Weaver's Week 2025-07-06

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Look who's back!

Two years ago, Channel 5 had Puzzling, a game for everyone – if you were clever enough. Lucy Worsley talked players through synonyms, counting puzzles, tests of knowledge, swift reactions, and memory. The best player on the better team went through, and eventually someone won.

Puzzling was a bit of a departure for Channel 5. The show was remorselessly highbrow on a channel with a reputation for being a lot like Hello! magazine. It was complex, it was fast, and if we could get one question before the contestants we could sit back with a smug feeling. It was aggressively inclusive, fitting in as many women and queer people and neurospicy folk as possible, and that attracted a lot of viewers who wouldn't otherwise watch Channel 5 at all. Although viewing figures weren't brilliant, they were no worse than Channel 5 would expect in that slot.

We came away thinking that Puzzling was eight-tenths of the way to being a great programme, which is far enough away to be a bit disappointing. It wasn't a huge surprise when we heard that Channel 5 wasn't going to recommission Puzzling again last summer.

But you can't keep a good show down, and Puzzling joins the very short list of shows actively cancelled and then recommissioned by the same channel without going elsewhere in the interim. (We can think of Round the Islands Quiz, twice cancelled and remounted on Radio 4; and Crackerjack, dropped by BBC1 in 1969 only to return in '72.)

Very few elements have remained: the title and logo, the neo-baroque theme music, and the Memory Bank round – albeit in a slightly smaller form.

The game is now played by teams of two celebrities. Resident captains are Carol Vorderman, who is famous from her time on Countdown; and Sally Lindsay, an actor who is always game for this sort of challenge. They're joined by a fair list of celebrities – across the series we saw comedian Russell Kane, sports star Sam Quek, Bungalowhead Melvin Odoom, prankster Dom Joly, and the fast-talking Scarlett Moffatt. Quite a few names we wouldn't normally associate with Channel 5, which usually positions itself in the Ben Fogle – Jane McDonald – Michael Portillo end of the market — and Lucy Worsley, who now hosts a lot of Channel 5's history shows.

Puzzling also has a new host, Jeremy Vine. He's familiar to Channel 5's morning audience, as he hosts their daily The Wright Stuff news and topical lifestyle programme. Vine has an unusual speaking intonation, which irritates quite a few viewers, but he is a very competent broadcaster and guaranteed not to overshadow anyone else on the programme.

Great news for all viewers: they've got rid of "count the ice blocks". Indeed, they have got rid of all rounds involving mathematical computation, doubtless maths would have given too much of an advantage to the former Carol Mather. They've also got rid of "Picture This", the fun round where we'd be asked to spot the difference, unscramble the picture, rectify the logic error. Shame, it was our fave.

There are plenty of new challenges. In (roughly) the order we first met them:

In Other Words has come back from the original series. Here, we're looking for two-word phrases, clued with fewer synonyms in each pass. Like almost all questions in this show, errors are not passed to the other side for a potential bonus.

Thirdle feels like it ought to be in a million newspapers already, but may well be completely original. Five-letter words are displayed, with the third letter missing. Fill in the missing letter from the words across, and they'll reveal a word going down. Starts with a block of three words, finishes with a block of five words.

Cinema Cypher and Song Cypher. You know "This Round is In Code" from House of Games? The one where letters are replaced by their number in the alphabet? This round does the same thing, but uses all sorts of symbols, and doesn't tell us what each letter means. So we might see "horse-butterfly-squirrel-snake", but what does it mean? Jeremy will let the teams see some of the letters, but will reduce the number of points.

Heat Map – a keyboard is shown, with some letters highlighted. They're colour coded, so only the letters used in the answer are highlighted, and the more they're used the darker they appear. What's the word or short phrase?

Intervenntion – a rather clever round, where we're looking for up to three things fitting into two categories. For instance, BBC Sports Review of the Year Sports Personality award winners, and Formula One pilots. So, surely Lewis Hamilton won it, but did Nigel Mansell? Damon Hill? Did Michael Schumacher pick up the overseas award? Has anyone seen George Russell's personality? Jeremy may provide an example, two or three further answers can be offered.

Word Blocks – given some letters on a three-by-three grid, players are asked to complete the three-letter words. The correct letters are given on tiles they can slide around; as the round progresses, more distractor tiles are included. Complete the grids against fairly tight time limits to score points.

Shape Shifters – our team sees a grid of possible answers, quite a few of which fit into a category. The aim is to pick the correct answers that also match the shape displayed. The shapes start off quite simple (two alongside each other, or stacked above each other) but get quite complex as the round progresses. Points for finding the correct set of answers. Jeremy tried to make "...and you can't rotate the shape" into a catchphrase from the first time we saw this game.

Join the Dots – a dazzling array of dots are shown. When joined, the dots form into letters, and as the animation plays we see that happen. What word or phrase will the dots make when the animation completes? This one's played on the buzzers, and is the only game that can be passed over to the other side.

Pathwords – three rows of five letters, with a lot of tiles that can be moved – and some letters that had to stay in place. The tiles were always in the correct column, so if the "G" was in the fourth column, it is the fourth letter of one of the words. Three grids to solve, with the initial letters and a decreasing number of other letters.

The first four rounds changed from show to show; the second round was always one of Thirdle, Word Blocks, and Pathwords, and these games at the letter box were never played elsewhere. The last two rounds were always the same.

Funnundrum – anagrams of five, six, and seven letters, played with those Perspex tiles we saw earlier. Points for each word solved, and a bonus two points for the faster team.

Memory Bank – twelve words are associated with numbers, say the number to recall the word and answer the question. This is the signature round from the original Puzzling, and a proper test of the old grey matter. It's a grand conclusion to the show.

There are some little problems with the programme, most notably that the rounds at the letterbox look messy. Too often, our view of the anagrams and words is blocked by the roaming hands of the players.

The series was blocked into two halves; Thirdle and In Other Words only appeared in the first half of the run, Pathwords and Join the Dots in the second half, and they might have mixed things up a little more. On reflection, we noticed there wasn't anything to test the communications part of the brain: as a starter to prompt further thought, we'll bring to mind the identikit picture round on A Word in Your Ear.

The programme doesn't ask that much, cramming about 40 questions into its 47 minute running time; that's about 20% of the speed of Channel 5's own 100%, and half the speed of the original civilian Puzzling. But the questions here are much more involved, solving a Thirdle is infinitely more challenging than remembering the patron saint of Walthamstow, and much more kinetic than counting spots and butterflies. We're drawn in to most challenges, we can shout at the celebs "No, you want THING to allow DUSTY".

The new Celebrity Puzzling is a very different beast from the original. Take out the comparisons to Only Connect (2), this show is clearly aiming for a similar vibe to House of Games (3) – with more than a bit of the old-school analogue charm of Countdown. Viewing figures have been perfectly acceptable at 7pm, the first week suffered because it got hot towards the weekend, the second week gained because they weren't against BBC1's daily variety box The One Show.

Is Celebrity Puzzling good enough to earn a recommission? We think it is; perhaps they might explore a half-hour format to air each night at 6.30. Good enough to be played by civilians? Again, that could work. Puzzling is clearly a flexible framework, the combination of "shout at the screen" and "fiddle about with plastic tiles" will always attract an audience. A good show will become an appointment to view, it will get an audience (including this column) who wouldn't normally watch Channel 5, and that has great value.

As we said two years ago, we hope we haven't seen the last of Puzzling.

Series 91 finished last week. Five octochamps across the series, and three players stood out as being better than the average champion. (Well, four did, but Guy Crozier won one, lost one, and didn't get near the finals.)

The top half of the draw was very clear-cut: Rhys James won his quarter against Michael Kane, Amy Berry beat Christine Smith, and Rhys beat Amy without really being stretched to book his place in the final.

The bottom half was much tighter. Second seed Tim Bridgstock was taken to a crucial conundrum by Tom Page, and Tim James had to make a miraculous numbers solve to beat Matt Fife. Tim James beat Tim Bridgstock in their timi-final thanks to "Strobilae", which we thought was an island in the Med.

In the final, Tim James went ahead on the first numbers, only to allow Rhys James to draw level on the disallowed "outrager". Both players spotted the niner "Outlander", and the crucial moment was Tim's declaration of "warfield", another disallowed word. Rhys sealed the win with perfection on the final numbers round.

Rhys James thus becomes the first Welsh champion since 1997, and proof that Colin Murray asking for contestants from Wales does actually have an effect. Countdown remains the best show to watch at 7am on Channel 4+1, far better for mind and soul than Bleary Morning Viewers with Susannah Sensible and Ed Balls.

You're good to go. Martin Österdahl is to step down as the Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contests. He took over the position in 2020, replacing Jon Ola Sand, and his tenure has been associated with some very interesting creative decisions. There have been memorable moments – it was a major achievement to stage a contest during the health crisis of 2021, and to organise a superb week in Liverpool two years later. Junior had a golden period of creativity and friendliness. The contests have become whole-city events, there have been many new digital engagement opportunities, and many new advertising sources.

Österdahl's tenure will also be remembered for the many problems. A blatant attempt to rig the jury vote at the Senior contest in 2022 was spotted and the results were discarded. Blatant attempts to rig the televote in 2024 and 2025 were also spotted and the results were used anyway. The disqualification of "Europapa" in 2024 inflamed an already tense situation, and caused some of the Executive Supervisor's role to be split between two people. EBU member broadcasters have continued to raise awkward questions.

This column has said since May last year that Martin Österdahl's position appeared untenable. This was demonstrated at last year's Junior Eurovision, when his planned appearance was cut because he was booed and jeered; this May, he appeared from a nuclear bunker at a safe distance from the arena. We will find out in the coming months and years how much of the problem was Martin Österdahl personally, and how much was structural within the EBU.

Perhaps the greatest legacy is Martin Österdahl's Anti-Booing Crowd Tech. Do you want to broadcast a pop concert without picking up any chants from the crowd? Do you want a quiet life and not broadcast anything that might offend the professionally-offended? Martin Österdahl's Anti-Booing Crowd Tech will always give pleasant cheering, with nothing more raucous than whoops and hollers you can add at the end of each song.

Sure, there's a slight dip in the quality of the vocals, which sound like they've been passed through a number of socks, but nobody will write and complain: our team of professional Ladybirds will ensure a consistent lack of quality. And coming soon, Anti-Booing Crowd Tech Plus, a technology to ensure that nothing said by the performer on stage will cause problems! Fax your order in now!

Who wants another series of Blind Date? Disney does, as the streaming product has ordered ten new episodes from Stellify Media and So TV (parts of Sony and ITV, respectively). Three potential partners, one possible date, they might find love or attraction. You might remember the series from its incredibly long run with Cilla Black on ITV, or the more recent revival on Channel 5 with Paul O'Grady. No plan to put this series on linear television just yet, and we're interested to see that it's been commissioned by Disney's "Unscripted" unit.

Tuesday was not a good day to be on the 6.45am train from Birmingham. The train got stuck at Neasden Junction, one of the worst places for trains to break down because it completely blocks the station (and it's in Neasden). On board the train were both Ken Bruce and Vernon Kay; they were able to report into their relevant studios and talk to supply DJs Lord Gary Davies and Claire Sturgess. But there's no chance of playing Popmaster when Ken's on the other end of a mobile phone, and to play the pre-recorded Ten to the Top would spoil the illusion that it's all done live.

What's new in the world of game shows this week? We have a new series of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (Radio 4, Mon). A couple of Bargain Hunt eps (BBC1, weekdays), continuing Countdown (C4) and Love Island (VM2 and ITV2). And, er, that's it.

We don't plan to publish next week, so let's peek ahead. Bridge of Lies resumes its interrupted series (BBC1, 14 July), with Mastermind and University Challenge also back amongst us (BBC2). ITV want us to think that Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters (14 July) is a game show, but we're not seeing a game in there. Sewing Bee starts a new series (BBC1, 15 July).

We'll be back in a fortnight, quite possibly with an idea we've had perculating since last decade.

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