The BBC Radio 4 Brainy Quiz Show

The 3rd Degree: Series 8-14

A quiz show hosted by Steve Punt (star of BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show and the brains behind Horrible Histories) where a team of three University students take on a team of three of their professors. 
 
The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in this fresh take on an academic quiz. The General Knowledge rounds include a quickfire bell-and-buzzer finale and the ‘Highbrow & Lowbrow’ round is cunningly devised to test not only the students’ knowledge of history, art, literature and politics, but also their Professors’ awareness of TV, music and sport. Meanwhile there are the three Specialist Subject rounds, in which students take on their Professors in their own subjects, and where we find out whether the students have actually been awake during lectures... 
 
In the eighth series the universities are Newcastle, Hertfordshire, Dundee, Merton College Oxford, Sheffield and Brunel. Questions range from Bach and benzene rings to Gnasher from The Beano and why eating detergent is wrong. 
 
In the ninth series the universities are Royal Holloway, Aberdeen, Plymouth, St Catharine’s College Cambridge, Brighton, and Oxford Brookes. We’ll hear about Lego, Scottish Gaelic fishing jargon and horse teeth via Jack Straw, James Bond and Dick Dastardly. 
 
In the tenth series the universities are Bournemouth, Imperial College, Reading, Durham, Ulster, and Mansfield College Oxford. Questions range from sarcophagi to cocktail ingredients to Jack Reacher, with a bit of Tristram Shandy thrown in. 
 
In the eleventh series the universities are Southampton, Cumbria, Brasenose College Oxford, Anglia Ruskin, Northampton, and Nottingham Trent. Subjects include brothels, bats and robbing a bank, plus there’s a chance to brush up on Plato, piercings, and postage. 
 
In the twelfth series the universities are UCL, Leeds Beckett, Gonville & Caius College Cambridge, Warwick, Bangor, and Lancaster. Questions range from the isotropy of the universe and Kartvelian Languages to Yellow Submarines and a song about sausage rolls. 
 
In the thirteenth series the universities are Exeter, Strathclyde, Somerville College Oxford, Keele, King’s College London, and Portsmouth. Subjects include a giant spider, Kate Winslet, and why it's no longer illegal to commit champerty. Also, there's your chance to hear the most-played piece of music ever. 
 
In the fourteenth series the universities are Leicester, St Andrews, Loughborough, Falmouth, Robinson College Cambridge, and UEA. We’ll meet a five-legged sheep and a Belgian biscuit, and discover how to luff a jib, how to deconstruct a dodecagon, and the one thing Hannibal Lecter really shouldn’t eat… 
 
Hosted by Steve Punt 
Devised & produced by David Tyler 
First broadcast 25 June 2018 – 18 August 2024 
A Pozzitive Production for BBC Radio 4 
 
©2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

A BBC Radio 4 Comedy

Glenn Moore’s Almanac

Comedian Glenn Moore takes a look back though his almanac at major world events 
 
Perhaps best-known for his outrageously brilliant one-liners on Mock the Week, comedian Glenn Moore delivers a tale of comic mishaps in this BBC radio comedy series. 
 
Looking back through his almanac at a big event in history, Glenn finds out what he was doing at the time and looks into other strange connections to the day in question. Sit back and listen as Glenn interweaves extraordinary scenes from his life with a big event in history. 
 
In the first show, a Royal Wedding is the backdrop to a massive crisis in Glenn&rsquo;s love life. 
 
In episode two, the 2015 General Election inspires Glenn to stand in his school&rsquo;s own mock election as the candidate with the most unlikely set of policies ever... 
 
In the third programme, as one astronaut touches down from the International Space Station, Glenn decides to become Britain&rsquo;s next space explorer. 
 
And as the new Millennium dawns, in the series finale Glenn has the most catastrophic New Year&rsquo;s Eve ever. 
 
Production credits 
Written and presented by Glenn Moore 
Additional material: Katie Storey 
Produced and directed by David Tyler 
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Episode 1 15 November 2023 
Episode 2 22 November 2023 
Episode 3 29 November 2023 
Episode 4 06 December 2023 
 
Copyright &copy; 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The 3rd Degree: Series 1-7

A quiz show hosted by Steve Punt (star of BBC Radio 4’s “The Now Show” and the brains behind “Horrible Histories”) where a team of three University students take on a team of three of their professors.

A quiz show hosted by Steve Punt (star of BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show and the brains behind Horrible Histories) where a team of three University students take on a team of three of their professors. 
 
Every week, at a different University, it pits a team of three Students against three of their Lecturers. The rounds vary between Specialist Knowledge and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and ‘Highbrow and Lowbrow’. Which of the students will turn out to be complete trivia-boffins? Will the Lecturers reveal they know more about Beyoncé than Barthes? There’s plenty of scope for embarrassment on both sides... 
 
The universities in the first series are Southampton, Durham, Stirling, Reading, Salford &amp; Middlesex. 
 
The universities in the second series are the University of East Anglia, Swansea, Warwick, Sussex, Queen Mary London and Northampton 
 
The universities in the third series are Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester, Exeter, Bath Spa and Anglia Ruskin (in Cambridge) and the subjects range from Rocket Science (literally!) to Creative Music Technology. Meanwhile, the questions cover every subject under the sun, including dada &amp; Dylan, The Kardashians &amp; the Ku Klux Klan, gherkins &amp; Gummi Bears and concrete &amp; cogwheels... 
 
The universities in the fourth series are Bristol, Kent, Bedfordshire, Aberystwyth, Nottingham &amp; Birmingham and the subjects range from Sports Science to Theatre Studies via Welsh Folklore and Journalism. Meanwhile, the questions cover every subject under the sun, including Candy Crush Corner &amp; cauliflowers, Kierkegaard and Kim Kardashian, Wagner, Debussy, Scooby-Doo, Geoff Hurst, Swedish massage and monkey glands... 
 
The universities in the fifth series are Cardiff, Manchester, Essex, De Montfort, Aston &amp; Surrey and the subjects range from Forensic Science to Contour Fashion via Psychology and Astrophysics. Meanwhile, the questions cover every subject under the sun, including both the Epic Of Gilgamesh and My Little Pony, Gogglebox &amp; blood spatter patterns, tennis balls and the Treaty of Westphalia... 
 
The universities in the sixth series are York, Gloucestershire, Chester, Glasgow, Birmingham City University &amp; Bath and the subjects range from Theatre History to Cosmology via Sociology and Visual Communication. Meanwhile, the questions cover every subject under the sun, including such diverse concepts as Mary Poppins, Hugo Boss, trampolining and Star Wars, not to mention an unexpected fact about rats that’s once heard, never forgotten... 
 
In the seventh series, the universities are Roehampton, Queen’s University Belfast, Hull, Derby, Liverpool and St John’s College Cambridge

Jason Hazeley

Simon Evans

David Tyler

Frank Skinner

Various

A BBC Radio 4 Comedy Panel Game

Frank Skinner hosts the second series and a Christmas special of the show based on online reviews as he and his all-star panel celebrate the good, the bad & the baffling 
 
Everyone has an online life, and when the great British public put pen to keyboard to leave a review, they almost always write something hilarious. And our all-star panel have to work out just what they were reviewing – and maybe contribute a few reviews of their own... and more... So if you’re the person who went on Trip Advisor to review Ben Nevis as “Very steep and too high”, this show salutes you! 
 
In episode one, Frank & the team find out what you think about googling, goggling, groping, gropping and the correct way to punch yourself in the face. With guests Laura Smyth, Sunil Patel, Simon Evans and Kyrah Gray 
 
In episode two, we discover what you, the public, said about about ball pits and the KGB, and find out who hasn’t been to the dentist for forty years. With guests Angela Barnes, Finlay Christie, Catherine Bohart and Rajiv Karia 
 
In the third episode, Frank & the team discuss the best place to put a forget-me-not and the worst place to put a floof. With guests Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Simon Evans, Daliso Chaponda and Ania Magliano 
 
In episode four, Frank & the team discover how to poke an egg, sleep with a fish and fill a hamper with paté. With guests Ian Smith, Lou Sanders, Chloe Petts and Marcus Brigstocke 
 
In the fifth episode, Frank & the team find out what happens when Abba take a shower, when All Saints sell a T-shirt, and when you hear Russell Crowe sing. With guests Sara Barron, Pierre Novellie, Simon Evans and Harriet Kemsley 
 
And in the final episode of the series, Frank & his guests – Marjolein Robertson, Phil Wang, Dee Allum and Simon Evans - discover the latest views on the Epic of Gilgamesh and which part of the tiger not to eat. 
 
In the 2024 Christmas Special, Frank asks the teams which traditional panto features an animatronic dinosaur, the worst present they’ve ever received, and whether the one-star write-up “bit claggy, made me feel sick” is a review of some stuffing or Love Actually 
 
 
Production credits 
Hosted by Frank Skinner 
Devised by Jason Hazeley and Simon Evans with the producer David Tyler 
Written by Frank Skinner, Catherine Brinkworth, Sarah Dempster, Jason Hazeley, Rajiv Karia, Karl Minns, Katie Sayer & Peter Tellouche 
 
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 25 Dec 2024 (Xmas Special), 3 March - 7 April 2025 (series 2) 
 
(C)2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

David Tyler

Books by David Tyler

Series by David Tyler

Glenn Moore’s Almanac1 Book

The 3rd Degree2 Books

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter