2016/17

Season 43 · 2016 · 31 episodes

Episodes

1Episode 1In this first heat of the new series, John Humphrys starts the search for the nation's Mastermind. Specialist subjects tonight are Joni Mitchell, the Radio 4 sitcom Bleak Expectations, Alan Turing, and the history of aviation to 1914.
2Episode 2John Humphrys presents the second heat of this series. Subjects are the rock band Yes, Ernest Rutherford, the films of Werner Herzog and MC Escher.
3Episode 3John Humphrys presents another episode of the classic quiz. Subjects include beekeeping, the Royal Navy in the Second World War, Mark E Smith and the Fall, and John le Carre's Quest for Karla trilogy.
4Episode 4John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. The specialist subjects are Benny Hill, the Mitford sisters, Marcus Tullius Cicero and the Jacobite rebellion.
5Episode 5John Humphrys presents another episode of Britain's toughest quiz. Subjects include Wilfred Owen, Sir Michael Caine, Mad Men and the rock band Faith No More.
6Episode 6John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. The subjects are REM, Harry S Truman, the World Cup and the drama series Borgen.
7Episode 7In this heat, John Humphrys grills four more contenders on James Bond films, Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street novels, 20th-century US presidents and the musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein.
8Episode 8John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Specialist subjects are the films of the Coen brothers, Tom Waits, Transatlantic Liners and Flanders and Swann.
9Episode 9John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. The subjects are the films of Peter Sellers, astronomy, the life and music of Arthur Lee and Love and John Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga.
10Episode 10Four more contenders brave the black chair in Britain's toughest quiz. The subjects are Nick Drake, Emil Zatopek, Band of Brothers and Hernán Cortés and the conquest of Mexico.
11Episode 11Tonight's subjects are Formula One Grand Prix circuits, Oliver Cromwell, the Charles Paris mysteries by Simon Brett and Fillipo Brunelleschi.
12Episode 12John Humphrys presents another episode of the classic quiz. Tonight's specialist subjects are the city of Bath, The Faces, Sophie Scholl and the White Rose and Ayrton Senna.
13Episode 13John Humphrys asks the questions in another heat of the classic series. Subjects tonight are Queen, Dame Laura Knight, Anita Roddick and Don Revie.
14Episode 14John Humphrys asks the questions in another heat of the classic quiz. Subjects tonight are Kurt Cobain, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Alfred Wainwright's Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells.
15Episode 15John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. The subjects are the films of Ewan McGregor, British race courses, World Heritage sites and CJ Sansom's Shardlake novels.
16Episode 16John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. The subjects are David Niven, the Soviet space programme, Italian Renaissance paintings and the human body.
17Episode 17John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. The subjects are Hans Christian Andersen, the Russian Civil War, Ipswich Town FC and Rita Hayworth.
18Episode 18John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. The subjects are islands of Scotland, Laurie Lee, Ginger McCain and Red Rum, and the films of David Fincher.
19Episode 19Four more contenders brave the black chair with John Humphrys asking the questions in the classic quiz. The subjects are EastEnders, Puccini, Bill Shankly and the Battle of Trafalgar.
20Episode 20John Humphrys asks the questions as four more contenders take to the famous black chair. Subjects are David Bowie, Edvard Munch, postwar British motorcycles and the German occupation of Jersey in the Second World War.
21Episode 21John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Subjects are Eric Clapton, Emperor Hadrian, Tintin and the life and broadway stories of Damon Runyon.
22Episode 22John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Subjects are Andy Warhol, the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus, Nicholas Hawksmoor and the X-Files.
23Episode 23John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Subjects include Steve Jobs, Farscape, the history of Hungary and black metal music.
24Episode 24The last place in the semi-finals is up for grabs as John Humphrys puts four more contenders in the spotlight. Subjects tonight are naval battles of the First World War, Charles Laughton, the de Havilland Mosquito and Garth Ennis's Punisher Max series.
25Episode 25John Humphrys presents the first semi-final. The subjects are Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, Steve Ovett, the daughters of King George III, Al Capone and the novels of Robert Harris.
26Episode 26The semi-finals continue as John Humphrys puts five more contenders in the spotlight. Subjects include Asterix, the periodic table, the novels of Nick Hornby, Richard Feynman and Stan Laurel.
27Episode 27The semi-finals continue as John Humphrys puts five more contenders in the spotlight. Subjects include Radiohead, Alison Uttley, Field Marshal Montgomery, the films of Powell & Pressburger and Herbert Howells.
28Episode 28Five more semi-finalists try to claim a place in the grand final. The subjects are Alan Bennett, Cream, the novels of Dan Brown, Herbert von Karajan and Queen Mary.
29Episode 29John Humphrys tests five more semi-finalists. The subjects are Creation Records, Johannes Kepler, the Hunger Games novels, Sir Isaac Newton and the films of William Goldman.
30Episode 30The last place in the grand final is at stake as John Humphrys tests another five semi-finalists on The Sweeney, Mary Seacole, James Cook, Tranmere Rovers and the travel writings of Bill Bryson.
31The FinalJohn Humphrys puts six contenders in the spotlight one more time in the series finale. Subjects in the grand final are the films of Alfred Hitchcock, the history of Leningrad, the life and films of Billy Wilder, Seinfeld, Inigo Jones and the short films of Laurel and Hardy.