| Face the Music | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Music |
| Written by | Joseph Cooper Walter Todds |
| Directed by | Denis Moriarty |
| Presented by | Joseph Cooper |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC |
| First shown in | 1966-1979 |
| Original run | – 2007 |
Face the Music was a weekly BBC television programme in the form of a classical music quiz. It began in 1966 and continued until 1979, with revivals in 1983-4 and 2007.
Contents |
The programme, chaired by Joseph Cooper,[1] took the form of a quiz, with a panel of three celebrities, but without scoring or any winner. Each week there would be a special guest, who would also have to answer questions. The questions to the panel were asked in a series of rounds, each with a theme, such as "The Face, The Music", where a member of the panel would have to identify a composer from his picture, while music by a different composer was played in the background.
The most popular round was the "Dummy Keyboard", where Cooper would played a famous piece on a dummy piano, requiring identification by the panel from hand movements alone.[2] The music in question would be slowly faded in for the benefit of the audience viewing at home.
Another round was "Hidden Melody" where Cooper would perform a popular tune in the style of a famous composer including extracts of works by the composer to help the listeners.[2] Robin Ray, if a member of that week's panel, would typically identify the opus number of the quoted works.
The theme music for the show was the Popular Song, based on an extract from William Walton's Façade suite. During its most popular period the programme had a weekly audience of over 4 million.[3]
Regular panel members included Joyce Grenfell, Robin Ray, Richard Baker,[3] Bernard Levin, David Attenborough, Arianna Stassinopoulos (now known as Arianna Huffington), Valerie Pitts, Patrick Moore and Polly Elwes. Guests included William Walton, Dudley Moore, André Previn, Julian Lloyd Webber, Nigel Kennedy and Georg Solti (whose wife, Valerie Pitts was a panel member for the broadcast).
A version, hosted by John Sergeant and entitled Face the Music 2007, was aired by BBC Four on 1 July 2007. It was announced as a pilot, implying that a full series would follow. Unlike the original, points were awarded for correct answers, although Sergeant's assertion that "scores are important" was clearly ironic as the show retained the non-competitive feel of the original series.