Just a Minute - 45th Anniversary Specials
For ten days only the legendary radio series, Just a Minute, will be coming to screens everywhere in celebration of their 45th anniversary.
New host Nicholas Parsons introduced regular participant Paul Merton who actually wrote to them asking to be on the show. Once they agreed, Merton took the panel show by storm with his witticism.
With Merton bringing in a younger audience he also brought a new host of people to appear on the show such as Sue Perkins and well known celebrities such as Stephen Fry and Julian Clary.
For ten days only the legendary radio series, Just a Minute, will be coming to screens everywhere in celebration of their 45th anniversary.To mark the sacred occasion BBC2 have shown ten televised special editions of Just a Minute that began on March 26th and the final being shown today. Some of the guests that will make appearances on the TV broadcasts will include Shappi Khorsandi, Liza Tarbuck and Marcus Brigstocke.
Alongside the TV shows Just a Minute Without Hesitation was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on 17th March at 9am which relayed classic moments from the previous 45 years.
Radio 4 will also be hosting the Mumbai Just a Minute specials for your listening pleasure.
In 1967 Nicholas Parsons hosted the first programme and following suit, he will also chair the TV shows as well.
Parsons has recently said: "After 45 years of chairing Just A Minute on the radio, I am very excited to be hosting these special celebratory episodes for BBC Two. I'm sure they will be popular with the show's many fans and hopefully with a few new ones as well."
The panel show had a simple premise. You got given a minute to talk about a selected topic without repetition, hesitation or deviation.
The idea for this show first came about after Ian Messiter was on a bus and remembered his old Latin Teacher. Messiter remembered this being used as a punishment in the 1930s when he was in school. Sadly Messiter passed away in 1999.
Previous guests took the game a little too seriously at first which detracted from the intended comedic value until a regular line-up was created. This panel was then made up of Kenneth Williams, Clement Freud, Derek Nimmo and Peter Jones.
The panel show had a simple premise. You got given a minute to talk about a selected topic without repetition, hesitation or deviation.
The idea for this show first came about after Ian Messiter was on a bus and remembered his old Latin Teacher. Messiter remembered this being used as a punishment in the 1930s when he was in school. Sadly Messiter passed away in 1999.
Previous guests took the game a little too seriously at first which detracted from the intended comedic value until a regular line-up was created. This panel was then made up of Kenneth Williams, Clement Freud, Derek Nimmo and Peter Jones.
New host Nicholas Parsons introduced regular participant Paul Merton who actually wrote to them asking to be on the show. Once they agreed, Merton took the panel show by storm with his witticism.With Merton bringing in a younger audience he also brought a new host of people to appear on the show such as Sue Perkins and well known celebrities such as Stephen Fry and Julian Clary.
Parsons is known as the reason for the continued success of the show due to his premise as host. Parsons has brought a new lease of life to the show along with the topics, which in one of the televised programmes created for the anniversary included himself!
Parsons misinterpretations of the rules alongside the guest’s opinions on what goes wrong make the show what it is today!
If you want to catch up on any missed programmes you can watch them on iPlayer, but they disappear by April 12th 2012 so I recommend you watch them without hesitation!
Victoria V.L Walker
