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Only Connect: Behind the Scenes
For those (living in the UK only, sorry) who missed last night's episode of the game show, which featured me, Geoff Ryman and Liz Williams as the Fantasy Writers team, here it is on the BBC iPlayer.
Being part of the show was an interesting process. The three of us went along to an audition, initially, where we played a version of the wall game using pieces of paper, and were marked more on the amount of useful chatter we produced than how much we got right. Liz revealed an extraordinary knowledge of the bits used in the mouths of horses, and Geoff talked the roof off, in that sweet, erudite way of his. If there's one part of the finished episode that strikes me as odd it's that we don't get to hear much from him, when he was so a part of the team dynamic.
Being part of the show was an interesting process. The three of us went along to an audition, initially, where we played a version of the wall game using pieces of paper, and were marked more on the amount of useful chatter we produced than how much we got right. Liz revealed an extraordinary knowledge of the bits used in the mouths of horses, and Geoff talked the roof off, in that sweet, erudite way of his. If there's one part of the finished episode that strikes me as odd it's that we don't get to hear much from him, when he was so a part of the team dynamic.
We initially asked to be 'the SF writers', but it was said the audience wouldn't know what the abbreviation stood for. They proposed 'sci-fi', we reacted in horror, 'science fiction' wouldn't fit on the front of the desk, so we settled on fantasy. There were many rules about shirts of different colours and patterns, and Geoff, who'd also brought piles of quiz research material, which we swotted on the train, ended up wearing a borrowed one. They do take care of you, with a lovely PA sitting down with each team and guiding them through what's expected. By the time of recording, we were all quite relaxed, maybe too much so! We were obviously told what each of the hieroglyphs meant. Victoria Coren in person is businesslike, charming, and tends to take the side of the teams when there's a question over fairness or the specifics of an answer. One thing I really liked was that there was none of the expected mocking over our SFnalness or Liz's witchiness. There's another take of the introduction where she asks me who the best genre writer is, and I mention my team mates before settling on Christopher Priest. Not the rough and tumble I'd expected.
You know that moment I yell 'centipedes!'? I think I perhaps put a bit too much into that because it's a re-take. Something went wrong on the sound, and I had to deliberately get the question wrong a second time. I think the other team's careful reply sounds a bit arch too.
We knew we'd be crap at the missing vowels round, the length of which depends on how long the rest of the show has run. We had actually resolved to make lots of banter to limit the length of it. But as it turned out, we were a bit too much rabbits in headlights to try that. It makes my inner cricket fan ashamed that I didn't get 'England cricketer' and my inner Superman writer ashamed that I didn't know the details of Solomon Grundy's life. It was great to see Liz's knowledge of New York streets displayed.
But the worst bit for us was the wall. They've changed the device since last season, we were told, and the keypad to operate this one just didn't seem to respond to either me or Geoff's fingers. When you see us leave illuminated squares, we've generally kept hitting them and found they wouldn't switch off. Liz did rather better. After the round, there was a bit of a steward's inquiry, but it was decided that, since the other team had also had the same problems, it hadn't altered the result. And indeed, that was fair enough. That is rather the moment when we lose it, and go into our worst round way behind. And shouting about centipedes.
All in all, I'd recommend the experience. We had a great time, met a fabulous production crew, all of whom are devoted to the game being fair and the questions accurate, and went for a drink afterwards tired but happy. And I couldn't have wished for better company on my team. Next Tuesday, comic artist P.J.Holden is on Eggheads. Is this becoming a fashion? Cheerio!
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Commiserations on not winning, but you were clearly enjoying yourselves. And so was I - it turns out to be much more fun yelling the right answer at the telly when it's people you know up there :-)
Yeah, Caroline was doing that right beside me last night! Geoff is so tall that he actually had to squat to do the wall, which also didn't help.
It's also worth mentioning that on next week's Only Connect there's a team from lowculture.co.uk, and DWM artist Ben Morris is going to be on Pointless in the next few week.s
Hallo - sort of met you briefly at BristolCon last year. I was rooting for you, of course, and did get the impression you were having some problem with the actual keys on the Wall.
A bit feeble they didn't let you keep "SF Writers" - other team names like Courtiers and Geocachers need a bit of explanation after all (not to mention the hieroglyphs), and the no-doubt brainiac audience OC attracts could surely retain the SF-means-science-fiction factoid at least to the end of the show.
I wish I could have been there during that connections round. I was shouting the battles and street names at the television.
As to Bridge Players. I was kind of laughing when they didn't get the invisibility clue after Perseus's helmet. I guessed the refference to the drug the invisible man took, but as soon as the Helmet came up. I got it.
I think this may be the only quiz show where I shout answers at the screen. Those semed to me to be quite hard walls last night, which is unusual at this stage of the contest. If I know the topic, I can usually get about 50% of the midssing vowels. That's sitting at home, however. I'm sure it's harder in a studio. And, yeah, why *was* Geoff so quiet? That's not like him at all.
- Rob Hansen
Thanks, all. It's catching on! Narm: well, fantasy covers it just as well.
Thanks for the heads-up, I catch Only Connect only intermittently, so had missed your team. And well done on doing as well as you did, that was a pig of a wall round - 'go to the country'? How very random!
Still, it's a great show (my best round is the consonants one), so cheers for contributing towards a fun, smart half hour.
Off to get ready for Eggheads now! I do hope Daphne's on ...
Thanks very much. A Daphne fan, then?
Very much so - she's my favourite!
Paul, I think your team was robbed a bit.
I watched this on BBC4 full of illness and it soothed me to sleep. Thanks! Then caught it again on the iPlayer and me and my girlfriend both noted 'He'll be upset with himself for that.' when you missed the cricket and Solomon Grundy ones. Haha! It was a very good try and you seemed to have a lot more fun than the Bridge Players.
Not genuinely robbed, no! Thanks Daniel, and glad we helped you nod off.
Yeah, sorry Paul but you should have got Solomon Grundy ;)
Though, would you honestly want to go for a drink with the winners? - scary people!! B)
Not at all!
Not just us then...we had trouble with the touchscreen too (I'm Dave from the Mountain Men, on next week (18/10/2010)). Be interesting to see if it's obvious in the edit.
I'm glad it wasn't just us! Looking forward to seeing it.