Guest Panellists: Paddy McGuinness, Fire, Desiree Burch, Roisin Conaty, Sandi Toksvig and Joe Pasquale.
A decent enough episode with a rare bit of spark in places. A contestant says she'd prefer to be on Strictly Come Dancing rather than Blankety Blank, which produces the usual amount of mock-indignation from Bradley. Except during his "pretending to be insulted" mode, he says that she'd like to be on Strictly "As what?"
With the contestant a slightly larger lady, everyone thinks Bradley is calling her fat, and the contestant tells him he's "digging himself a hole." Of course, it's all pretty tepid stuff, as the contestants just being abusive and obnoxious is very contrived, but it's a rare moment of edge in a series that is very sanitised.
On the panel is Joe Pasquale, returning for the first time since the Lily Savage era, and someone that Bradley had worked with towards the start of his career. (The 1994 TV special He's Pasquale, I'm Walsh was 22nd in the charts with 8.49m viewers, should you care.) Looking at Bradley's career isn't something that's been done too much in these articles so far. Maybe it's because he's still very much "current", a TV ubiquity that sees him on a permanent ITV loop with The Chase, a Sisyphean TV damnation that sees him not rolling a boulder, but pretending to laugh at vague innuendo for all eternity. Then there's Breaking Dad, a programme he does with his son, and a reboot of Gladiators, a show that... well, he also does with his son. ("Fire", real name Montell Douglas, is one of the new breed of Gladiator.)
There's also the fact that Bradley's work as a stand-up comedian is perhaps a little "safe", very much innocuous observations, sort of like a mildly edgier but less successful Michael McIntyre. Without something more subversive, or shocking in the modern day, there's not so much to discuss in terms of Bradley as a comedian, and with him yet to publish an autobiography, it doesn't really give us a lot to discuss.
Yet to give Bradley his due, he went the old school method of working his way up the ranks. Born in 1960, he was a professional footballer, retiring in 1982 due to injuries. He reputedly began his comedy career that same year, though it only began to attract the attentions of newspapers around 1984. During that time he was playing cabaret dates, billed as an impressionist/comedian, and it wasn't until 1988/1989 he started to become an "overnight" success on the comedy circuit.
His first TV appearance came in 1987 after a mishap in his stand-up. Having been taken ill before going on stage, Bradley performed his act to a theatre from his hospital bed, delivering his gags down a phoneline. The event attracted a bit of attention and got him a spot talking about it with Danny Baker on Michael Aspel's The Six o'clock Show. But his first real breakout was as the host of 1989's comedy quiz You Must Be Joking. (As mentioned in an earlier article, Bradley hosted just about every quiz show going.)
So, why did this article take such a long time to be published when this run of Blankety Blank ended in June? Research time. In Episode 22.9 Bradley states that he was a warm up man for Les Dawson's version of the show, and so many, many pieces of paperwork had to be dissected. For while there's no reason for Bradley to lie, his memory could have mistaken him.
Sadly, this one has to go on file, for now, as "to be confirmed". He wasn't a warm-up man for Series 11 or 13, but Series 12 (recorded in 1988) featured paperwork with the warm-up man unlisted. It's likely he did spots in 1988, but there's no concrete proof at yet. The mission will continue, and updates will be given when available...
Guest Panellists: Brian Conley, Kate Garraway, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Jonathan Ross, Ruth Madeley and Phil Wang.
The big talk of this edition was contestant Daud, who gave humorously off-the-cuff remarks, and was described by Bradley as "absolutely priceless". While amusing, his reactions didn't seem natural, but more someone "doing a turn", and making the most of their opportunity onscreen.
It's a consistent problem with this era of Blankety Blank, in that a significant amount of the contestants no longer appear to be members of the public, but selected performers. As discussed in the last article on the show, many even have their own agents, which is arguably an ethical problem when the publicly-funded licence fee is paying for the prizes.
This edition also features Adam Crolla as a contestant, a man with a significant enough social media following to also have his own Cameo account. (If you don't know, then Cameo is a site where you can pay for celebrities to record special messages for you.) I asked Adam on "X" if he'd applied or been asked, with Adam confirming: "They approached me."
As a man of increasing years, I won't be "down with the kidz" and recognise everyone from TokTik or whatever they use these days. But the ones that I did spot, and were added to the IMDb this series are: Atholl Mills (Christmas Special, had appeared in 2021's Dating Different), Amir Dean (Episode Three, has had various media spots as his drag act "Lady Busha"), Louis Makepeace (also Episode Three, has a social media presence and appeared in BBC3's Hungry for It) and Ross Lannon (Episode Seven, has appeared on news reports as a blogger).
Now, this is not to knock the people involved, especially as many have noble causes (Atholl has a facial deformity that led to him appearing on the dating show, while Ross blogs about disability), and it's not their fault they're selected. But are any of the contestants genuine members of the public any more? Because Episode Eight features the last of the contestants with a TV past... Jean Martyn, who was a finalist in the 2011 series of Britain's Got Talent.
Guest Panellists: Jane McDonald, Oti Mabuse, Joel Dommett, Jonathan Ross, Sara Pascoe and The Vivienne.
Moderately amusing, watchable fluff that aired on Boxing Day 2024 to an audience of 2 million. (Chart position unavailable, though it didn't make the Top 50.)
With this series of Blankety Blank, the "who?" factor of the panel is lower this time around, even if it's just because they're people you'd never heard of but had appeared on Blankety Blank before. (Sorry Oti.) Of the run, then I wasn't previously aware of comedians Lucy Beaumont, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Joanne McNally, Jon Richardson, Aisling Bea and Iain Stirling. I also wasn't aware of actor Layton Williams, musician Kojey Radical or presenter Angela Scanlon. Though this could be more to do with me being an old [BLANK] than their profile levels.
With this, we come to James Lee Williams, AKA The Vivienne. I can't really claim to fully understand modern drag culture, and even Paul O'Grady was quoted in 2021 by The Independent as noting it had changed: "Well, you’ve got (RuPaul’s) Drag Race. It’s a good thing. It’s totally different from my day. Our sort of drag, where we worked the pubs and the clubs, the roots are steeped in variety and musical. You told gags. There were some wonderful drag comedians – Phil Starr, Marc Fleming – they were polished comedians, who just happened to be in drag. This lot look incredible, with the make-up, the frocks, the wigs, but for me it’s like drag’s moved on, it’s transitioned."
Anyway, while this was the first I'd personally heard of The Vivienne, they were a pretty good presence on this episode, generating some of the few laughs the show has. Sadly, they died on 3rd January 2025 of a cardiac arrest aged just 32. Stories went out that they'd suffered homophobic bullying on the Twatter platform, though most of it seems to have been deleted.
One of the slightly confusing messages surrounding The Vivienne is their identity. I used their male name as they weren't transgender, or identifying as transgender, it was simply a drag act. But Twatter was full of posts about "her" death, even though "The Vivienne" is a completely fictional character. If Paul O'Grady had still been performing as Lily Savage when he passed, would we be talking about Lily dying? Of course, "The Vivienne" didn't die, because they didn't actually exist... we live in a confusing world. I've even read and reread these past few paragraphs worried in case it'll be misinterpreted as being transphobic... when they weren't even transgender in the first place.
But yes, The Vivienne was pretty amusing on this edition, RIP. With this sad news, it's perhaps the ideal time to list a memorium of all the Blankety Blank stars that have left us since the last article: Steve Wright, Rose-Marie, Chris Serle, Geoff Capes, Duncan Norvelle, Wincey Willis, Linda Nolan, Diane Langton, Brian Murphy, Henry Kelly, Colin Berry, Wayne Dobson and Jilly Cooper.
Let's end on some lighter trivia, with Oti Mabuse asked what she does for Christmas, and telling Bradley she goes to South Africa where it's warm, only having one Christmas in the UK, and "never again". The shaky illusion that it was recorded anywhere near Christmas is wiped out completely.
Guest Panellists: Naga Munchetty, Dermot O'Leary, Iain Stirling, Sue Perkins, Ellie Simmonds and Layton Williams.
This edition was the one that got featured on Points of View for the year, with viewer Di Coke stating: "What I really like is that I feel the contestants are just as important as the celebrities on the show. It's almost like they're so happy to be there, they're not bothered about winning the prizes." It was one of two positive comments against one negative, but does, ironically, highlight a lot of the problems with the series at this stage.
Yet it's an interesting final episode, in that Bradley doesn't really seem to be in the mood. Whereas normally even the slightest hint of a joke will have him propping himself up on the set, here his reaction shots are largely mirthless, where he seems desperate to get on with the game. It's quite refreshing that he's not trying to convince viewers they're having a great time, and its maybe a tack that would work better if he really went with it?
Bradley aside, there's one new face on the panel in the form of BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty, perhaps unfortunately shown in the same week where bullying allegations had been made against her and used to sell tabloids. Bad timing aside, Naga's an interesting character, in that it's never really clear if she and Charlie Stayt, her Breakfast co-presenter, like or really dislike each other. There's often a somewhat prickly air, but it could be tempered by humour and Naga's professionally "strict" persona.
Naga's very much a regular source of scorn for many users of "X", and many days you can see her trending on there, with some people slagging her off, other people saying you're racist if you slag her off, and others being a bit racist and slagging her off. And there are definitely people who do slate her with that as motivation. But it's also possible to not be racist and still dislike her. Like it is anyone, in fact. I've no idea, I've never met her, but it's likely that her sense of humour doesn't travel for everyone, and even on Blankety Blank when she's scolding Bradley, some of the audience aren't digging it.
Talking of the audience, then look out for around 28'19m in, where a redhead, possibly bored [BLANK]less takes the time to check her nails, as pictured above. It's that kind of show, where so many seem to want to get it over with. And, in a lead back to the earlier discussion on people not trying with the questions, actor Layton Williams answers "conditioner" to a question about Bradley taking two bottles into the shower. No, Layton... that's what people would take into the shower anyway. What would be "interesting" or unusual about that?
Guest Panellists: Dame Kelly Holmes, Omid Djalili, Rob Beckett, Jack Dee, Steph McGovern and Lucy Beaumont.
The most successful edition of this particular run, reaching 31st place with 2.54 million viewers. (The following week's episode dropped to 41st place with 2.22 million.)
It's a strong episode, with four comedians on the panel, including what are now older comics in the form of Jack Dee and Omid Djalili. It feels strange to regard them as "old school" when we've previously covered the likes of Arthur Askey, Terry Hall and Norman Vaughan. But the shifting timescale means that Jack is now a veteran of over 35 years in television. His first attempt at stand-up was in a comedy club in September 1986, where he quickly progressed, before appearing on TV in 1990. Omid came slightly later, getting his first TV bit parts in 1995.
Nearly all of the panel have written a book, so you can go on the Anorak Zone's Amazon Shop and read (in release order): Jack Dee's Thanks For Nothing, Omid Djalili's Hopeful, Lucy Beaumont's Drinking Custard: Diary of a Confused Mum, Rob Beckett's A Class Act, or a number of books by Kelly Holmes, including her latest, Unique. (Steph McGovern is the only panel member from this edition yet to publish an autobiography, but 19 days after the broadcast of this episode she released her debut novel, crime thriller Dead Line.)
With all of this available written material, is there much to gleam from these texts? Well, no, not especially. They were all written before this episode was made, obviously, but there's no revelations like Jack Dee citing Les Dawson as an inspiration, or Kelly Holmes talking about Terry Wogan. Omid Djalili describes being addicted to TV when he was young and reels off a list of shows he watched, Blankety Blank among them, but he doesn't elaborate.
So, if this overview is about the success of the panellists, why is the main image about amiable contestant Nathanael Hill? The likeable contestant was beset by ill health after being injured by schrapnel in the army (he shows Bradley his artifical leg during the show) and sadly died in April 2025, aged just 39. The post-end credits feature a caption in tribute to Nathanael. RIP.