Pub Quiz
Contents |
Host
"Frank Hovis" (John Sparkes)
Co-hosts
Scorekeeper: "Sophia Gardens" (Beca Evans), Pub Quiz on Tour: "Kandy" (Carly Broxton)
Broadcast
Absolutely Productions for BBC1 Wales/2W, 13 November 2001 to 18 February 2005
Synopsis
The bastard child of Sticky Moments, Shooting Stars and Wales, Pub Quiz is a comedy panel game set in a fictional pub, except when it went on tour and then it was set in actual pubs.
Originally it pitted three linked civilians against three Welsh celebrities given comedy names (Lesbians vs Thespians, for example). What followed was a rather subverted quiz, the usual individual rounds, team rounds, guess-what-song-the-audience-are-trying-to-convey-through-raspberry rounds, that sort of thing. Questions utilized a mixture of single and double (but mostly single) entendre, although there is the occasional blast of amusing lateral thinking involved as well.
Hovis is our hugely lecherous host, whilst our put-upon assistant keeps score on a blackboard.
Pub Quiz was originally a digital-only programme for BBC2W but its popularity led to two short Friday night runs on BBC1 Wales.
Key moments
Hovis' regular mickey takes about Rhyl (e.g. That's the end of Pub Quiz for tonight. I think we've all had a bit of a laugh and if you fancy another one, why not pop up to Rhyl and look at their houses.) Apparently, the mayoress of said town complained about the jokes.
The mid-programme raffle - which in the first series, inevitably featured a bottle of spirits as the prize and equally inevitably saw Mr Hovis winning it.
Trivia
Frank Hovis first appeared in 1987 in a stand-up routine on 3-2-1, of all things. The character progressed to the Channel Four comedy series Absolutely, where he delivered monologues from a toilet cubicle entitled On The Lavatory with Frank Hovis.
At least one installment of Pub Quiz is reputed to have been banned by a BBC Wales programming controller from being repeated.
Beca Evans (Sophia Gardens) was a DJ with BBC Radio Cymru and also presented some shows on S4C around the late 90s. She quit presenting a few years ago (hence her departure from Pub Quiz) and now works as a producer at independent production company Fflic.
Although not unusual for a BBC Wales show, Pub Quiz (when studio-based) was recorded at HTV Wales' Studio One in Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff (though it's not unusual because amongst other shows, Doctor Who has been made there).
Photos
The boozy compere of Pub Quiz, Frank Hovis (John Sparkes)