BBC doesn't mind the Buzzcocks

Comedy music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks was dropped by the BBC this week, after almost 20 years and nearly 270 episodes on air.

A 2014 revamp of the show failed to salvage falling ratings, likely leading to the show’s cancellation.

The show’s last run often struggled to hit 1 million viewers, with the shift to a 10pm slot on Monday nights believed to have potentially played a part in the drop.

A BBC spokesman said that “After 28 series we’ve decided not to bring Never Mind the Buzzcocks back to the BBC. This will create space for new entertainment formats in the future.

“We’d like to thank the team at Talkback [the independent production company responsible for the show], Rhod Gilbert [the current host], all the brilliant hosts over the years and of course Noel [Fielding] and Phil [Jupitus] for the years of enjoyment they’ve given BBC Two viewers.”

The show was first broadcast in 1996, with Mark Lamarr taking the host’s chair alongside Sean Hughes and Phil Jupitus as team captains.

Jupitus has been the one constant from that original line-up, staying as captain for all 28 series of the show.

The opposing team was headed up by Bill Bailey following Hughes’ departure, and more recently Noel Fielding after Bailey took his leave.

The host’s chair saw an even greater number of occupants over the course of the show’s run.

Several guest stars took the role after Lamarr left, until Simon Amstell lead the show for four series.

His departure triggered another string of guest hosts, which ultimately lead to the appointment of Rhod Gilbert to the job.

When Gilbert was appointed to the role, Digital Spy asked if he thought the show “still had legs,” to which he responded “If I thought I was coming in just to stand on the bow while the bloody thing sank, I wouldn’t be doing it.”

Buzzcocks was perhaps most famous for its ability to inspire an angry walkout from its guests, with the likes of Ordinary Boys singer Preston and Fun Lovin’ Criminals frontman Huey Morgan all storming off the set during filming.

The show gained popularity with such rounds as the ‘Identity Parade’, where the show’s producers would locate a former music star and insert them into a line-up of similar figures, asking panel members to identify the ‘real’ star.

Similarly famous was the ‘Intros Round’, now a staple of phone-in contests on radio stations across the country, a quick-fire blast of snippets of song intros from which panel members had to identify the whole song.

They also featured the likes of ‘Woop Woop! That’s the Sound of da Police!’, a round which saw teams asked to identify how various artists got into trouble with the law, and was fairly exemplary of the show’s attitude towards artists.

The BBC has said that they have no further episodes for Buzzcocks planned, including any sort of compilation or retrospective episode (which the show has been known to before), meaning the show’s final episode has already aired at the time of this announcement.

## Never Forget the Buzzcocks: In Memoriam

With the demise of Never Mind the Buzzcocks comes the inevitable wave of pieces reminiscing on the show, its trials, its tribulations, and most of all its walkouts.

The seat occupied by Preston (lead singer of the Ordinary Boys) became dubbed the ‘ejector seat’ after he stormed off set following then-host Simon Amstell reading out extracts from Preston’s ex-girlfiend (Chantelle Houghton)’s memoirs.

(Before I continue, I’m obliged to point out two things. One, I have no idea who either ‘Preston’ or ‘Chantelle’ are. If you do, please write your answer on a postcard, then set that postcard on fire. I literally don’t care. Two, reading the memoirs of someone’s ex out to them on TV feels like a bit of a dick move.)

Said title of ‘ejector seat’ can’t help but feel like an enormous over-exaggeration on reflection. A quick Google suggests that less than five people actually walked out on the show over the many, many years it’s been on air.

Videos of the walkouts are all over every goodbye article declaring the end of Buzzcocks, but they’re the same few videos. That story about Preston walking out (and why) is the one that seems to appear most. It’s in every article. The only story that didn’t (really) mention it was the one by the BBC themselves.

Personally, I think the guest hosts were the real highlight of the show, especially David Tennant’s stint in the chair. If we remember Buzzcocks for nothing else, let it be for a raised fist and a shout of “Barrowman!”