Fighting Talk
| File:FightingTalkLogo1.png | |
| Other names | FT |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sports panel game |
| Running time | 50 minutes (approx) |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 5 Live |
| Hosted by | Colin Murray (2006-present) Christian O'Connell (2004-2005) Johnny Vaughan (2003-2004) |
| Written by | Giles Boden |
| Produced by | Simon Crosse |
| Recording studio | BBC Television Centre (5 Live Compound), London |
| Original release | 4th October 2003[1] – Present |
| No. of series | 6 |
| Opening theme | Sabotage by Beastie Boys |
| Website | The official BBC website |
| Podcast | Fighting Talk Podcast |
Fighting Talk is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. Its first series aired in October 2003, and was presented by Johnny Vaughan. The second series featured Christian O'Connell. It is currently hosted by Colin Murray and is aired on Saturday mornings for an hour between 11:00 and 12:00 (GMT). It is currently in its sixth series.
Format
Colin Murray chairs the show where four guest pundits are invited to expound in turn, preferably with wit and knowledge, their views and opinions on a series of topical sporting events. Most sports are thrown into the fray but there is a strong emphasis on English top-flight football and other sports covered by the British news media.
The penultimate discussion topic on the show is known as 'Any Other Business' (AOB) where the guests are given the opportunity to talk about anything they wish, and encouraged to comment on topics or issues that have irked, annoyed or incensed them in past week, regardless of relevance to sport. There have been several notable AOBs; a particularly good example of wit and rant was Steve Bunce's recollections of an interrupted stay at a London hotel.
Listener participation
The programme is interspersed with 'listeners' homework' - listeners are asked to submit answers to one of the questions posed to the panel (normally question two) by e-mail or text message. During the course of the show, the presenter will read out the 'best' responses, with the most entertaining answers being read out the following week. Homework questions often involve likening sports people to objects, animals or concepts: for example, “If footballers were houses, what would they be?”.
Prizes were introduced to encourage respondents; in the first series, the prize for the 'best' entry was a 'soundbite' recording of a commentator or sportsman - being a brief piece of sporting commentary involving the winning respondent or recollections of the respondents' sporting prowess (both fictional). Contributors included Chris Waddle, Barry Fry and Jonathan Pierce. In keeping with the Park incident (see below), the results of this competition have been 'rigged' on occasion - for example, Giles Boden (writer on series 1-4; see below) is a previous 'winner'; his prize was a soundbite recorded for him by former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri.
During the second series, a tangible prize was introduced in the form of a Fighting Talk mug - and as an added incentive, listeners were offered the chance to appear as guest pundits. Jim Thane was the first listener to be invited to compete live on the show, appearing in series two alongside Steve Bunce, Greg Brady and Dominic Holland. Richard Seymour was the second guest listener, appearing in the third series next to Steve Bunce, Bob Mills, and Kriss Akabusi. During the fourth series, Christopher Briggs joined a panel consisting of Will Buckley, John Rawling, and Bob Mills.
Prizes were suspended during series 5 due to the BBC's blanket ban on hosting phone-in competitions, which came as a result of various phone-in and interactive voting scandals.[2] Listeners were still encouraged to text and e-mail in answers by the presenter, immediately followed by a sarcastic remark from Colin about Blue Peter, one of the BBC's programmes accused of misleading viewers. When considered in the context of the arbitrary nature of the show's scoring systems, the suspension seems somewhat ironic, particularly given that presenter corruption is tolerated to the point of being encouraged.
Defend the Indefensible
In order to decide the week’s ultimate winner the two highest scoring pundits are invited to 'Defend the Indefensible'. Each pundit is called to vigorously support a topical theme for twenty seconds that is either distasteful, politically incorrect, plainly wrong, self-derisory or entirely contrary to the pundit's known opinions. Previous examples of defending the indefensible include "I’d gladly drink a pint of Maradona’s liposuction fat for Comic Relief"; "Cricket has been cheapened now common people and ladies have jumped on the bandwagon" and "I believe the annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race should take place in Iranian territorial waters".
The shortest ever DTI was recorded in January 2008, when Jim Jeffries lasted just five seconds after being asked to defend the statement "Just like Ashley Cole, vomiting is a vital part of my lovemaking". Jeffries responded, "Fair enough, because sometimes you need lube". Presenter Colin Murray immediately implied it would be Jeffries' last appearance on the show. However, this was not the case, with Jeffries appearing on FT on 18th October 2008, in a typically controversial performance.
On occasion, the DTI round has been specifically designed for the pundit who has to answer. Examples include propositions posed to former England football manager Graham Taylor and Henning Wehn. After the resignation of Sven-Göran Eriksson from the position of England Manager, Taylor was invited to defend the statement "The next England manager should be Graham Taylor". In a later series, Wehn was asked to defend "The German football team should wear PVC Nazi outfits as a show of support to Max Mosley".
Finalists who refuse to take part in the round forfeit the round and by extension, the game - for example, John Rawling refused to criticise his wife's cooking on the Christmas 2007 show, with the win being awarded to fellow panellist Des Kelly. Rawling was again asked to defend the proposition exactly a year later, and did so successfully. Two episodes of Fighting Talk were won by pundits who did not have to participate in the DTI round - in September 2005, Bob Mills won a show after fellow finalist Steve Bunce refused to defend "John Rawling's debut as ITV boxing commentator was mediocre at best"; Bunce was replaced in the final by John Rawling, who subsequently unable to respond to the proposition "Boxing's so gay, but that's why I like it". In November 2006, Trevor Nelson was awarded a win after finalists Ian Stone and Clare Balding's efforts were deemed too terrible to win.
Scoring
Guests earn arbitrary points for 'good punditry', but lose them if they waffle, use predictable clichés, or attempt to ingratiate themselves with the host. Scoring is accompanied by a variety of appropriate and humorous sound effects.
| Cash Register Kerching | One Point |
| Arrow hitting the target | Two Points |
| Hallelujah chorus | Three Points |
| Be-uuwww | minus One point |
In the 24 January 2009 show, a new sound effect(being the start up music from Microsoft Windows) was introduced, to indicate a points deduction for a 'fact' that had been blatantly pulled by the contestant from Wikipedia or other online source.
Disordered and by no means fair, the system is sufficiently flexible to accommodate the presenter’s moods, likes and dislikes and personal bias (presenter Colin Murray is sensitive to criticism of Liverpool or Northern Ireland). Pundits can start the game on positive scores, with points having been awarded for complimentary comments about the presenter; by contrast, many start on minus scores, with points having been deducted due to interruptions or negative comments about the presenter.
At the beginning of series four, Colin Murray introduced the "Golden Envelope" round. The presenter places his or her own answer to a particular question into an envelope prior to the show and poses the question to the pundits during the second half of that show: matching the answer in the envelope is worth ten bonus points.
Presenters can also 'fix' the outcome of show results for personal gain. Colin Murray arranged for Richard Park to win a show in 2007 because Park was a judge in the TV show Comic Relief does Fame Academy, in which Murray was a contestant. At one point, Park was in last place, but Murray put him into the final and gifted him the win, without listening to the Defend the Indefensible round answer from fellow contestant Jim White.
Murray also decided an FA Cup Third Round show on 3 January 2009 in favour of former Wimbledon FA Cup Final goalscorer Lawrie Sanchez based on that fact, after both Sanchez and fellow finalist Martin Kelner failed to meet the 20 seconds required in Defending the Indefensible.
History
The first series began in October 2003 and was hosted by Johnny Vaughan.[1] The inaugural show featured a panel consisting of Greg Brady, Will Buckley, Bradley Walsh and the eventual winner, Stan Collymore. After the first series ended in April 2004, Vaughan left to present the Capital FM breakfast show.
Christian O'Connell was the show's second presenter[3], and completed a successful second series from 2004-2005, culminating in a gold award for the show at the 24th Sony Radio Academy Awards.[4] He left to focus on his new Virgin Radio breakfast show at the end of 2005. His last show was in December 2005, and featured his four favourite guests - John Rawling, Steve Bunce, Greg Brady and Bob Mills. That show also briefly featured the wives of three of those panellists, who were invited to answer (via telephone) a question on behalf of their husbands. Bob Mills' wife was unavailable for comment.
Colin Murray is the show's current presenter, starting back in February 2006.[5]
Vaughan came back for 'one week only' on 10 March 2007 because Murray was appearing in the reality television programme Comic Relief does Fame Academy. However, he also came back for Murray's holiday on 15 September 2007 and 2 February 2008 suggesting he is now the favoured guest presenter to cover Murray's absences. The show has also had a number of guest presenters to cover for holidays or other absences. These have included well-known British broadcasters such as Dickie Davies, Kelly Dalglish, Jimmy Tarbuck, Gabby Logan and Terry Wogan as well as Phil Williams, one of the presenters of BBC Radio 5 Live Weekend Breakfast.
Assistant Producer Mike Holt had to present the show for one question when Colin Murray couldn't bring himself to adjudicate a round questioning his favourite team by asking "What's wrong with Liverpool Football Club?" Murray left the studio for the duration of the question.
Simon Crosse has produced every series of Fighting Talk. Giles Boden was the show's writer for the first four series but left in 2007 to work on The Friday Night Project on Channel Four television.
The 'Stuart Hall' incident
Fighting Talk made national news with an episode broadcast on 12 March, 2005. The panel consisted of Danny Kelly, Will Buckley, John Rawling and Stuart Hall. The presenter, Christian O'Connell, asked the panel "What other former all-conquering nations or individuals would you like to see have a renaissance?". Stuart Hall responded "Zimbabwe", and criticised what Robert Mugabe had done to the country, saying "...don your flannels, black up, play leather on willow with Mugabe cast as a witch doctor. Imagine him out at Lords casting a curse; tincture of bat's tongues, gorilla's gonads, tiger's testicles...". Shortly afterwards, O'Connell was heard to ask studio staff "Are we still on air?"[6] During the same show, Hall was also asked for his opinion on sporting stars acting as role models for young people. In his response, he defended swearing by footballers suggesting that "...you can go to any school playground and learn all you want to know about oral and anal sex".
Although the broadcast made newspaper headlines, neither of Hall's comments provoked significant protest or complaint from the general public. However, following this episode the theme song from 'It's a Knockout (Jeux Sans Frontiers)' joined the Laurel and Hardy theme tune (The Waltz of the Cuckoos) in being used to signify occasions on which a pundit was talking gibberish and/or had 'completely lost it'.
Pundits
Pundits are generally British sports journalists, sportspeople or stand-up comics. However, some non-UK pundits make appearances, notably Greg Brady (who participates regularly by ISDN from Canada). On Saturday 27 October 2007, Greg made an appearance in the studio due to being in London for the first NFL game to be played outside the USA. A year later on 25 October, Brady made his second appearance in the studio to coincide with the second NFL game at Wembley between the San Diego Chargers and the New Orleans Saints.
Other non-UK contestants include Australian comedians Charlie Pickering and Jim Jeffries, New Zealand comedian Al Pitcher, German comedian Henning Wehn, and adult film star Ron Jeremy.
Nicknames in Fighting Talk
Certain pundits who have appeared on the show have been allocated nicknames. These tend to be allocated to regular pundits or those who have made previous notable appearances.
| Real Name | Nickname |
|---|---|
| Dougie Anderson | Five Answers, The Husky Voiced Scotsman |
| Ian Stone | Six Answers, Ian "Heart Of" Stone |
| Will Buckley | Son of Psycho, The Mild Mannered Man of Fighting Talk, The Meek |
| Steve Bunce | The Aubergine, The Shirt, The 4th BeeGee, The Seagull |
| Greg Brady | Sleepy Eyes, The Beast |
| Jim Jeffries | The Foreigner |
| Andy Goldstein | The New Martin Kelner |
| Hazel Irvine | The Female Martin Kelner |
| Martin Kelner | King of the One-liners, The Thinking Man's Martin Kelner, King of the Bad-Gags |
| Eleanor Oldroyd | The First Lady of Fighting Talk† |
| Gavin Peacock | Fu Manchu |
| John Rawling | Psycho |
| Steve Cram | Lights Out |
| Roger Black | Roger Pretty Boy |
| Jeff Probyn | The Lion |
| Henning Wehn | In it to win it |
| Ian Holloway | The Lunchbox Legend |
† So called because she was the first woman to appear on the show.
Pundit themes
Recurring pundits in Fighting Talk are sometimes given their own themes which are played during their introduction at the beginning of the show. Most make some kind of comedic reference to the relevant pundit.
‡ The theme referenced Brady's previous job working for WDFN radio in Detroit. The first use of the theme coincided with Brady experiencing the worst slump of his FT career, 5 defeats in a row. The run of bad form was attributed to the Detroit theme so it was changed to It's Raining Men for one show. The change did not help and Brady lost. For the next show he was returned to the Detroit theme. He won that show thus breaking the curse in a manner not unlike the New York Rangers winning the Stanley Cup in 1994. Despite Greg Brady's saying, he actually won his first show with this theme tune, although this was with guest host, Gabby Logan. For Brady's first appearance following his return to his native Canada in 2008, the theme tune was changed to Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On; later appearances have featured other Canadian references including Weird Al Yankovic's Canadian Idiot.
† These theme tunes are ironic as Tom Watt appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. This is further compounded when he is introduced as Colin Murray purposely mistakes the famous soap character Tom Watt portrayed. Examples include Hayley Cropper and Mandy Dingle. However, from 15 March 2008, the introductory tune was replaced with an audio clip of a crowd chanting "You what? You what?".
¥ This is due to a 'rule' introduced by Colin Murray that no new pundits are allowed to win their first show. By contrast, several pundits have won their first show with Colin in the chair - notably Henning Wehn - although fewer debutantes have win on their first outing under Colin than the previous presenters.
+ This is an assumed reference to Rawling's patriarchal character on the show and his initials, "JR" bearing similarities with J. R. Ewing, one of the principal characters from the former television series Dallas.
Music and sound effects
The show's distinctive theme tune comes from the track Sabotage by The Beastie Boys, which first appeared on their 1994 album Ill Communication. The segment used is from the middle of the track.
The music usually playing while the host gives the scores is the theme from the British TV show The Professionals, and during the final segment Defending the Indefensible, the theme from the Rocky series, Gonna Fly Now, is used.
Other sound effects used throughout each show include the various pundit themes; the theme from Allo Allo; Planet Funk's Chase the Sun; the German, Italian and American national anthems; the Indiana Jones theme; and The Lonely Man from The Incredible Hulk, among others.
Records and statistics
Records
- As of 27 September 2008, the highest score achieved was by Steve Bunce on 26 November 2005. Following numerous deductions by host Christian O'Connell for Bunce's petulance, Bunce's Any Other Business was a story about Bob Wilson for which O'Connell awarded 5,000 points. Bunce went on to win Defending the Indefensible.
- As of 27 September 2008, the lowest score recorded was Steve Bunce's -900,000 in the third series.
Other statistics
A detailed breakdown of individual show statistics (prepared by listeners) from all series to date is available via Google Spreadsheets.[7]
Fighting Talk in other media
The show made a brief appearance on television (2004, BBC2, in an early evening slot) presented and written by Johnny Vaughan and was true to the popular radio format. The scoring sound effects were juxtaposed with complementary images shown on large screens. At one stage negotiations were believed to be under way for Colin Murray to host a live style format in the Camden based MTV studios which would air on Sky One during the close season.
There have been three recordings of the show in front of audiences. The first was recorded/broadcast on 22 November 2004 at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet (following Sky Television's first pay-per-view darts event the previous day) and was hosted by Christian O'Connell - who was joined by pundits Dominic Holland, Gavin Peacock, Mark Pougatch and Steve Bunce. The second was recorded/broadcast on 10 October 2008 at the Cedar Court Hotel, Harrogate (as part of the Carnegie Sporting Words festival). Colin Murray (the host) was joined by pundits Bob Mills, Jim White, Martin Kelner and Will Buckley. The third was broadcast on 13 December 2008 from Goodison Park (as part of the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year events). Murray was again the host, and was joined by Bob Mills, John Aldridge, Pat Nevin and olympic gold medal winner Tim Brabants.
Fighting Talk: Any Other Business
A one-off, politics-based show - using the name of Fighting Talk's 'Any Other Business' round - was broadcast on Sunday 17 December 2006 at 7pm, presented by Richard Bacon. A run of four further shows billed as Fighting Talk: Any Other Business were broadcast between 15 July and 5 August 2007. The host was the original Fighting Talk presenter Johnny Vaughan and guests included Alan Duncan, Diane Abbot, Stephen Pound, Arabella Weir and Robin Ince.[8]
Internet resources
The official Fighting Talk web page can be found on the BBC Radio Five Live website.
The most popular and well known fan-site is located on the social networking website Facebook, under the name 'The Fighting Talk Appreciation Society'. It is occasionally mentioned on the show by the presenter.
For Fighting Talk listeners, a fan made website has surfaced which provides all fighting talk episodes. The website is known as 'Fighting Talk Files'. The exception being that the debut episode hosted by Johnny Vaughan on 4 October 2003 is not available.
Podcast
Fighting Talk became available as an mp3 download in October 2004, with a podcast version following as part of a BBC trial in February 2005. Each show can be accessed for download on the BBC website in either format for one week after broadcast. Much comment is made by the presenters about the performance of the podcast in the iTunes chart (in either the Sport or Comedy categories, or the overall podcast chart) - with a previous best of number 5 in the overall chart (series three).
Book
The first Fighting Talk tie-in book, Fighting Talk: Flimsy Facts, Sweeping Statements and Inspired Sporting Hunches, edited by regular pundit Will Buckley, was published by Hodder & Stoughton on 2 October 2008.
Fighting Talk specials
A political Fighting Talk 'special' - featuring MPs Lembit Opik, Steven Pound and Alan Duncan, as well as regular pundit, Bob Mills - was broadcast prior to the 2005 UK General election.
At the end of the third series, Colin Murray presented a special World Cup edition of Fighting Talk. The fifth series ended with a run of four Euro 2008 specials.
On 24 March 2007, Colin Murray hosted a 'women only' edition of Fighting Talk. The panel featured regular Eleanor Oldroyd alongside three débutantes - Gail Emms, Hazel Irvine and Sue Mott.
External links
References
- ^ a b "Johnny Vaughan's Fighting Talk starts on Radio Five Live". BBC - Press Office. 2003-09-29. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
- ^ "At a glance: Shows in TV scandal". BBC News. 2007-10-05. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Christian O'Connell to host Fighting Talk on Radio Five Live". BBC - Press Office. 2004-05-27. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "The Sports Programme Award". Sony Radio Academy. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
- ^ "Colin Murray takes over Fighting Talk on Five Live". BBC - Press Office. 2006-01-31. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ John Plunkett (2005-03-17). "BBC defends sports pundit on a sticky wicket". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
- ^ Fighting Talk statistics at Google Spreadsheets
- ^ "Vaughan back at Radio Five Live". Media Guardian. Retrieved 2007-07-07.