Episode 8 Debatable

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Hello and welcome to Debatable, where today one player must answer a series of tricky questions

to try and walk away with the jackpot of over £2,000.

But, as always, they are not on their own, they will have a panel of fine celebrities

debating their way to the answer.

Will they be all talk and no action? That's debatable.

So, let's meet them.

Chinwagging their way to the answers today,

we have Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson,

we have comedian Tim Vine

and writer and comedian Susan Calman!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It is a deeply educated panel. Susan, of course, you studied law.

-Yes.

-Your debating skills are first-class.

Yes, I won a number of competitions as well at school in debating,

I was quite a debater. So, I've done quite a lot of it.

Not in quite as stressful a situation as this, I'll be honest.

-Tanni, of course, House of Lords.

-Hmm.

-Also, how many honorary degrees?

-Oh, 29.

-Just the 29?

-Yes.

-LAUGHTER

-Doesn't mean anything, though!

So, I guess I am quite used to debating, but the best advice

you get when you go into the House of Lords is only go

-into a debate where you know what you're talking about.

-Ah.

So, I'm not sure it helps very much here.

-And that's the reason why Tim Vine is in the centre seat.

-Yes.

The man who always knows what he's talking about.

-Well, I'm always willing to TALK about what I'm talking about.

-LAUGHTER

That's our panel.

-Let's meet today's contestant, it is Matt from St Albans.

-Come on, Matt!

APPLAUSE

-How are you doing, sir?

-Very good, thank you.

-Tell us a little bit about yourself.

-I am a zoologist and animal lecturer,

so I talk about animals all day long and I have lots of animals.

-How many animals do you have?

-Erm, yeah, over 100.

Talk us through what you've got.

Armadillos, chameleons aplenty, naked mole rats,

sugar gliders, meerkats...

-God!

-What do you make of today's esteemed panel?

I have every bit of confidence

that they're going to be brilliant debaters.

You've got to pay close attention because you can only choose

-one to play the Final Debate with you.

-OK.

-Ready to go?

-Absolutely.

All right, here we go, let's play Round One.

APPLAUSE

Matt, this round is multiple-choice,

each question has four possible answers, only one is correct.

Three questions in this round, £200 for each correct answer,

a possible £600 that we're going to put into your prize pot that

-you'll play for at the end of the show.

-Mm-hm.

OK, here we go. Round One. Question one.

Have you got one of these at home, Matt?

I don't, but I'm very interested to hear what the panel have to say.

We're all very interested in what the panel's going to say on this.

Panel, your debate starts now.

Can I just say first of all, to my fellow panel members,

-I once swam with dolphins.

-Yeah.

I actually had to dress up as a dolphin to do it, which I needed like a hole in the head.

But anyway, me and those dolphins, we just clicked.

They all ring a slight bell because one of them's real,

-and so therefore...

-Yes...

-Does anyone know, I suppose, I ought to ask.

-I haven't got a clue

of the answer but trying to kind of work out

which one might be the most appropriate, in terms of,

like, the shapes of their heads or their eyes.

Yeah, usually when they name a species,

it's because of some form of visual thing about them that made

-the people who were naming them think of it.

-And possibly a shape.

I mean, I'm leaning toward hourglass personally, for that reason,

-it's a shape.

-Because of the shape of the dolphin.

See, the spyglass one sounds like it could be real.

Yeah. I mean, I think now that you've said hourglass,

I think that might be quite a good shout, actually, there.

Have we seen a dolphin like this? I mean...

It doesn't necessarily need to be like that,

-it could just be a gentle curve.

-It could be.

When they were looking at them in the ocean,

they saw the curve of them.

Yeah, as opposed to one coming up like that...

LAUGHTER

Maybe go for, I think hourglass might be quite a good shout,

-actually.

-Shall we say that? It's the first question of the show.

We want to help Matt here.

Yeah, we're showing our knowledge by saying we think it's

-probably that one.

-Matt, we're not totally certain but we're just

trying to be helpful. We, as a panel, have decided,

the hourglass dolphin.

It takes confidence in a panel, Matt,

to debate this question in front of a zoologist.

Erm, spyglass and eyeglass are both very similar,

so you'd think one of those might be the right answer.

OK, I'm going to go against the panel, and go for spyglass dolphin.

I've no idea why, but there's something there that's telling me that's the way I should go.

OK, you're going against our panel. For £200, the correct answer is...

-Whoa!

-It's the hourglass dolphin!

-Zoologist? I don't think so.

LAUGHTER

Who knew? Well, we didn't.

-So, you've managed to stumble on that one.

-Terrible.

There's a lot of debate about how many species of dolphin there are.

-Any idea?

-One more than I was properly aware of.

LAUGHTER

Some say 37, 38, others argue for 43.

The hourglass dolphin is so called due to the distinctive

markings on the flanks.

Sorry, Matt, no money for that one but never mind, there's two more questions in this round.

-Let's see if we've got better luck with this one.

-Let's hope so.

I've got more of an idea with this one that I'm confident with.

OK, let's see what our panel make of this. Your debate starts now.

-We're going to do this one for you.

-Yes, go on.

-Erm, straight to me?

-Sorry!

-You sounded like you were confident there.

Well, this is one we could possibly work out.

-"Dec" is...

-Ten.

-..ten.

-Yes.

So, it would seem to me that if it's "dodec"...

that would lean towards...either 12 or 20

-or 22 or ten.

-LAUGHTER

-You see, I thought "dodec" would be two tens.

-Yes, me too.

-Yes, that was my...

-But I don't know what the "agon" bit is.

-I remember dodecahedron in school.

-Yes.

-But I can't remember how many sides that was.

Yeah, but I think the "agon" bit is not to do with numbers, it's the shape, isn't it?

-So, we don't...

-So, I think that dodecahedron...

I would have said 20. It sounds to me like two tens.

This is what I feel.

Well, we've come to a conclusion fairly quickly -

as a panel, we think it's 20.

So, Matt, what do you think?

The answer they came up with is the answer I like the most.

Do-, di-, bi- typically means halving or cutting up or two,

so, "dodeca", 20 sounds about right to me.

You're going to agree with the panel?

-I think it might work in my favour this time.

-OK.

You went against the panel first time round,

you're going with them this time. Does a dodecagon have 20 sides?

For £200, the correct answer is...

-Oh!

-The correct answer is 12.

-Oh, gosh.

-The Greek for 12 is dodeca.

Ah... Susan...

I... I'm gutted. I feel like we're letting Matt down here.

Well, if it makes you feel any better,

it was his fault the first time.

LAUGHTER

Let's have a look at your final question of this round.

I love the theatrical version of The War Of The Worlds,

and, like, the radio-play version.

But the last thing I'd be thinking about is which local town it was

they rocked up in.

So, I'm really hoping the panel have got an idea on this one.

I think the panel are also hoping they have an idea on this one.

Panel, your debate starts now.

-I was fairly obsessed with War Of The Worlds.

-Right.

When we were younger, my parents had only one tape in the car to drive

-to France and it was the musical version of War Of The Worlds.

-Right.

# The chances of anything coming from Mars... #

# Are a million to one... #

-# They say... #

-Not too low!

LAUGHTER

Can you remember the answer?

-Something in the back of...

-That's good, cut to the chase, I like it.

You can see why she's in the House of Lords.

"Lovely, Susan, nice childhood memory, do you know the answer?"

Something in the back of my brain is saying Woking.

I read this a really, really long time ago,

I've got a memory like a goldfish

so I can't remember any of it, but my gut reaction would be Woking

because it sounds nicer than Crawley, Basildon or Luton.

I'm really sorry if I've just offended you because you live there!

But I think they're newer towns.

Yeah, I think that I, in that case,

having no clue of this, would bow to, A, your initial thought that

it's Woking, and your hunch that it's Woking,

I think that comes together to make our answer,

as a panel, Woking.

Tim skilfully disassociating himself from the answer there,

panel edging towards Woking.

I'll have to go with the panel and assume that some of their inklings

might have been correct, with Woking, I think.

Come on, Matt, let's do this.

OK. We apologise to the people of Crawley,

Basildon and Luton on Tanni's behalf.

Is the beautifully-sounding Woking the correct answer, for £200?

-Yes!

-Brilliant.

-APPLAUSE

-Got there in the end.

-Well done, Matt.

HG Wells lived in Woking when he wrote the book.

Well played, Matt, we have finally got there at the end of that round.

You're up to £200. Well played.

Let's see how they are on pictures as we play Round Two.

OK, Matt, Round Two is our picture round, you must place three

pictures in the correct order. Two questions again in this round,

-£300 for each correct answer, a possible £600 for your prize pot.

-Mm-hm.

Have a look at this one.

-Are you a fan of the Potter?

-I'm not a big fan of the Potter,

I'm definitely going to really value what the panel have got to say.

OK, panel, can you shed some light on this for us?

Your debate starts now.

-Can I put my hypothesis forward and see how you feel?

-Yeah, go for it.

-Maggie Smith has been in all of them.

-Yeah.

-Right?

So, she's been in the most.

-Right.

-Totally agree with that.

Branagh played Gilderoy Lockhart,

who was definitely featured in one but may have popped up in others.

-Michael Gambon played Dumbledore.

-He replaced...

-So he replaced...

-Richard Harris.

-Yes, after two or three films.

-Right.

So, definitely, Maggie Smith is the most,

-because she's been in every one.

-Yes.

Gambon, bearing in mind they split the last book into two films,

-has been in at least five of the films.

-Right.

-So, he's...

And I think Branagh, whilst he's been in perhaps more than one,

even though you wouldn't think he has, has maybe been in two or three.

-Oh, hold on a second!

-Hang on, wait a minute.

-Dumbledore, spoiler alert, dies!

-Huh!

-When?

What?!

So, Dumbledore wasn't in the last two films.

I've got to say...

Just to be clear, we've got to be careful about this.

-I think Branagh is...two films?

-Two?

So, he would've been in definitely more, I think.

I think that's still right.

I'm a Potter head, I've got my own wand, OK? Yeah? And a cape.

I think the fact that you know all those,

-I'm just deferring to you on this.

-Yeah, I've got my own wand.

We've come to a conclusion and this is the order - Kenneth Branagh, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith.

So, has Susan's cape and wand done it for you, Matt?

I basically had the same concern, I wasn't quite sure if one of them

has pipped the other by maybe one or two films.

But I will agree with them, I think.

OK, you're going with the panel. For £300, is that the correct order?

-Well done again, Susan.

-Very well played. Very well played.

Maggie Smith appeared in seven of the films

as Professor Minerva McGonagall, Michael Gambon appeared in six,

Kenneth Branagh only appeared in one, you were right, Susan,

all of which means £300 in the prize pot and you are up, Matt, to £500!

Well done! Let's see if we can get some more money in the prize pot.

Here comes your next picture question.

I definitely think that...United Kingdom must have been early on.

But I am keen again to hear from the panel.

What you need is a member of the panel who actually goes to work in one of these buildings.

Panel, your debate starts now.

-I think the UK for women was...1928?

-Yeah?

Switzerland, I think, was really late.

-I've got a feeling that Switzerland was, like, '40s, '50s.

-Right.

See, weirdly enough,

my gut instinct was that the Finnish are the most forward-thinking.

In terms of, I mean, equality and all that... Yeah...

For some reason, it's just something in the back of my mind that

tells me that one of the reasons why the suffragette movement was the way

it was is that in other countries there was women's suffrage.

-We were not the first.

-Were we not?

Because I've always thought that it felt like every morning

Emmeline Pankhurst flies over my house and she's keeping me awake.

He said, "You've got suffragette lag." Anyway...

LAUGHTER

(Louder, louder!)

I'm going to agree with you on this,

they're surprisingly not very liberal in Switzerland.

But do you feel strong enough about this to swap it with that?

Anyone who's a Baroness on the panel really gets to have the final say

on matters of suffrage. So...

I think they started off better than us.

But we might have done it earlier.

-So remember all that when you make your decision.

-Yes.

I hope we've clarified things for you there!

We say, it goes United Kingdom, Finland, Switzerland.

It's a complicated one, Matt?

Erm, let's go with...

United Kingdom, Finland, Switzerland.

OK, you're going with the panel. £300. Is that the correct order?

It's the wrong order! Let's have a look at the correct order.

-Yeah.

-Finland first.

In 1906, Finnish women became the first in Europe

to be able to vote and Finland was the first in

the world to allow women to stand as candidates in elections.

Women over 30 could vote in the UK in 1918.

All women could vote from 1928, Tanni, you were right about that.

-Yeah.

-Switzerland waited until 1971...

-to finally allow women to vote, 1971.

-No!

-That's horrific!

-That's worse than I thought.

-I'm never eating a Toblerone again!

-LAUGHTER

Matt, nothing for that.

It means the total amount banked at the end of Round Two is £500.

APPLAUSE

So, there's still plenty of time to get some money in the prize pot.

£1,000 up for grabs, as we play Round Three.

OK, Matt, in Round Three, you will face questions that contain

three statements about a person, a place, or a thing.

Only one of those statements is true, we need you to try to find it.

There are two questions in this round because it's our final round,

£500 for each correct answer. Best of luck. Here we go.

I am relatively confident I've got the right answer.

-What do you think that might be?

-I'm going to go for C.

Hold that thought. Panel,

can we shed some light on this? Your debate starts now.

In 2010, which was the terrible winter,

when it snowed very badly, it got down to -15 in Glasgow.

Bearing in mind the coldest temperatures tend to be in

Braemar, Aberdeenshire, up north...

What I'm saying is that the -30, whilst it sounds a lot,

there have been incredibly harsh winters in this country.

Now, above 40 is the one that to me doesn't sound quite right,

-because we've got to 35.

-That's the one I'm starting

-to lean back towards...

-40 is hot, I mean 40 is...

40 is hotter than being in Italy in a heat wave.

I think that's possible.

I'm leaning back towards the bottom one...

I don't know whether I'm being steered by that.

Tanni, what do you think?

I mean, I know we don't have great summers.

My gut instinct would be above 40.

It wouldn't surprise me if it got to -5 at some point in June.

-It absolutely wouldn't.

-Absolutely.

-I live in the North of England.

I mean, June and July, it's not always very warm!

Yeah, the more I look at that, the more, actually, like you say,

it seems quite reasonable, as opposed to a record.

-Yes.

-Why don't we go for the first one?

Matt has an inkling and then he can make a decision one way or t'other.

-Good work.

-Yes.

-And we won't be upset if you don't go with us.

-Yes.

-Exactly.

Right, we've decided to go with, the coldest temperature recorded

in England in June is below -5 centigrade.

That's your weather, Matt, here comes the sport.

LAUGHTER

My main motivation behind worrying about weather is all my pets.

Last few years in summer it has got to, like, 35, 36,

37 degrees C and it's been pretty scary. But June, -5?

I've got a funny feeling the highest temperature recorded in the UK might

have been about 41, something like that, 42 degrees C. Ever.

-And so, I'd go for C.

-Yeah.

-OK, you're going AGAINST the panel.

-Going with your expertise, Matt.

-Yep.

You believe the highest temperature recorded in the UK is

above 40 degrees C. For £500, is that the correct statement?

Ooh!

Correct statement,

the coldest temperatures recorded in England in June is below -5.

Santon Downham in Norfolk recorded -5.6 degrees C

on both the first and the third of June 1962.

The record coldest day in the UK was in Scotland, Susan,

where it reached -27.2 degrees C

in '95, '82 and 1895.

The highest recorded temperature in the UK to date, 38.5 degrees C

on the tenth of August 2003 in Faversham, Kent.

OK, Matt, not to worry, no money added in that question.

There is still a final chance to pop £500 into the prize pot.

Here it comes, best of luck.

Panel, please. I have very little to say.

OK, I'm sure our panel have plenty to say on this.

Panel, can you sort it out for us? Your debate starts now.

-I know he WROTE Waiting For Godot.

-Yeah.

-And he's from Ireland.

-Mm.

-So, it's not beyond the realms, the middle one.

-Mm-hm.

The other two I must say are a bit of a mystery.

I don't know whether anyone can shed any light on that.

-When did first-class cricket start?

-Good question.

When was Samuel Beckett of first-class-cricket-playing age?

And if he was Irish, would he have played first-class cricket?

-Ooh, I don't know.

-If you can answer any of these things, viewers,

-just send them in on a postcard...

-I'm good at asking questions!

I'm not sure Beckett wrote some of those lyrics

for The Fairytale Of New York, given that some of the terminology...

-You're not sure...

-I don't think he did, cos some of them are

-quite modern references.

-Yeah.

-Yes.

"The boys of the NYPD choir still singing Galway Bay," for example,

I'm not sure is something that Beckett would have written.

I'm going to say he played first-class cricket because I think

it's the answer we're not meant to choose.

Do you have a gut feeling about one of the three? My gut feeling

is the middle one. Your gut feeling is the first one.

I think, yeah, the cricket one is not implausible,

for him to have played first-class cricket.

No, absolutely, as someone who's not sure

-and just batting stuff around...

-LAUGHTER

..if you two feel like you'd opt for "played first-class cricket,"

I will absolutely go along with that.

It seems to me the most plausible of three that

-we have no idea of the answer.

-Yes.

-OK?

As a panel, we have decided that Samuel Beckett

played first-class cricket.

So, Matt, any information in there to help?

-I don't know what to extract!

-LAUGHTER

Ohhh...

D'you know what I'm going to do?

-I'm going to go with your gut and I'm going to go with B.

-OK, Matt.

You've gone against the panel twice before.

Twice you were wrong, you're going against them again.

They say "played first-class cricket,"

you're going for "originally wrote Waiting For Godot in Gaelic".

-Oh, no!

-For £500, is that the correct statement?

-Oh, my...

-He played first-class cricket!

It's this way and that, isn't it?

-Oh, Matt!

-Oh, it's just...argh!

Samuel Beckett played two first-class cricket games

for Dublin University.

At the end of Round Three, Matt, your prize pot is £500.

APPLAUSE

Matt, there is only one question that stands between you and

that £500, it is our Final Debate.

The Final Debate question has six possible answers, only three of them

are correct, we need all three correct answers for you to win the money.

As before, you're not alone, you're going to choose one of these fine people to assist you in that quest.

You and your panellists will have 45 seconds to debate the question.

So, Matt, who would you like to join you in the Final Debate?

Will you be going with Tanni Grey-Thompson,

who's had her honorary degrees revoked from Basildon, Crawley and Luton University?

Will you be bowled over by Mr Tim Vine?

Or will you be asking Susan Calman to don her Harry Potter cape and wand and work her magic?

OK. Susan, you have stood out there,

so I think I've got confidence in you helping me today.

OK, Susan, can you please join us as we play the Final Debate?

APPLAUSE

OK, Susan, it hasn't exactly gone Matt's way today.

Can we get him home with some money? How are you feeling?

I really hope so.

I really... He's such a nice fella and he's played so well,

because he's gone with his gut as well sometimes.

I really want to see if we can get him that £500.

-So, I'm going to do everything I can.

-OK, Matt, best of luck. Final Debate, of course,

has two categories, so have a chat and choose one from this.

Music, automatically, I think I might be better at,

so, I would go for music first of all.

Are you a great sports fan?

-There's a few sports that I really am confident with.

-Yeah.

Formula 1, tennis.

I think...you sound more comfortable about sport...

-No, I don't think I am, no.

-No?

Let's go with music anyway, because I've got more confidence

-that collectively we could maybe do better on music.

-OK.

-Yeah?

-You happy with that?

-Yeah, absolutely.

-OK, you're going for...?

-Music.

For £500, Matt, 45 seconds on the clock,

here comes today's Final Debate question.

Best of luck.

Your 45 seconds starts now.

-Well, Penny Lane was a double A-side with Strawberry Fields.

-Yeah?

What's your gut instinct?

My gut instinct would be Help!, She Loves You and Come Together.

OK, Come Together, that's interesting,

I wouldn't have thought Come Together.

I would've thought more Penny Lane or A Hard Day's Night,

because that was the film title, A Hard Day's Night, and I wondered if the soundtrack had...

It might have not been a single.

-Help! I agree with.

-OK, so Help!, we'd be happy with that one.

-Yes.

-Yeah, next?

I would have said Penny Lane, simply because it was the double A-side,

-so people were maybe buying more copies.

-OK.

Come Together I'm not sure of.

-We have 12 seconds. Help!, She Loves You? Happy with that?

-Yeah.

And then you're thinking Penny Lane, Hard Day's Night.

You need to go with your gut. You should go with your gut.

-Hard Day's Night or Penny Lane? Two seconds.

-Penny Lane.

SIREN SOUNDS Matt, three answers.

-OK...

-Go with your gut!

Help!...

She Loves You...

-Hard Day's Night.

-Yeah.

OK, Matt, we really hope you can do this.

You need all three answers to be correct. Here we go.

For £500, first up,

you said Help! was a Beatles number one in the UK charts.

Is that a correct answer?

APPLAUSE Well done.

Number one in 1965. One down, two to go.

Next, you said, She Loves You.

To keep us on track for £500...

Did She Loves You get to the top of the charts?

APPLAUSE Well played! Number one in 1963!

Just one answer stands between you and the money.

-Come on, bring it in, mate. Bring it in.

-You thought Penny Lane...

You talked about the double A-side, Susan.

When the bit came to the bit, though, you decided, Matt,

to go with A Hard Day's Night.

If A Hard Day's Night is right, you leave with £500.

If it's wrong, you do leave with nothing.

I'd be delighted to be wrong.

Here we go. Fingers crossed.

For £500, was A Hard Day's Night a Beatles number-one single?

Yes!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

In 1964!

Well done, you got there in the end! You've just won £500.

Give it up for Matt!

That is it for Debatable - just enough time for

me to thank our great panel today, we had Susan Calman,

we had Tanni Grey-Thompson and we had Tim Vine.

I hope you've enjoyed watching. We'll see you next time

for more heated debates. For now, from me, it's goodbye. Thank you!

(Well done...)

APPLAUSE