All 30 soundtrack episodes of the BBC TV version of Just a Minute

Just a Minute is a radio perennial. Loved by listeners for almost 60 years, it’s the BBC’s longest-running and most popular panel game, having clocked up over 1000 episodes on Radio 4. And now, you can enjoy 30 more, with these sparkling soundtrack episodes from the BBC TV run of the show.

First broadcast on BBC One in 1999 and BBC Two in 2012, they are chaired by the one and only Nicholas Parsons, who presides over a host of celebrity wordsmiths including Paul Merton, Pam Ayres, Clare Balding, Jo Brand, Gyles Brandreth, Barry Cryer, John Sergeant, Brian Sewell, Hugh Bonneville, Marcus Brigstocke, Julian Clary, Stephen Fry, Phill Jupitus, Miles Jupp, Shappi Khorsandi, Graham Norton, Sue Perkins and Liza Tarbuck.

Though the format may be different, the aim of the game is still the same: to speak on a given theme for 60 seconds, without hesitation, repetition or deviation. Among the topics testing the panellists’ verbal dexterity are Ever Decreasing Circles, Mumbo Jumbo, Garden Gnomes, Yorkshire Pudding, Charlie Chaplin, A New Rule for Just a Minute, My 45th Birthday and Writer’s Block.

So ready your ears for a feast of comic improvisations, magical monologues, cheeky challenges and outrageous one-upmanship, as the panellists set their sights on that rarest of beasts: a perfect, uninterrupted minute...

NB: Contains mild innuendo. The humour in these programmes sometimes reflects the era in which they were first broadcast.


Cast and credits
Devised by Ian Messiter
Chaired by Nicholas Parsons
BBC One series produced and directed by Helena Taylor
BBC Two series produced by Andy Brereton and Jamie Ormerod and directed by Richard van't Riet

Episode list:

BBC One
19 Apr 1999: Barry Cryer, Su Pollard, John Sergeant and Brian Sewell
20 Apr 1999: Tony Hawks, Wendy Richard, Steve Frost and Clare Baldin
21 Apr 1999: Isla Blair, Gyles Brandreth, Linda Smith and Gary Wilmot
22 Apr 1999: Pam Ayres, Peter Jones, Wendy Richard and Linda Smith
23 Apr 1999: Jo Brand, Gyles Brandreth, Tony Hawks and Peter Jones
26 Apr 1999: Barry Cryer, Stephen Frost, Tony Hawks and Wendy Richard
27 Apr 1999: Michael Cashman, Peter Jones, Maria McErlane and Linda Smith
28 Apr 1999: Liza Goddard, Richard Morton, Tom O’Connor and Richard Vranch
29 Apr 1999: Clare Balding, Stephen Frost, Tony Hawks and Wendy Richard
30 Apr 1999: Barry Cryer, Su Pollard, John Sergeant and Brian Sewell
3 May 1999: Isla Blair, Gyles Brandreth, Linda Smith and Gary Wilmot
4 May 1999: Maria McErlane, Steve Punt, Wendy Richard and Linda Smith
5 May 1999: Gyles Brandreth, Ken Bruce, Liza Goddard and Richard Morton
6 May 1999: Pam Ayres, Peter Jones, Wendy Richard and Linda Smith
10 May 1999: Tony Hawks, Wendy Richard, Barry Cryer and Stephen Frost
11 May 1999: Michael Cashman, Peter Jones, Maria McErlane and Linda Smith
12 May 1999: Jo Brand, Gyles Brandreth, Tony Hawks and Peter Jones
13 May 1999: Maria McErlane, Steve Punt, Wendy Richard and Linda Smith
14 May 1999: Gyles Brandreth, Ken Bruce, Liza Goddard and Richard Morton
26 May 1999: Liza Goddard, Richard Vranch, Richard Morton and Tom O'Connor

BBC Two
26 Mar 2012: Paul Merton, Graham Norton, Sue Perkins and Phill Jupitus
27 Mar 2012: Paul Merton, Julian Clary, Stephen Fry and Russell Tovey
28 Mar 2012: Paul Merton, Sue Perkins, Marcus Brigstocke and Ruth Jones
29 Mar 2012: Paul Merton, Liza Tarbuck, Gyles Brandreth and Miles Jupp
30 Mar 2012: Paul Merton, Josie Lawrence, John Sergeant and Jason Manford
2 Apr 2012: Paul Merton, Graham Norton, Sue Perkins and Tony Hawks
3 Apr 2012: Paul Merton, Shappi Khorsandi, Hugh Bonneville and Jason Manford
4 Apr 2012: Paul Merton, Sue Perkins, Marcus Brigstocke and Stephen Mangan
5 Apr 2012: Paul Merton, Liza Tarbuck, Gyles Brandreth and Tony Hawks
6 Apr 2012: Paul Merton, Julian Clary, Stephen Fry and Shappi Khorsandi

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