Episode 33 Pointless

APPLAUSE

Thank you very much. Hello, I'm Alexander Armstrong

and welcome to Pointless, the show where the aim of the game

is to find the most obscure answer possible.

Let's meet today's players.

And couple number one.

Hello, I'm Catherine. This is my friend Laura.

And we're from Macclesfield, in Cheshire.

Couple number two.

Hi, my name's Jay. This is Nathan.

I'm from Birmingham. He's from West Brom.

-Couple number three.

-Hello, I'm Zack and this is my friend Luke,

and we're housemates from Canterbury, Kent.

And finally, couple number four.

Hi, I'm Jim. This is my mum, Rose.

I'm from Sheffield and she's from Leek, in Staffordshire.

And these are today's contestants.

Well, thanks very much, all of you. A warm welcome to the show.

We will get to find out more about each of you throughout the show

as it goes along. So that just leaves one more person

for me to introduce. A real triple threat.

He can't sing, act or dance. It's my Pointless friend. It's Richard.

Hiya. Hi, everybody.

-That is genuinely true as well.

-Yeah.

-You can do all three, can't you?

-I can't dance.

-Can you not dance?

-No.

Oh, that's good news. So you're just a double threat. That's good.

But you're a very, very good singer and a very, very good actor.

Oh, Richard! Thank you.

-You are. But...

-Yes.

-I'm excited cos I'm excited about today's show.

-Yes.

-It's going to be an absolute cracker.

-Yes.

We haven't given away the jackpot for some while now.

-We have four brand-new couples here to play with us today.

-Yeah.

I wonder if one of these pairs is going to be walking away

-with that jackpot.

-We know nothing about them.

We know nothing about them at all.

I tell you what, though. Podiums two and three - very, very forceful

-in their introductions.

-LAUGHTER

-It felt to me like they meant business.

-Yes.

It's going to be an absolute cracker, isn't it?

-We're going to give it away sooner or later.

-We are.

We are. It's a five-figure jackpot.

-For the first time in a long time.

-Very exciting. Well, yes.

Pete and Jess didn't win the jackpot last time is all I'm saying.

So we add another £1,000 to that. So today's jackpot starts off...

Look at that.

Look at it.

Right, if everyone's ready, let's play Pointless.

There is only one thing you have to remember, and it is this.

The pair with the highest score at the end of each round

will be eliminated. That is it.

Best of luck to all four pairs. Our first category this afternoon is...

Can you all decide in your pairs who's going to go first,

who's going to go second for World Geography?

And whoever's going first, please step up to the podium.

OK. Let's find out what the question is. Here it comes.

We gave 100 people 100 seconds to name as many...

-Richard.

-Yes. Simply any country of the world whose normal

short-form name in English doesn't contain an S, please.

And as always, by country, we mean a sovereign state

that's a member of the UN in its own right.

Thank you very much indeed.

Now, Laura, welcome to Pointless.

Great to have you here. What do you do, Laura?

I run my own business. I'm an illustrator.

-Are you anything to do with that dachshund on your...?

-Yes.

-Did you make that?

-Yes.

That's beautiful. How long have you been doing that? Doing your design?

Four years.

Brilliant. And what sort of particular things do you design?

-Badges, obviously.

-Stationery mainly.

Like wrapping paper and cards and...

That's brilliant. Good wrapping paper, always so hard to find.

Fantastic. And what are your interests, Laura?

I really like horses. I'm quite into horse racing.

But mainly the horses. I like drawing them.

Very good. Very hard to draw.

You could've chosen a much easier animal to draw, surely?

I tweeted a thing the other day. Someone tweeted how to draw a horse.

It's a cartoon horse, really, not like a proper horse.

And it was brilliant. It's unbelievable.

I drew a horse for the first time in my life.

It was in a series of sausage shapes.

Sounds delicious. LAUGHTER

Thank you very much indeed.

Now, Laura. What would you like to go for?

Countries not containing the letter S.

Erm...

I'm going to go for...

..Eritrea.

Eritrea, says Laura.

Let's see how many of our 100 people said Eritrea.

It's right.

That's a great start to the round.

1. Very well done indeed, Laura.

1 for Eritrea.

Very good.

Great start, Laura. Yeah, a really good start to the show.

It's so hard when someone says,

"Countries that don't contain the letter S,"

all your brain is saying to yourself is, "S. S. S."

Thanks very much, Richard.

-Nathan, welcome. Here from West Bromwich.

-Yeah.

-What do you do, Nathan?

-I'm a student union vice president.

OK. Have you left further education?

-Yeah.

-You've stayed on.

-I graduated this year

and I've now got a full-time job in the students' union.

I see. The students' union.

-So you've been involved in student politics up to now?

-Yeah.

I've been football captain of the university football first team

and the sports officer as well within the union.

So I've been quite involved for about two years.

-You've been involved in so many different spheres.

-Yeah.

So are you going to keep up a bit of football stuff as well,

-while you're there?

-Yeah. I run a Sunday team - Netherton Rangers.

Very good indeed. Now, Nathan. What are you going to go for?

I'm going to go for Fiji.

Fiji, says Nathan.

Let's see how many of our 100 people said Fiji.

It's right.

Well, Eritrea scored 1.

Where's Fiji going to end up?

It's another low score.

Look at that. Down it goes to 3.

Very well done, Nathan.

Good score.

Great answer, Nathan. Well played. I tell you what,

-the jackpot will be in danger if everyone continues like this.

-Yeah.

-Very impressive play so far.

-Yeah. Thank you very much, Richard.

Now, Luke. Welcome to Pointless.

-You're at university are you, in Canterbury?

-Yeah, in Canterbury.

-Christ Church.

-Excellent. And what are you studying there?

-English literature with an extra module of film.

-That's fun.

So how long have you been doing it? What year are you in?

-Just finished my second year.

-Enjoying it?

-Yeah, yeah. I love it.

-It's great.

-Now, Luke. What would you like to go for?

I feel like I'm kind of cheating saying this,

but I'm going to go for Central African Republic.

LAUGHTER

No. It's a good one to go for.

But what's been happening lately is actually

Central African Republic has not been...

It used to be an absolute stalwart.

You could rely on it to go right down to the bottom of the column.

-It's starting to rise up the column, Luke.

-It's becoming too mainstream.

Well, we'll see. It's going a bit mainstream. Exactly.

Let's find out. Central African Republic.

Let's see how far down the column Luke can get with that.

It's right. Clearly.

Our high score is 3. Our low score is 1.

3. Not bad.

You're joining Nathan and Jay over there, Luke. Very well done.

Well played, Luke. Lovely to have it on the show, as always.

I think actually it might have scored a few more

other than the fact it's got 22 letters.

-So it's quite a scary one to go for, isn't it?

-That's true.

Cos sometimes those forbidden letters can hide

behind other letters. In your brain, anyway.

-Yes, exactly right.

-They can.

The Central Af-S-rican Re-S-public.

Re-S-public. Exactly. Oh! There it was.

-Leaping out, like an ambush.

-Yeah.

-Terrifying.

There we are. Thank you very much, Richard.

Now, Jim. Welcome to Pointless. Good to have you here.

What do you do, Jim?

I work as a consultant in a university. In ethics.

-In ethi...?

-Yeah.

Er... Sorry. I see.

Not in the County of Ethics. LAUGHTER

In ethics. Right.

Is that part of a course? Or is that part of people's core, sort of...?

Well, we do work with professional bodies and organisations.

So I do training and I do things like consultancy

on codes of conduct and things like that.

What are your interests, Jim?

I like singing. I'm in a band.

-What sort of band is it?

-It's a 10-piece ska band.

Why do all ska bands have a million people in them?

They're always the biggest bands.

Brass sections, isn't it? You've got to have loads of trombones...

Oh. So you've got big brass. But also quite a lot of people

-who just shake things in ska bands.

-That's true.

-OK. Now, Jim.

We want the name of any country that doesn't have an S in it.

What would you like to go for?

I'm going to go for Chad.

Chad.

I'm looking. I can't see any S from where I'm standing.

But let's see how many of our 100 people said Chad?

It's right.

Well, nothing higher than 3 at this point.

Until now.

I'm sorry to say Chad...

..has broken ranks, and it has scored 7.

-That's a much less scary answer to go for, isn't it?

-Isn't it?

-Very few letters to check.

-Hm.

Thank you. Well, we're halfway through the round.

So let's take a look at those scores as they stand.

1, Laura. Very, very well done. Eritrea. Cracking answer there.

We then travel up to 3,

where we find Nathan and Jay, and Luke and Zack.

And then up to 7, where we find Jim and Rose. I mean, really,

a nice sort of family scoreboard there.

Everyone within touching distance of each other, which is good.

But, Rose, you are out in front, though.

So we will need a low score from you,

just to make sure we don't say goodbye to you

at the end of the round. Good luck with that.

We're going to come back down the line now.

Can the second players please step up to the podium?

Rose, a warm welcome to Pointless. What do you do, Rose?

Well, I'm retired now, but I used to be a teacher.

What did you teach and where?

Well, I was primary school and French teacher.

Very good. Are you enjoying your retirement?

-Yes. Very much, yes.

-Very nice.

So have you taken up anything since retiring?

Well, we walk a lot and I'm part of a walking group.

And I'm also in a choir and I sing.

Very good. What sort of choir is it? Is it a...?

It's a large community choir.

Very nice. OK. Well, listen. There you are.

You're the high-scorers, Rose, at the moment on 7.

So a lovely low-scorer, along the lines of Eritrea,

which we had to open the round - wonderful score of 1 -

would be perfect.

My mind's gone a bit blank. I'll stay with Africa and Namibia.

Namibia, says Rose. Namibia.

There's no red line for you as you're the high-scorers,

but let's see how many people said Namibia.

It's right.

Ohh, look at that. 4.

Not bad at all. Takes your total up to 11, Rose.

11 for Namibia.

Another low score again.

We haven't had anything more than 7 so far. Amazing stuff.

-Yeah, very impressive indeed.

-If I was that jackpot,

-I would be quivering.

-Yes.

If you've ever seen £10,000 quiver, it's quite a sight.

Thanks very much. Now, Zack, welcome to the show.

-What do you do, Zack?

-I'm a student

at Canterbury Christ Church University along with Luke.

-And what are you studying?

-I study film, TV and radio.

-Wow. With no English? You don't have the English?

-No English.

-It's a sole single honours.

-Just film, TV and radio.

Of the three disciplines, which do you get the most pleasure from?

I'd say television.

Television. Good answer in this context.

So what do you learn in the radio segment of your degree?

I have an '80s show on the radio.

So I quite like '80s music.

So you do that as part of your degree?

-No, I do that alongside it.

-I was going to say!

But as part of your degree, what's the radio?

Well, you do radio dramas, radio plays.

-You put together podcasts...

-I see.

..and you make a documentary.

So I made a documentary about barbering and hairdressing.

Very good.

Has it gone out yet? Do they get aired? Locally at least?

I don't think so. It got the chop!

LAUGHTER It got the chop? OK, very good.

Zack, you're on 3.

If you can score 7 or less, you're into the next round.

OK. I'm going to go with...

..Andorra.

-Andorra, says Zack.

-Yes.

Sounds good to me. There's your red line.

Now, if you can get below that, you're into the next round.

How many people said Andorra?

It's right.

You've done it. Look at that.

3 for Andorra. Very well done.

Equalling Luke's score.

Taking your total up to 6

and seeing you into Round Two. Good work.

Yeah, nestled in the Pyrenees. Andorra.

-No S anywhere.

-No, no, no.

Thank you, Richard.

Jay, welcome to Pointless. Very good to have you here.

-From Birmingham?

-Yes.

-And what do you do, Jay?

I work with Nathan at Newman University students' union.

I'm the president.

And do you combine it with captaining any kind of

sports facility or...?

I'm the chair of a pool society

and a treasurer/producer of a music and drama society as well.

So do you act or are you backstage?

I act and sing. So..

I've had an active role within the society for the past five.

I see. OK. Very good indeed.

Now, Jay, you're on 3. Again, your target is 7 or less.

OK.

My mind's playing tricks with me

and I'm not sure if it's a Z or an S.

So I'm going to hope that's what everyone else thought

and I'm going to say Tanzania.

Tanzania, says Jay. Tanzania.

Here's your red line. Again, nice and low.

But if you can get below that with Tanzania,

you are through to Round Two.

How many people said Tanzania?

It's right.

Very well done.

Look, down to 1. APPLAUSE

There we are. Now, we're down to our low scores again, Jay.

Taking your total up to 4.

And I like the way you thought that one through. Good tactics.

Yeah, very well played. It's also the name of my tanning salon

in East London.

-Tan... Yeah.

-Tanzania.

-Tanzania.

And a nose...sometimes. RICHARD LAUGHS

Thanks very much.

-Catherine, welcome.

-Hi.

And may I commend you on your animal dress as well?

-Your fox dress.

-Thank you very much.

-And there's a fox badge there as well.

-Yes. Also made by Laura.

Also by Laura.

Catherine, what do you do?

I'm a recent sound and video technology graduate.

-Where did you graduate from?

-University of Salford.

And what are you going to be doing with your degree?

Where are you going to go next, do you think?

-I want to get some television work, ideally.

-OK.

-But I'm open to all areas.

-OK. Very good indeed.

Now, Catherine, you're on 1. You have to score 9 or less.

And no-one has scored over 7, at this point.

So just to pile the pressure on a little bit.

Yeah, it's a bit terrifying.

I don't want to destroy all of Laura's good work.

Not sure if this is a country,

but I'm going to say Democratic Republic of The Congo.

Democratic Republic of Congo, says Catherine.

Here is your red line.

If you get below that with DRC,

then you are through to the next round.

Let's see how many of our 100 people said Democratic Republic of Congo.

It's right.

It most definitely is a country.

Through you go. Look at that. 2.

Very well done indeed, Catherine. 2.

Taking your total up to 3.

Very impressive indeed.

Very well done. That's got 28 letters in it.

Now, there are lots of pointless answers here, actually.

So let's take a look at a few of them. You will not see an S up here.

A few other pointless favourites - Nauru and Palau -

also were pointless answers.

So very well done if you said any of those.

Let's take a look at the top three answers,

the ones that most of our 100 people said.

Do you know something that's quite weird

after having done so much world geography on Pointless?

I'm now finding it quite hard to think of the high-scoring answers.

-Yes, I know what you mean.

-Cos we spend so much time

dwelling around the Naurus and the Vanuatus.

Below those three, you would have got China, Ireland, Canada,

New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, Norway, Portugal, Greece, Belgium,

Mexico, Denmark, India. Those are the big ones.

And you know you go down the bottom to the low ones, like one-pointers.

You've got Bahrain, Montenegro, Guinea, Belize, Mauritania, Qatar,

Macedonia, Trinidad and Tobago - that's another long one -

Myanmar, Burundi, Tonga, Haiti, Togo, Lebanon, Tuvalu -

scored 1 point.

Equatorial Guinea, Moldova, Yemen, Nicaragua.

All of those scored 1 point.

So there's lots and lots of countries out there

without an S in their name.

There we go. Thank you much, Richard.

We're at the end of our first round.

The pair we are having to say goodbye to,

with their high score of 11...

I can't think... I mean, that must be a record,

sending a pair home with a high score of 11.

But there we are, Jim and Rose. You are the high-scorers.

We have to say goodbye now, but we'll see you again next time.

I'm sure you'll go much further. In the meantime,

thanks very much for playing. Jim and Rose.

But for the remaining three pairs, it's now time for Round Two.

Well done, everyone, for making it through to Round Two.

But not just that. I mean, sometimes people fluke through to Round Two.

Not you. You've earnt your places here, each and every one of you.

Particularly Jay and Laura there. Lovely low score with your 1s there.

But, yeah, very impressive.

Keep this up and, as Richard says, that jackpot is in danger.

Best of luck to all three pairs.

Our category for Round Two this afternoon...

Can you all decide in your pairs who's going to go first,

who's going to go second?

And whoever's going first, please step up to the podium.

OK. And the question concerns...

There we are. Richard.

-Jim was from Sheffield, wasn't he?

-Yeah, he was. Yeah.

He's people who are just heading home to Sheffield. Jim.

-LAUGHTER

-We're going to give you six clues

on each pass to famous people who were born in

or are famously associated with Sheffield.

Can you give us a nice obscure answer?

12 Sheffieldians to guess at home.

There we are. OK, let's reveal our first board of six clues.

And here they come.

I'm going to read those all one last time.

Laura.

Laura, how are we feeling about our famous Sheffieldians?

-Terrible!

-Oh, no.

There are six of them there.

Don't say they're all terrible, are they?

There's two that I think I could guess at.

I hope it's... OK, I'm just...

I'm going to say the band who released...

I'm going to say Arctic Monkeys.

Arctic Monkeys, says Laura. Let's see if the Arctic Monkeys is right.

Let's see how many of our 100 people said it.

Absolutely right.

It's still going down, Laura.

Look at that. 10. Very well done indeed.

APPLAUSE Once again, a very strong start

to the round from that first podium.

Yeah. To date, they've released five albums.

They've all gone to number one.

Thanks very much indeed, Richard.

Nathan, what would you like to go for on our board?

Not much. A different topic!

I'm going to have to go with what I think is quite an obvious one.

Nick Clegg for the former Liberal Democrat leader.

OK. Nick Clegg, says Nathan.

Let's see how many of our 100 people went for Nick Clegg.

It's right.

30 for Nick Clegg. APPLAUSE

Yeah, 30 for Nick Clegg. That's show business.

LAUGHTER

Thanks very much, Richard. Now, Zack, this board's all yours.

Do you want to go through it and fill in the blanks?

-I can only fill in two of them.

-That's OK. That's good.

The 2012 Olympic heptathlon gold medallist is Jessica Ennis.

And I'm going to go with the top one. Born in 1955.

Front man of The Human League, Philip Oakey.

Philip... Oh, I like that. Give him his full...his birth name.

-It landed perfectly for you.

-It fits in with my radio show.

-I play him every week.

-There we are. '80s music. Phil Oakey, says Zack.

Let's see if it's right. Let's see how many of our 100 people said it.

Look at these nice units of 10. 20 for Phil Oakey.

That is nice, isn't it? Yeah. Don't You Want Me?

It's the 24th biggest selling single in UK chart history.

-That's nice to know.

-Some going, that, isn't it?

-Great song.

Let's take a look at the rest of this board.

You're right about Jessica Ennis, or Jessica Ennis-Hill.

There she is now. She would have scored you 33.

-Would have spoilt the nice symmetry of the numbers.

-Hm.

The actor who played the title character in Sharpe?

-Sean Bean.

-Sean Bean.

Famous Sheffield United fan. 43 for that.

And the director of Billy Elliot and The Hours?

-Stephen Daldry.

-Stephen Daldry. That's the best answer on the board.

-4 points.

-There we are. Thank you very much indeed, Richard.

We're halfway through the round, let's take a look at those scores.

10. Well done, Laura and Catherine. Once again,

the head of the pack there.

Then up to 20, where we find Zack and Luke.

Then up to 30, we find Nathan and Jay.

Now, 10, 20, 30.

Jay, we need a low score from you on the next pass.

-We'll see.

-Let's come back down the line.

Will the second players please step up to the podium?

OK. Let's put six more clues up on the board. And here they are.

We have got...

I'm going to read all of those again.

There we are. Now then, Luke.

We come to you. You are on 20.

The high-scorers are Jay and Nathan on 30.

So 9 or less stops you from becoming our new high-scorers.

It's not great. I think the one that

I'd know for sure

is most certainly the highest...

The one that's going to score

the most points.

But I'm just going to have to say Jarvis Cocker

for the lead singer of Pulp.

OK. You're going to say Jarvis Cocker.

Let's see if that's right.

Let's see how many of our 100 people said Jarvis Cocker.

There's your red line. Quite low.

It's right.

34 takes your total up to 54.

Yeah. Pulp never actually officially split up.

Jarvis Cocker always describes them as a dormant volcano

-which could erupt at any moment.

-Nicely put.

-I wish it would erupt.

-Yeah, it would be nice.

-It would be nice to have a new Pulp album.

Does their lead singer still live in Paris, though?

-He did for a long time, didn't he?

-I think he did, yeah.

There we are. Now, Jay.

Jay, the high-scorer now 54.

So actually, 23 or less gets you through. This is much better.

I don't think it is.

Yeah, there's not many topics on there

that I have any chance with, I don't think.

So it's going to have to be a bit of a guess.

Yeah. I'm going to go with the presenter of the travel series

Around The World In 80 Days and Sahara

and just have a guess at David Attenborough.

David Attenborough. OK. Here is your red line.

If you can get below that with David Attenborough,

you're through to the next round.

How many people said David Attenborough? Is it right?

No. Not, I'm afraid, David Attenborough.

That takes your total up to 130, having scored you 100 points.

Sorry, Jay. I'll give the correct answer to that

-at the end of the pass.

-Thanks very much, Richard.

Now then, Catherine. Catherine, I have great news for you.

You are through to the head-to-head.

It doesn't matter what you score here, you will still go through.

-Excellent.

-Would you like to have a wander through that board

and see if there are any... You can do some musing out loud?

-I can have a go.

-Why not?

I have a vague idea of the singer who had a UK number one in 1968.

I think he's called Joe Cocker,

but I'm not going to go with that one cos I'm not 100%.

I'm going to have another crack at the presenter of the travel series

Around The World In 80 Days and Sahara as Michael Palin.

Michael Palin, says Catherine.

No red line for you as you're already through.

Let's see how many people said Michael Palin.

APPLAUSE

Taking your total up to 55.

But you're right about Joe Cocker, actually.

It's the correct answer. Would've scored you 30 points.

-So very well done for that as well.

-Nice to have two Cockers

-on the board.

-Nice to have two Cockers, isn't it?

30 points for that. Now, the British Labour politician?

-David Blunkett.

-David Blunkett.

It would've scored you 10. The first British citizen to go into space?

Do you remember her?

Helen Sharman.

8 points for that. England cricket captain,

-who was actually born in Manchester but...

-Michael Vaughan.

Absolutely right. And he would have scored you 16.

-So Helen Sharman, the best answer on that board.

-Thanks, Richard.

So, at the end of our second round, the pair we're sending home

with their high score of 130... Jay and Nathan, it's you.

Now, Jay, you knew Michael Palin, didn't you?

Yeah. Yes.

We'll go with yes. We'll see you again next time, both of you.

I'm sure you'll go much further. It's been great having you on.

-Thank you so much for playing. Jay and Nathan.

-Cheers.

APPLAUSE

But for Luke and Zack, Catherine and Laura,

it's now time for our head-to-head.

Very well done, Catherine and Laura, Luke and Zack.

You are now one step closer to the final and a chance to

play for that jackpot which currently stands at £10,000.

APPLAUSE

Well, how exciting to be this close to that jackpot.

You've all done so well to get here.

It was a very, very competitive first round

and you're so close on your scores.

Catherine and Laura, our low-scoring pair, but actually, Luke and Zack,

only 2 points behind them there.

So this is going to be very, very tight indeed.

Best of luck to both pairs. Let's play the head-to-head.

Here's your first question, and it concerns...

Biggest selling singles of the millennium, Richard.

We're going to show you five visual clues now to the titles

of some of the biggest selling singles of the millennium.

We'll also show you the artist who had a hit with it.

Can you tell us what they are, please?

OK, let's reveal our five visual clues, and here they come.

We've got...

There we go. There are our five visual clues.

Catherine and Laura, you're the low-scorers, so you will go first.

Feel free to confer.

THEY WHISPER

-OK. We'd like to go for B, with Counting Stars.

-Counting Stars.

Counting Stars, say Catherine and Laura. Now then, Luke and Zack.

Do you want to talk us through the rest of that board?

Yeah, we can do.

Do you want to say the ones you know?

I'm not that great on this kind of music.

I only know C, which I'm guessing is Poker Face,

and E is Happy,

and that's Mick Jagger so I'm guessing that's

Moves Like Jagger.

Yeah. And A is Evergreen, Will Young.

Best one to go with...

Can we have A, Will Young and Evergreen?

OK, Evergreen, say Luke and Zack.

So we have Counting Stars and we have Evergreen.

Catherine and Laura went for Counting Stars for B.

Let's see if that's right. Let's see how many of our 100 people said it.

It's right.

Oh, it's a good answer. Look at that! 6.

Well done, there, Catherine and Laura.

Now, Luke and Zack have gone for Evergreen for A.

Let's see if that's right.

Let's see how many of our 100 people said Evergreen.

It's right.

34.

34 for Evergreen. Well done, Catherine and Laura.

After one question, you are up 1-0.

Yeah, best answer on the board by a mile.

That's Counting Stars, well played.

Evergreen, second biggest selling single of the millennium,

up to time of recording.

C was Poker Face, as you said.

Would have scored 58.

The fifth biggest selling single of

the millennium was Moves Like Jagger.

And that would have scored you 27.

And the biggest selling single of the millennium,

Happy by Pharrell Williams, and that would have scored you 72.

Thank you very much indeed, Richard.

OK, here comes your second question, Luke and Zack.

You get to answer this one first

but you have to win it to stay in the game, so good luck.

It concerns...

-Brian Blessed, Richard.

-Five clues now to facts about Brian Blessed.

Can you give us the most obscure answer? I know it's a tense moment.

I know we've got £10,000 up for grabs, I understand that,

but if you could just do one of these

questions in your Brian Blessed voice, it would make me very happy.

You don't have to, you don't have to.

OK, let's reveal our five clues to facts about Brian Blessed.

I will read those again one last time.

IMITATES BRIAN BLESSED: The decade in which he was born.

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

I'm happy.

There, Luke and Zack. You will go first.

THEY WHISPER

OK, we're going to go with the 1980s science fiction

film in which he memorably played Prince Vultan

as Flash...Gordon.

Flash, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot...Gordon.

OK, Flash Gordon, say Luke and Zack. Flash Gordon.

Now, Catherine and Laura, that board's all yours. Help yourselves.

-Do you know any?

-No.

-OK, I'm guessing the bottom

-one would be Everest, maybe.

-Possibly.

And I think definitely the musical is Cats.

OK. Oh, yes, I recognise that cat! Yeah.

-Good old Old Deuteronomy.

-OK.

We think we're going to go for Cats.

You're going to go for Cats. So we have Flash Gordon and we have Cats.

Luke and Zack went for Flash Gordon. Let's see if that's right.

Let's see how many of our 100 people said that.

It's right.

32.

32 for Flash Gordon.

Now then, Catherine and Laura, meanwhile, have gone for Cats.

Let's see if that's right.

Let's see how many of our 100 people said Cats.

It's right.

And it wins you the point

and sees you through to the final. 14.

Very well done indeed, Catherine and Laura.

After two questions, you are through to the final 2-0.

Terrific stuff. Very, very well played. Let's fill in these gaps.

The decade in which he was born?

-If you had to guess.

-1930s.

-1930s, yes.

1936, he was born. So Phil Oakey is 60 and Brian Blessed is 80.

Looks very good on that, doesn't he? Very impressive.

The actor who played Doctor Who.

What would you think?

-Peter Davison.

-No, very close, though. Colin Baker.

Colin Baker, very well done if you said that, 1 point.

And you're absolutely right about Everest,

but you did well not to go for it.

41 points for Mount Everest.

Thanks very much indeed, Richard.

So the pair leaving us at the end of the head-to-head round,

I'm afraid it's Luke and Zack.

Well, you came right the way through beautifully to the

head-to-head round, and then nothing wrong with either of your answers.

But just Catherine and Laura.

They just whipped them out from under your nose, I'm afraid,

in each instance.

It's good news for us, we get to see you again next time.

Otherwise, it would all have been over like that.

So I'm sure you'll do just as well if not better then.

But meantime, thanks very much for playing, Luke and Zack.

APPLAUSE

But for Catherine and Laura, it's now time for our Pointless final.

APPLAUSE

Well, what about that, Catherine and Laura?

You've seen off all the competition and you have won our coveted

Pointless trophies. Very well done.

You now have a chance to win our jackpot. At the end of today's

show the jackpot is standing at £10,000.

APPLAUSE

But actually, what a rock solid progress you've made through

this show, right from Eritrea, your first answer,

all the way through to...

IMITATES BRIAN BLESSED: Brian Blessed

at the very end. What would be the ideal category to come up?

Harry Potter.

-Harry Potter.

-Or horse racing.

-Harry Potter or horse racing.

-Catherine, anything you want to add to that?

-Mainly Harry Potter, again.

Mainly Harry Potter, again. Well, let's see what today's choices are.

Very, very best of luck. You know what they're like. We have got...

-How do we feel about that?

-Nightmare. Absolute nightmare.

-What do you think?

-Thriller Writers.

-Yeah, yeah.

-BOTH:

-Thriller Writers.

Thriller Writers, it is. Thriller Writers, Richard.

OK, we are looking for any full-length novels

written by any of the following, please.

We are looking for any Ken Follett novels, including those

written under a pseudonym, including his novels for children.

We're looking for any Alistair MacLean novels,

again, including those written under the pseudonym Ian Stuart.

And we are looking for any Stella Rimington novels, please.

So, full-length novels released by any of these three -

Ken Follett, Alistair MacLean and Stella Rimington.

And that's up to June, 2015.

OK, now. As always, you've got up to one minute

to come up with three answers.

All you need to win that jackpot is

for just one of your answers to be pointless.

Are you ready?

As ready as probably we'll ever be, ever in the world.

OK, right, well, let's put 60 seconds up on the clock.

There they are. Your time starts now.

Have you heard of any of these people?

I've heard of Ken Follett.

He was on the New York Times Best Seller list,

but I don't know any. Do you know any?

-No. This isn't great.

-This is awful. We're going to have to make some up.

OK. Um, do you have any favourite words that you'd like to throw in?

LAUGHTER

Go for like The... The Something.

OK, shall we go for something like...

..The Departed? I think that's something else, but why not?

I literally have no idea.

-Can you push that New York Times Best Seller winner?

-No. No.

-What about Mind's Eye?

-Mind's Eye sounds pretty good.

-That sounds...

-Ten seconds left.

-..dramatic.

-And, um...

-..Taken Too Young.

-Yeah.

-OK.

LAUGHTER

OK, you've got your three titles now. I'm so sorry.

There's nothing more agonising than when something comes up

and you don't know. But go on, let's have your three answers.

I've actually forgotten what we've invented.

-Taken Too Young.

-Mind's Eye.

Mind's Eye. Let's not forget that. And we had The Departed.

-The Departed.

-Do you want to go with that? The Departed?

I don't know who these ones are by, but just any.

We can allocate them as you see fit.

-Don't you worry.

-I think just give them all to Ken.

-Do you want to give them all to Ken Follett?

-Yeah, well done, Ken.

Why not? He needs a few more titles.

-Of the three, do you want put one last as your...

-Definitely.

-What did you say?

-Taken Too Young.

-We'll put that last.

And we'll maybe put The Departed first, shall we?

-Because that might be something else.

-Rubbish, that one.

They're all extremely good.

OK, well, let's put those up on the board

in that order then, and here they are. We've got...

Well, there they are. Now, one of these days it is going to happen,

someone's going to make up a book title that is actually

a pointless answer. It's going to happen. It has to happen.

If it were to have happened today,

what would you spend your £10,000 prize on, Catherine?

-A unicorn because it's not going to happen.

-OK.

LAUGHTER Laura.

APPLAUSE

-What can I add to the menagerie? Maybe a phoenix?

-Sure.

-Nice, nice.

OK, so, well, we're looking for Ken Follett novels.

That's the category we've gone for. The Departed was your first answer.

If it is pointless, it'll win you £10,000.

Let's see what happens with The Departed.

OK, yeah, as expected. I'm afraid not a pointless answer.

Your next answer was Mind's Eye.

Again, £10,000 is up for grabs if it happens to be pointless.

Let's find out.

I'm afraid not.

And your third answer was Taken Too Young

for Ken Follett again.

It'll win £10,000 if it's pointless, but we'll just see.

No, I'm sorry.

APPLAUSE

I'm so sorry. That is real torture to have to answer a category...

I'm sorry, they were tough, those categories.

I mean, really tough, those categories. And you did very well.

It was a valid attempt.

You didn't find a pointless answer, so you don't win today's

jackpot of £10,000. That will roll over on to the next show.

But it's been great having you on.

Really, you can be so proud of your performance on the show today.

Low score after low score after low score, the whole way through.

2-0 in the head-to-head.

Really, really, very, very, very strong indeed so very well done.

And you get a Pointless trophy to take home each, so very well done.

APPLAUSE

Yeah, I mean unlucky. If you don't know them, you don't know them.

So a really tough category. A tough board of four things as well, there.

Let's take a look at the pointless answers in the different

categories cos people at home will have got pointless answers,

especially Alistair MacLean.

Let's take a look at Ken Follett first.

His novel from 2014, Edge Of Eternity,

was a pointless answer.

So, well done if you said that.

Lie Down With Lions. Don't do that, by the way,

don't lie down with lions.

I read a book called Run Away From Lions, which is much,

much better advice.

Night Over Water, romantic thriller and White Out.

In fact, every Ken Follett novel apart from

The Pillars Of The Earth, that was the biggest scorer for him,

Fall Of Giants, Eye Of The Needle, World Without End

and The Third Twin, everything else was a pointless answer for him.

Alistair MacLean. Take a look at these.

Bear Island, Caravan To Vaccares,

Force 10 From Navarone was a pointless answer.

When Eight Bells Toll, also a pointless answer.

The ones that scored points for him were

The Guns Of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra,

Where Eagles Dare,

Puppet On A Chain, The Satan Bug, The Last Frontier,

HMS Ulysses and Breakheart Pass, all of those scored points.

Everything else was a pointless answer.

Now Stella Rimington. Four pointless answers here.

You could have had Close Call, Dead Line, Rip Tide.

-She's got much simpler titles, hasn't she?

-Mm.

And The Geneva Trap, and the ones that scored points for her

were Secret Asset, At Risk, Present Danger and Illegal Action.

-There you go. Never read any Stella Rimington.

-Have you not?

-They all sound like ones you could have made up.

-Don't they just!

If you could have made up names to anyone,

-Stella Rimington was the one, wasn't she?

-Close call.

Well, thanks very much indeed, Richard.

Unfortunately, we have to say goodbye to you, Catherine and Laura.

I'm so sorry to send you home on that disappointing jackpot round,

but it has been wonderful having you

on the show and you've played so well.

Great contestants, Catherine and Laura.

Well, sadly, they didn't win our jackpot today which means it

rolls over on to the next show, when we'll be playing for £11,000.

Join us next time. See if someone can win it.

-Meanwhile it's goodbye from Richard...

-Goodbye.

..and it's goodbye from me, goodbye.

APPLAUSE