The 2023 run showed a marked improvement over the previous two revival series, and a greater understanding of what makes the show work. Please join me as I rank them all from worst to best...
Guest Panellists (in panel order): Phil Tufnell, Martine McCutcheon, Alex Brooker, Mel Giedroyc, Rev Kate Bottley and Darren Harriott.
First things first: this third Bradley Walsh run of Blankety Blank is a considerable improvement over the previous two years. The reasons why are something we'll cover as we go along, though possibly it could just be the show finding the right director for the part. While Richard Valentine and Diccon Ramsay had directed comedy shows, they were more experienced with dance/music programmes, whereas this year's Barbara Wiltshire has more of a comedy background.
This doesn't mean that this revival version of Blankety Blank has suddenly turned into must-see television - if indeed it ever was - but there's a marked improvement, and Bradley Walsh finally seems to be settling into the role of host. No, he'll never be Terry Wogan or Les Dawson, and the set up won't allow him to be (although he walks among the panel more this run, they're still far apart) but it's a significant step up.
While much better than before, there are still some underperforming episodes, and the first 4 or 5 entries in this ranking are more in keeping with what we've seen in prior years. This is particularly the case here, where nothing particularly funny is happening on screen, but everyone tries to convince the viewers otherwise.
Half of the panel are from a comedy background (a statement which is perhaps being charitable to Mel Giedroyc... and the other two, come to that) but the three trying hardest are the non-comics. This is a key point with Blankety Blank, in that not all six panellists can be "funny", and that someone has to be a straight guest in order for balance. Having six people screaming out would-be witticisms for half an hour can get galling, and, more to the point, is rarely amusing. Worst offender of the bunch is Reverend Kate Bottley, who bellows most of her input throughout, though should at least be given some small credit for answering a question about a car with "mud flaps".
The questions are a little easier than before - or at least having one or two obvious answers - but there's an odd moment where a question with the likely answer of "mimes/points" is asked of Alex Brooker. This new incarnation of Blankety Blank has been very supportive to the disabled community, not only having panellists with disabilities, but many contestants. Yet having a question that seems geared towards gently mocking someone with hand disabilities seems a little off-base, a similar thing of which happens to Chris McCausland in episode five.
Guest Panellists: Fred Sirieix, Laura Whitmore, Eddie Kadi, Josh Widdicombe, Vanessa Feltz and Scarlett Moffatt.
The major difference between these Blankety Blank articles for the Bradley Walsh run compared to previous runs is, of course, the absence of behind-the-scenes research. While the look at the original series was a borderline insane, two-and-a-half-year excavation of various documents, autobiographies and newspaper clippings, this isn't possible for a series that's only just come out. We're perhaps nearing the point where one of the panellists who appeared in the 2020 series might drop a reference in an autobiography, but generally we have to be happy with a listing of the ratings, and that's about our lot.
One element of this new run that may be uncovered more in coming years is how many of the contestants are selected. With the production wanting to make a "fun" show, this revival run of Blankety Blank tends to avoid the sometimes monosyllabic contestants of old, and instead picks ones that are prepared to "give a turn". So much so that some of them have had acting gigs and agents before coming on the show.
This is not to snub anyone involved, or undermine their presence, but just to note that some of them aren't really "members of the public" in the traditional sense that they used to be. It's Blankety Blank research, digging a little deeper. This edition features a Dr. Hannah Barham-Brown, who has appeared on television as herself in various political and health guises, usually on news programmes. In fact, just two days after this edition aired, she was giving health advice on an episode of Steph's Packed Lunch. For a small bit of possible research, I asked Hannah if she'd applied or been approached to take part, with her telling me on No One Calls It X (formerly Twatter) that: "They approached me!"
A little February 2024 postscript to all this - not, I confess, spotted by myself but by others - is that Episode 21.1 features a contestant, Farida Khalifa, who, 15 days later, appeared in ITV's relaunch of Big Brother. Obviously Blankety Blank would have been recorded in advance, but then other people recognised her from 2009 episodes of Come Dine With Me as well.
Guest Panellists: Carol Vorderman, Clara Amfo, Johnny Vegas, Judi Love, Prue Leith and Asim Chaudhry.
One of the many improvements in this run of Blankety Blank is the quality of the questions. While most of the regular writers are still involved, it's notable that new writers have been brought into the show, writers who, we must assume, "get it" more than the usual names. This one has six names listed for "additional material", and amongst some familiar names are Athena Kugblenu and Kevin Eldon.
Kugblenu is a newer voice, and has been behind shows such as Late Night Mash, whereas Eldon is more known for his comedy performing. Perhaps significantly, Eldon played one of the contestants in a 2003 Comic Relief spoof of Blankety Blank, starring Peter Serafinowicz as Terry Wogan. It suggests that Eldon "gets it", and also understands that as a comedy game show, it requires questions that are comedic.
Not only this, but for the majority of the run the questions are easier, too. As in, having an answer that's limited to just two or three possible responses, and not completely obscure. For the nine regular episodes the contestants get - spoiler - just 68 out of 337 possible matches, but the low total is more to do with contestant and panel ineptitude rather than any distinct issue with the questions themselves. As an example, this episode sees a contestant answer "Wales" to a question where the BLANK is a place in England, while another tries "orange" to a question about yellow food.
Yet despite such improvements, there's still an oddly enclosed feel to modern Blankety Blank, where only a certain type of panellist can work. Bradley forgets to ask a terrible contestant for their answer, going straight to the panel, and has to be reminded by Johnny Vegas to ask the contestant first. Johnny's "I reckon you could ask us and he might still get it wrong" gets only moderate laughs from the studio audience, while the usual inanity about appearances on Bake Off and the like get a much warmer response.
Johnny doesn't really get out of first gear, despite the show's post-watershed start time, though to many of the target audience he might no longer be known as a slight edgy, semi-alternative comedian and instead one of the cast of Still Open All Hours. In fact, Johnny is so unJohnny-like that I'd forgotten this is actually his second appearance, having previously been part of the panel with the dreadful #19.1. While this episode is no classic, it does, at least, serve to illustrate how much the programme has improved.
Guest Panellists: Josh Widdicombe, Deborah Meaden, Russell Kane, Alison Hammond, Libby Clegg and Richie Anderson.
An episode that just about works, despite so much going against it. The canned/augmented laughter that has been a bane of the earlier runs seems to have made a return in a couple of places, while the questions are back to a blend of "could be anything"/obscure, with none of the humour.
Not to point fingers, but it's perhaps worth noting that the team credited with "additional material" for this edition are core writers who have worked on the show pretty much from the start. The contestants match - spoiler - just 6 out of 35 answers, and, while they give some terrible responses, it's not entirely their fault when there are multiple possible answers to each question, many of which aren't particularly related to logic, humour, or the logic of humour.
Also notable for this edition is that Alison Hammond has been promoted to the prime "bottom left seat", with Josh Widdicombe relegated to top left. It's possibly coincidence, but Josh does make several references to both his seating position and Alison, as well as being much more vocal than in his other appearance this series, almost unconsciously trying to justify his appearance.
I asked Alison on Nobody Calls It X if they'd said anything to her about her "promotion" in the seating arrangements, and she told me: "No they just tell us where to sit x". Alison began as a child actress (including appearances in Palace Hill) but came to wider public attention when she was a contestant on the third series of Big Brother, back when it was still good. She's now in demand with shows like This Morning and The Great British Bake Off, so it was nice to get a response from her, and I hope it's not too bad form to quote her tweet here. Alison joins Rustie Lee as a member of the panel to give The Anorak Zone a Twitter kiss - though Rustie gave me two.
Guest Panellists: Oti Mabuse, DJ Target, Yung Filly, Sue Perkins, Eamonn Holmes and Josie Gibson.
We reach the point where we're about to cross over from the "passable" episodes into genuinely decent ones. There are some names unfamiliar here to older viewers, and Sue Perkins gets far too involved in events - otherwise known as "doing a Jimmy" - but generally this one is... okay. Perhaps the panellist to focus on here is Josie Gibson, who was in the last watchable series of Big Brother, and has since become a legitimate presenter with things like This Morning. By coincidence, the following evening after this edition aired she was a contestant in the new series of ITV's I'm a Celebrity, Get My Agent To Get Me In There!, eventually finishing fourth.
For episodes 6-9 Blankety Blank followed Survivor in the schedules, a disaster that will go down in BBC history along with Eldorado. Costing a reported £30million, the show had run on ITV in 2000/2001, and was not a particular success, making the BBC's decision to resurrect it an odd one. The format was invented by the UK's Charlie Parsons, but while it has seen success abroad - the US is on its 43rd series - it's not something that's ever taken off in the UK, perhaps because the concept of "extreme survival" isn't ingrained in a nation where the biggest threat to mankind is a badger.
The BBC version tanked so badly in the ratings that it began falling out of the Top 50 altogether, and not only dragged Blankety Blank down with it, but eventually sank beneath it. Yes, Survivor became so unpopular the programme that followed it past the watershed received more viewers.
As we're reaching into the depths of the ratings here, and BARB only publish the Top 50, we have to turn to Broadcast Magazine, which offers a Top 100, though their figures aren't consolidated. For episodes 6-9, Blankety Blank averaged 2.21 million viewers and 60th place in the charts, with this particular edition 55th with 2.35 million.
Were the BARB ratings available, they would have undoubtedly been listed with higher figures. As an example, then Episode 21.8 did make the Top 50 - Broadcast Magazine listed it as 42nd with 2.52 million viewers, whereas BARB had it one place lower at 43rd, but with a larger audience of 2.93 million.