding, Valerie Singleton and Gary Delaney
Week 12: Andrea McLean, Phil Wang, Rita Simons and Adil Ray
Week 13: Michelle Ackerley, Matt Forde, Judy Murray and Fred MacAulay
Week 14: Kerry Godliman, Radzi Chinyanganya, Ebony Rainford-Brent and Hal Cruttenden
Week 15: Lou Sanders, Richard Coles, Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Stuart Maconie
Week 16: Vick Hope, Gethin Jones, Nicki Chapman and Tim Vine
Week 17: Gareth Malone, Jamelia, Paul Martin and Susan Calman
Week 18: Samira Ahmed, John Robins, Angela Rippon and Dom Joly
Week 19 (back to the champions): Chizzy Akudolu, Miles Jupp, Ellie Taylor and Amol Rajan
Week 20 (more champions): Holly Walsh, Nish Kumar, Sarah Greene and Hugh Dennis

Series 4

Week 1: Vikki Stone, Ade Adepitan, Jean Johansson and Stephen Mangan
Week 2: Mike Bushell, Aisling Bea, Sunetra Sarker and Dion Dublin
Week 3: Scott Mills, Josie d'Arby, Jayde Adams and Rufus Hound
Week 4: AJ Odudu, Neil Delamere, Mark Billingham and Lucy Porter
Week 5: Meera Syal, Steve Backshall, Catherine Bohart and Ranj Singh
Week 6: Melvin Odoom, Denise Van Outen, Greg Rutherford and Angela Barnes
Games Night: Jennifer Saunders, Jermaine Jenas, Jason Manford and Roisin Conaty
Week 7: Denise Lewis, Rhys James, Isy Suttie and David James
Week 8: Sara Barron, Anton Du Beke, Jessica Fostekew and Rickie Haywood-Williams
Week 9: Alex Jones, Robert Rinder, Jessica Knappett and Karim Zeroual
Week 10: Jeanette Kwakye, Lloyd Griffith, Josie Long and Steve Cram
Christmas Special: Sarah Hadland, Alex Horne, Charlene White and Craig Revel Horwood
Week 11: Gabby Logan, Tim Key, Gemma Cairney and Jeff Stelling
Week 12: Alex Brooker, Sophie Duker, Charlotte Hawkins and David Baddiel
Week 13: Maisie Adam, Rory Bremner, Michelle Gayle and James Cracknell
Week 14: Charlie Brooks, Darren Harriott, Melinda Messenger and Les Dennis
Week 15: Josie Lawrence, Raj Bisram, Laura Whitmore and Mark Watson
Week 16: Kae Kurd, Zoe Lyons, Andrew Hunter Murray and Kate Robbins
Week 17: Sindhu Vee, Tom Rosenthal, Anna Richardson and Marcus Brigstocke
Week 18: Colin Murray, Sally Phillips, Nathan Caton and Ronni Ancona
Week 19: Nihal Arthanayake, Patsy Kensit, Jake Humphrey and Mae Martin
Week 20: Mina Anwar, Glenn Moore, Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Shaun Williamson

Series 5

Week 1: Gareth Thomas, Olga Koch, Reeta Chakrabarti and Andrew Maxwell
Week 2: Jamali Maddix, Jodie Kidd, Suzi Perry and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Week 3: Joe Thomas, Lucy Beaumont, Jake Wood and Shazia Mirza
Week 4: Kevin Clifton, Kemah Bob, Victoria Derbyshire and JJ Chalmers
Week 5: Philip Glenister, Thanyia Moore, Mark Chapman and Kaye Adams
Week 6: Matthew Pinsent, Ruby Bhogal, Ingrid Oliver and Ed Byrne
Week 7: Cariad Lloyd, Dennis Taylor, Yasmine Akram and Geoff Norcott
House of Games Night Week 1: Ed Gamble, Sian Gibson, Dara Ó Briain and Sindhu Vee
Week 8: Jo Brand, Roger Black, Tiff Stevenson and Sanjeev Kohli
Week 9: Andy Hamilton, Sabrina Grant, Kirsty Wark and Matt Edmondson
Week 10: Joanne McNally, Bill Turnbull, Michelle Collins and Reginald D. Hunter
House of Games Night Week 2: Steph McGovern, Ben Miller, Janette Manrara and Ed Balls
Week 11: Sean Fletcher, Kimberly Wyatt, Louise Minchin and Chris Washington
Week 12: Sarah Millican, Nabil Abdulrashid, Philippa Perry and Luke Kempner
Week 13: Mike Wozniak, Clare Balding, Mehreen Baig and Jamie Laing
Week 14: Will Kirk, Edith Bowman, Fern Brady and Martin Lewis
Week 15: Athena Kugblenu, Nick Helm, Nina Conti and Toby Tarrant
Week 16: Jessie Cave, AJ Pritchard, Ayesha Hazarika and Simon Hickson
House of Champions Week 1: Vikki Stone, Sally Phillips, Rickie Haywood-Williams and Dan Walker
House of Champions Week 2: Maisie Adam, Dev Griffin, Ivo Graham and Zoe Lyons
House of Champions Week 3: Beattie Edmondson, Adrian Edmondson, Kemah Bob and Angela Barnes
House of Champions Week 4: Sara Barron, Gregg Wallace, Sanjeev Kohli and Josie Long
Week 17: Jennie McAlpine, Felicity Ward, Joe Pasquale and Ugo Monye
Week 18: Jen Brister, Kelvin Fletcher, Zoe Williams and Ian Moore
Week 19: Stephen Bailey, Crystelle Pereira, Amanda Lamb and Nick Moran
Week 20: Carol Smillie, Babatunde Aléshé, Richie Anderson and Jo Caulfield
Week 21: Briony May Williams, Milton Jones, Ria Lina and Martin Roberts
Week 22: Martel Maxwell, Mathew Horne, Chloe Petts and Alex Beresford
Week 23: Kimberley Nixon, Rachel Fairburn, Trevor Nelson and Des Clarke
Week 24: Jay McGuiness, Linda Robson, Sarah Kendall and Bobby Seagull

Key moments

Angela Scanlon throwing her stylus at Rick Edwards after he insulted her.

Michael Buerk threatening the involvement of the European Court of Human Rights after Elis James deluded him by confusing Dick Turpin and Dick Whittington during The Nice Round. To make matters worse, Elis won that show by one point, so Buerk may well have dipped out on a prize as a result…

Nick Owen asking his wife what prize she wanted. Aw.

The Reverend Kate Bottley literally hissing at Joel Dommett and John Thomson during YolanDa Brown's Highbrow/Lowbrow question after they put their fingers on their buzzers. Not so much The Reverend Kate Bottley as… ah, you're ahead of us.

Kemah Bob's tour de force appearance as guest, including squealing with genuine delight whenever she got an answer right.

Dara O'Briain instigating Sian Gibson and Sindhu Vee into sabotaging Ed Gamble's go at The Nice Round variant Get Your Head in the Game, only to lose a point after Osman let Gamble take a point off a player of his choice.

Title music

Marc Sylvan is credited for "Music".

Trivia

Generally aired at 6pm, the then-traditional Eggheads slot, with the exception of assorted year-end Fridays, where the monopolisation of the 6pm slot by It Takes Two forces them back to 7pm. A couple of episodes have aired on Saturday when live sport airs during the week. The penultimate episode of series 3 was put back to 6.30pm as a consequence of Covid-19.

Billed in some sources (and indeed on-screen) as Richard Osman's House of Games.

The first two series were recorded at The Hospital Club, a basement studio in Covent Garden. Production shifted to BBC Scotland for series 3 and the first five episodes recorded for series 4 (Shaun Williamson's week) before moving to Riverside Studios as another consequence of COVID-19. Guests in the fourth series were spaced two metres apart, and answers for some games were sent to the contestants' tablets rather than passed out on little cards. The trophy was also not passed down the line to the winner (neither were the paddles for the "Is It Me?" game, which was a rather surprising inclusion anyway as (i) the game appeared to have been retired after series two, and (ii) the questions were recycled from the House of Games quiz book published in 2019). Oddly enough the show did retain the swapping of positions for pairs rounds (although you could argue that none of the games really required it) but cunningly cut away at that point so that we didn't see the production staff in masks and gloves physically move the chairs, allowing everyone to stay in the same literal seat throughout. More frivolously, the pandemic gave rise to a running joke that the prize shampoo doubled as hand sanitiser, though this still didn't convince anyone to take it.

So far, Angela Barnes is the only person to score the maximum 24 points across the week. Nina Wadia, Jay Blades, Ade Adepitan, AJ Odudu, Karim Zeroual and Patsy Kensit have all scored the minimum 6 points.

Across the first four series (plus the peak-time spin-off), the most-awarded daily prize has been the fondue set which has been chosen 27 times, just ahead of the wheelie luggage on 26 (though the wheelie luggage was only introduced partway through series 3, so you can reasonably argue that it's actually the most popular prize of all). The only prize to have been offered every single week since the start, the dartboard, has been chosen 22 times, the toolbox 19 times, and the dressing gown and Richard Osman action figure 12 times each. (The appeal of the once-popular action figure noticeably collapsed after they added the beard to it!) The smoking jacket used to be very popular, chosen 11 times in series 2 and 3, but has now been retired. At the other end of the scale, many prizes have never been chosen at all; funny how nobody wants a House of Games passport holder! Prizes chosen only once include the eau de cologne (which had gone three series without a single taker before, for some inexplicable reason, Rufus Hound took it home), roller skates (won by Danny Wallace and gifted to Suzi Ruffell), pasta maker and pocket watch (both Kate Williams), biscuit tin (Rufus Hound again), hip flask (Richard Herring), scented candle (David O'Doherty), fedora (Amanda Abbington), and football (Sara Pascoe). You can also add the jigsaw, which Elis James was gifted for his daughter (he couldn't decide between that and the toolbox). The eggcups and table tennis bats and ball were both unique to House of Games Night and now in the possession of Jennifer Saunders.

Bill Turnbull made his final TV appearances on the show in October 2021.

Web links

BBC programme page

Episode guide

Wikipedia entry

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