Fighting Talk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fighting Talk | |
 |
|
| Other names | FT |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sports panel game |
| Running time | 50 minutes (approx) |
| Country | UK |
| Languages | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 5 Live |
| Hosts | Colin Murray (2006-present) Christian O'Connell (2004-2005) Johnny Vaughan (2003-2004) |
| Writers | Giles Boden |
| Producers | Simon Crosse |
| Recording studio | BBC Television Centre (5 Live Compound), London |
| Air dates | 4th October 2003[1] to Present |
| No. of series | 5 |
| Opening theme | Sabotage by Beastie Boys |
| Website The official BBC website |
|
 PodcastFighting Talk Podcast |
|
Fighting Talk is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. Its first series aired in October 2003, and was presented by Johnny Vaughan. The second series featured Christian O'Connell. It is currently hosted by Colin Murray and is aired on Saturday mornings for an hour between 11:00 and 12:00. It is currently in its fifth series.
Contents |
[edit] Format
Four guest pundits are invited to expound in turn, preferably with wit and knowledge, on a series of topical sporting events. Most sports are thrown into the fray but the emphasis is on English top-flight football. Principally the sports are related to those covered by the British news media.
The penultimate discussion topic on the show is known as 'Any Other Business' (AOB) where the guests are afforded a moment to talk about anything they wish, usually something that has irked them in recent days, regardless of its relevance to sport. There have been several notable AOBs, but one by Steve Bunce about his recent stay at a particular hotel is held as a prime example of wit and rant.
In order to decide the week’s ultimate winner the two highest scoring pundits are invited to 'Defend the Indefensible'. Each pundit is called to vigorously support a topical theme for twenty seconds that is either distasteful, politically incorrect, plainly incorrect, self-detracting or completely opposed to the pundit's known opinions.
Previous examples of defending the indefensible include “I’d gladly drink a pint of Maradona’s liposuction fat for Comic Relief,” “Cricket has been cheapened now common people and ladies have jumped on the bandwagon,” and "I believe the annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race should take place in Iranian territorial waters." After the resignation of Sven-Göran Eriksson, Graham Taylor was required to defend the proposition that "The next England manager should be Graham Taylor". Taylor won. The statement Henning Wehn was required to defend in the first of Fighting Talk's Euro 2008 Specials was "The German football team should wear PVC Nazi outfits as a show of support to Max Mosley".
The 'Defending the Indefensible' round is, for greater comic effect, sometimes specifically aimed at the pundit who has to answer, for example asking them to support a hated opposition football team or to rubbish a pundit's favourite sport. A few pundits have refused to answer and therefore forfeited the game, notably Steve Bunce who couldn't bring himself to do down his fellow boxing presenter John Rawling. On another show, Rawling refused to criticise his wife's cooking on Christmas Day.
The shortest ever Defend The Indefensible was when Jim Jeffries lasted just five seconds after being asked to defend the notion, "Just like Ashley Cole, vomiting is a vital part of my lovemaking." Jeffries responded, "fair enough, because sometimes you need lube." Presenter Colin Murray implied immediately after that it would be Jeffries' last appearance on the show.
Two episodes of Fighting Talk were won without Defending the Indefensible: Trevor Nelson was awarded the win by Colin Murray after both Ian Stone and Clare Balding's efforts in the final were deemed too terrible to win. Bob Mills won an earlier show after Steve Bunce refused to defend "John Rawling's debut as ITV boxing commentator was mediocre at best", and John Rawling subsequently refused to answer "Boxing's so gay, but that's why I like it."
[edit] Scoring
Guests earn arbitrary points for 'good punditry', but lose them should they waffle or use predictable clichés. Scoring is accompanied by a variety of appropriate and humorous sound effects.[2]
| Cash Register Kerching | One Point |
| Arrow hitting the target | Two Points |
| Hallelujah chorus | Three Points |
| Be-uuwww | minus One point |
Disordered and by no means fair, the system is flexible enough to accommodate the presenter’s personal bias (including their favourite football team) and placating the host is a tactic many pundits pursue - Gabby Logan is particularly susceptible to this. Colin Murray is particularly sensitive to criticism of his beloved Liverpool or Northern Ireland.
An example of this saw Colin Murray deliberately fixing a show, letting Richard Park win due to the fact that Park was the top judge in the TV show Comic Relief does Fame Academy, in which Murray was a contestant. Although Park fell behind at one point to last place, Murray put him into the final, and didn't even bother to listen to the 'Defend the Indefensible' answer from Jim White.
It is also quite common for pundits to begin the game on a minus score lost during their introduction and subsequent banter at the very beginning of the show.
Colin Murray introduced the Golden Envelope round at the beginning of series four, where the pundits try to guess the answer that the presenter has written down prior to the show, for one question, usually in the second half. Matching the answer from the envelope is worth ten bonus points.
[edit] Podcast
Fighting Talk was originally made available as an mp3 download in October 2004, with a podcast version following as part of a BBC trial in February 2005. It is currently available for download, in either format, for one week after broadcast. It is also available for one week after broadcast, as part of the BBC's 'Listen Again' service.
Much comment is made by the presenters about how well it does in the iTunes podcast charts - with a previous best of number 5 in the overall charts for the third series.
For a period in the 2007-08 Series, the Fighting Talk Theme tune was not included in the introduction and opening of the podcast version, leading to some improvised acapella by that week's guests. Examples included the lyrics "Theme tune!, It's the Theme Tune" to the tune of The Flintstones, or during the Rugby World cup (and when Jeff Probyn was on the panel) to the tune of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot".
[edit] Listener participation
The programme is interspersed with what is called "listeners' homework". The presenter will read out listeners' answers to the previous and current week’s "homework question" - normally appearing as question two - with the most entertaining answer from the previous week winning a black and white Fighting Talk mug and the chance to appear as a guest on the show towards the end of the series. The homework question usually involves the likening of a sports hero to something else: for example, “What buildings or landmarks could be named after sports people?”.
Jim Thane was the first listener to be invited to compete live on the show, appearing alongside Steve Bunce, Greg Brady and Dominic Holland, after his name was picked from the list of each week's winners of the "listeners' homework" question for the entire second series. Richard Seamore was the second guest listener, appearing in the third series and appeared next to Steve Bunce, Bob Mills, and Kriss Akabusi. Seamore finished second, losing to Bunce in 'Defend the Indefensible'. On 5 May 2007, during the fourth series, Christopher Briggs made an appearance alongside Will Buckley, John Rawling, and Bob Mills.
However, for series 5 there is no prize available. This is due to the BBC's blanket ban on hosting phone-in competitions which came as a result of various phone-in and interactive voting scandals.[3] Listeners are still encouraged to text and e-mail in answers 'just for fun', normally followed by a sarcastic remark from Colin about Blue Peter, one of the BBC's programmes accused of misleading viewers.
One Fighting Talk fansite is located on the social networking website, Facebook has to date attracted over 5000 members. The group's name is 'The Fighting Talk Appreciation Society' and it is frequently mentioned on the show.
[edit] Presenters
The first series began in October 2003 and was hosted by Johnny Vaughan.[1] The inaugural show featured a panel consisting of Greg Brady, Will Buckley, Bradley Walsh and the eventual winner, Stan Collymore. After the first series ended in April 2004, Vaughan left to present the Capital FM breakfast show.
Christian O'Connell was the show's second presenter[4], and completed a successful second series from 2004-2005, culminating in a gold award for the show at the 24th Sony Radio Academy Awards.[5] He left to focus on his new Virgin Radio breakfast show at the end of 2005. His last show was in December 2005, and featured his four favourite guests - John Rawling, Steve Bunce, Greg Brady and Bob Mills. That show also briefly featured the wives of the aforementioned panellists, who were invited to answer (via telephone) a question on behalf of their husbands. Bob Mills' wife decided not to participate.
Colin Murray is the show's current presenter, starting back in February 2006.[6]
Vaughan came back for 'one week only' on 10 March 2007 because Murray was appearing in the reality television programme Comic Relief does Fame Academy. However, he also came back for Murray's holiday on 15 September 2007 and 2 February 2008 suggesting he is now the favoured guest presenter to cover Murray's absences. The show has also had a number of guest presenters to cover for holidays or other absences. These have included well-known British broadcasters such as Dickie Davies, Gabby Logan and Terry Wogan as well as Phil Williams, a general presenter who has stood in as a substitute for a number of BBC Radio 5 Live programmes.
Assistant Producer Mike Holt also had to present the show for one question when Murray couldn't bring himself to adjudicate a round questioning his favourite team by asking 'What was wrong with Liverpool Football Club?'. He left the studio for the duration of the question.
Simon Crosse has produced all five series of Fighting Talk. Comedy writer Giles Boden was the show's writer for the first four series but left in 2007 to work on The Friday Night Project on Channel Four television.
[edit] Pundits
Pundits are generally British sports journalists, sportspeople or stand-up comics. However, some non-UK pundits make appearances, notably Greg Brady (who participates regularly by ISDN from Canada). On Saturday 27 October 2007, Greg made an appearance in the studio due to being in London for the first NFL game to be played outside the USA.
Other non-UK contestants include Australian comedians Charlie Pickering and Jim Jeffries, New Zealander comedian Al Pitcher and German comedian Henning Wehn.
[edit] Nicknames in Fighting Talk
Certain pundits who have appeared on the show have been allocated nicknames. These tend to be allocated to regular pundits or those who have made previous notable appearances.
| Real Name | Nickname |
|---|---|
| Dougie Anderson | Two Answers, The Husky Voiced Scotsman |
| Ian Stone | Six Answers, Ian "Heart Of" Stone |
| Will Buckley | Son of Psycho, The Mild Mannered Man of Fighting Talk |
| Steve Bunce | The Aubergine, The Shirt, The 4th BeeGee, The Seagull |
| Greg Brady | Sleepy Eyes, The Beast |
| Jim Jeffries | The Foreigner |
| Andy Goldstein | The New Martin Kelner |
| Hazel Irvine | The Female Martin Kelner |
| Martin Kelner | King of the One-liners, The Thinking Man's Martin Kelner |
| Eleanor Oldroyd | The First Lady of Fighting Talk† |
| Gavin Peacock | Fu Manchu |
| John Rawling | Psycho |
| Steve Cram | Lights Out |
| Roger Black | Roger 'Pretty Boy' Black |
† So called because she was the first woman to appear on the show.
[edit] Pundit themes
Recurring pundits in Fighting Talk are sometimes given their own themes which are played during their introduction at the beginning of the show. Most make some kind of comedic reference to the relevant pundit.
‡ The theme referenced Brady's previous job working for WDFN radio in Detroit. The first use of the theme coincided with Brady experiencing the worst slump of his FT career, 5 defeats in a row. The run of bad form was attributed to the Detroit theme so it was changed to It's Raining Men for one show. The change did not help and Brady lost. For the next show he was returned to the Detroit theme. He won that show thus breaking the curse in a manner not unlike the New York Rangers winning the Stanley Cup in 1994. Despite Greg Brady's saying, he actually won his first show with this theme tune, although this was with guest host, Gabby Logan. For Brady's first appearance following his return to his native Canada in 2008, the theme tune was changed to Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On; later appearances have featured other Canadian references including Weird Al Yankovic's Canadian Idiot.
† These theme tunes are ironic as Tom Watt appeared in the BBC soap opera Eastenders. This is further compounded when he is introduced as Colin Murray purposely mistakes the famous soap character Tom Watt portrayed. Examples include Hayley Cropper and Mandy Dingle. However, from 15 March 2008, the introductory tune was replaced with an audio clip of a crowd chanting "You what? You what?".
¥ This is due to the often stated 'rule' of Fighting Talk that all débutants finish last. Despite this, many pundits have won their first show.
+ This is an assumed reference to Rawling's patriarchal character on the show and his initials, "JR" bearing similarities with J. R. Ewing, one of the principal characters from the former television series Dallas.
[edit] Fighting Talk statistics
- Greg Brady holds the record for pundit with the most wins. A number of pundits however rank above Greg on the appearance:win ratio.
- The highest score ever was achieved by Steve Bunce on 26 November 2005. Following numerous deductions by host Christian O'Connell for Bunce's petulance, Bunce's Any Other Business was a story about Bob Wilson for which O'Connell awarded 5,000 points. Bunce went on to win Defending the Indefensible.
- The lowest score recorded was Steve Bunce's -900,000 in the third series.
- Steve Bunce has appeared on the show more than any other pundit.[citation needed]
[edit] Colin Murray era
The statistics below (ranking pundits by number of victories) relate to the shows Colin Murray has hosted, dating back to February 2006.[7] Current up to 5/1/2008.
| Rank | Pundit | Wins | Appearances | Wins:Appearances Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greg Brady | 10 | 25 | 40% |
| 2= | John Rawling | 8 | 16 | 50% |
| 2= | Steve Bunce | 8 | 18 | 44.44% |
| 4= | Richard Park | 5 | 10 | 50% |
| 4= | Martin Kelner | 6 | 15 | 40% |
| 4= | Bob Mills | 5 | 17 | 29.4% |
| 7 | Eleanor Oldroyd | 4 | 9 | 44.4% |
| 8 | Tom Watt | 3 | 10 | 30% |
| 9= | Dominic Holland | 2 | 5 | 40% |
| 9= | Dougie Anderson | 2 | 10 | 20% |
| 11 | Gary O'Reilly | 2 | 15 | 13.3% |
[edit] Spin-offs and themed shows
The show made a brief appearance on television (2004, BBC2, in an early evening slot) presented and written by Johnny Vaughan and was true to the popular radio format. The scoring sound effects were juxtaposed with complementary images shown on large screens. At one stage negotiations were believed to be under way for Colin Murray to host a live style format in the Camden based MTV studios which would air on Sky One during the close season.
A political Fighting Talk 'special' - featuring MPs Lembit Opik, Steven Pound and Alan Duncan, as well as regular pundit, Bob Mills - was broadcast prior to the 2005 UK General election.
At the end of the third series, Colin Murray presented a special World Cup edition of Fighting Talk.
On 24 March 2007, Colin Murray hosted a 'women only' edition of Fighting Talk. The panel featured regular Eleanor Oldroyd alongside three débutantes - Gail Emms, Hazel Irvine and Sue Mott.
[edit] Fighting Talk: Any Other Business
A one-off, politics-based show - using the name of Fighting Talk's 'Any Other Business' round - was broadcast on Sunday 17 December 2006 at 7pm, presented by Richard Bacon. Fighting Talk: Any Other Business as a regular show started on Sunday 15 July 2007. The host is original Fighting Talk presenter Johnny Vaughan.[8]
[edit] The 'Stuart Hall' incident
Fighting Talk made national news with an episode broadcast on 12 March 2005. The panel consisted of Danny Kelly, Will Buckley, John Rawling and Stuart Hall. The question was "What other former all-conquering nations or individuals would you like to see have a renaissance?". Stuart Hall picked Zimbabwe, and criticised what Robert Mugabe had done to the country, saying, "...don your flannels, black up, play leather on willow with Mugabe cast as a witch doctor. Imagine him out at Lords casting a curse; tincture of bat's tongues, gorilla's gonads, tiger's testicles...". At which point Christian O'Connell asked "Are we still on air?"[9]
Before this incident, in the same programme, Hall was also asked about sporting stars as role models setting an example. He went on to defend swearing by footballers by suggesting that "you can go to any school playground and learn all you want to know about oral and anal sex."
In the event, neither of these comments provoked significant protest from the general public.
After this episode the It's a Knockout theme tune joined the 'Laurel and Hardy' theme tune (The Waltz of the Cuckoos) in being occasionally used to denote a pundit who had completely 'lost it'.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ a b Johnny Vaughan's Fighting Talk starts on Radio Five Live. BBC - Press Office (2003-09-29). Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
- ^ http://completeburke.blogspot.com
- ^ "At a glance: Shows in TV scandal", BBC News, 2007-10-05. Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
- ^ Christian O'Connell to host Fighting Talk on Radio Five Live. BBC - Press Office (2004-05-27). Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ The Sports Programme Award. Sony Radio Academy. Retrieved on 2007-03-08.
- ^ Colin Murray takes over Fighting Talk on Five Live. BBC - Press Office (2006-01-31). Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
- ^ Also included are the shows in which a guest presenter has stood in for Murray during the same period.
- ^ Vaughan back at Radio Five Live. Media Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-07-07.
- ^ John Plunkett (2005-03-17). BBC defends sports pundit on a sticky wicket. Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
