The pop quiz is back for its second series without Simon Amstell - it coped just fine last year. On Phill Jupitus's team tonight: syntax-mangling Strictly judge Alesha Dixon, and Mollie King of the Saturdays - a girlband so nondescript, Mollie could appear in the line-up round. With Noel Fielding, it's rapper Tinie Tempah and comic Paul Foot. Even the guest host has something to promote: it's Mark Ronson, who has a new album out. But if he's still got the bleached hairdo he sported on Later, that's one laugh in the bag already.

Jack Seale, Radio Times, 21st October 2010

The pop quiz's new season gets under way not, we're sorry to say, with the eagerly awaited edition in which guest host Jack Dee reportedly "almost" reduced irksome pop twins Jedward to tears with his barbs. Instead, ice-cool "pop sensation" Mark Ronson hosts - but there's still fun aplenty as team captains Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding are joined by Alesha Dixon, Mollie King of The Saturdays, rapper Tinie Tempah and surreally coiffed comedian Paul Foot.

Gerard O'Donovan, The Daily Telegraph, 21st October 2010

Continuing its post-Amstell coping strategy of a HIGNFY-style rotating host, Buzzcocks is back for a 24th series, showing more longevity than most of the popstars it has on it. The surprisingly affable Mark Ronson takes the chair and attempts to rein in returning team leaders Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding[, who get Alesha Dixon, Mollie King from the Saturdays, Tinie Tempah and Paul Foot as their guests. Future hosts look likely to include Josh Groban, Tim Westwood and Frankie Boyle. No Dappy from N-Dubz?

Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian, 21st October 2010

Never Mind the Buzzcocks - Question Time

Never Mind The Buzzcocks is back!

Written by David Thair. BBC Comedy Blog, 18th October 2010

Terry Wogan to host Buzzcocks quiz show

Veteran broadcaster Terry Wogan and music producer Mark Ronson are to be guest hosts on the next series of BBC Two show, Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

BBC News, 13th October 2010

Jack Dee nearly makes Jedward cry on Buzzcocks

Jack Dee left X Factor twins Jedward on the brink of tears after bombarding them with insults while recording Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

Written by Gordon Smart. The Sun, 30th September 2010

Never Mind The Buzzcocks - Ask Phill & Noel

Hey Pop Quiz Fans! Have you ever wanted to ask Phill & Noel a question that they can answer in a contractually obliged, shortform, format? No? Neither did we... until now!

Written by Steve Saul. BBC Comedy Blog, 16th September 2010

Phill Jupitus interview: I am not everyone's cup of tea

As his new book is published, the comedian speaks about the row that led to him leaving 6 Music, the 'amoral weasels' at the BBC and why he nearly quit Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

Written by John Plunkett. The Guardian, 9th August 2010

Currently, the Wednesday night TV schedule is the most boring in the UK, unless you watch Spooks. I've never been so grateful to see pop music panel show Never Mind The Buzzocks (BBC2, 10pm) as I was yesterday evening, with Frankie Boyle as the week's guest host. Is it just me, or has the guest-host format worked wonders for Buzzcocks? I was expecting Have I Got News For You-style tedium (where they insist on making everything look amateur and distracting by keeping in outtakes of the host fluffing their lines, etc), but Buzzcocks has avoided all that redundant inanity.

It helps that Buzzcocks can afford to be uncontrolled and slightly meandering under the guiding hand of guests (with various levels of presenting skill), because that's always been part of its makeup, whereas HIGNFY was a razor-sharp satirical quiz in Angus Deayton's day, but has since devolved into a light entertainment panel show. Anyway, I thought Frankie Boyle did a surprisingly good job of keeping Buzzcocks focused (or was it good editing?) and he came across as more human than the acerbic quip-machine from Mock The Week. And guest Richard Herring's "career bounce" just goes to show that celebs in danger of being forgotten about should try co-hosting a ribald podcast instead of munch insects in the Australian jungle.

Dan Owen, Dan's Media Digest, 10th December 2009

Has Buzzcocks survived Simon Amstell's departure?

We've had eight episodes now since Amstell's departure - and the guests hosts have generally been enjoyable, if not as much of a success as they were post-Deayton on Have I Got News for You.

Written by Will Dean. The Guardian, 25th November 2009

Dermot jokes of 'death threats'

X Factor host Dermot O'Leary stunned a Never Mind The Buzzcocks studio audience with a string of bad-taste X Factor jokes.

Written by Colin Robertson. The Sun, 16th November 2009

Jamelia, Buzzcocks, and Maxwell D's Apology

Jamelia appeared on Never Mind The Buzzcocks last night and had a very odd encounter. Maxwell D, a London based MC, was star of the line up. It turns out he attempted to sell a story on Jamelia back in t'day.

Written by Rob Taylor. Music.co.uk, 5th November 2009

I do quite mind the Buzzcocks actually

Since Amstell left, my favourite remaining little pop show Never Mind The Buzzcocks has lost its way. Depending on the guest host it has either left you wishing for the return of Simon Amstell, or, in some drastic cases, the return of Mark Lamarr.

Written by Carl Greenwood. Low Culture, 5th November 2009

This week the pop quiz is the launch pad for the manic wit of regular team captains Noel Fielding and Phill Jupitus, guest host Alex James and panellists Peter Serafinowicz, Holly Walsh, Newton Faulkner and Jessica Origliasso. That means there's a range of comic styles as divergent as this show's musical tastes usually are from the current Top 40.

Daily Telegraph, 15th October 2009

There's life after Simon Amstell for Buzzcocks

We go behind the scenes at the comedy music quiz, where it's all "flowers and unicorns" according to Noel Fielding.

Written by Priya Elan. The Guardian, 10th October 2009

The music panel show continues as Noel Fielding settles into his new role as permanent team captain opposite the immovable Phill Jupitus. Comedian Rhod Gilbert takes the guest presenter's chair tonight (replacing Simon Amstell who has now left the series). Fielding is joined by sports presenter Gabby Logan and Jeremy Reynolds from trendy electro band Hockey. Facing them is a far more intriguing line-up comprised of Spandau Ballet's Martin Kemp and gravel-voiced comedian Greg Davies, who plays the angry head of sixth form in The Inbetweeners.

Catherine Gee, Daily Telegraph, 8th October 2009

Never Mind The Buzzcocks Review

The format remains the same, with Sorry No Refunds consuming about half of the show. Usually this isn't a problem, only this time James Corden and Jupitus' team had to regurgitate jokes about Blue from 2002.

The Custard TV, 5th October 2009

Pop World has never been the same since Simon Amstell left. Will Buzzcocks go the same way, particularly now it's going down the rudderless route of guest hosts? In fashioning himself into a TV personality, tonight's host, James Corden, hasn't been quite as funny as he thinks he is. Still, he made a good fist of things as a guest captain last year, and he's not the only newbie trying to impress here: achingly hip Noel Fielding is now a permanent fixture.

Sharon Lougher, Metro, 1st October 2009

For those worried that they'd not seen much of James Corden on their screens recently, relax, he's back. He hosts the umpteenth return of Buzzcocks - along with Noel Fielding, who's back as a team captain. The quick-witted Simon Amstell is gone, so now it's a revolving-door host policy, with the ability to read an autocue and laugh generously at unfunny gags by Phill Jupitus the only qualifications that seem to be required. Fine, anything that keeps Mark Lamarr from clawing his way back on to our screens.

Phelim O'Neill, The Guardian, 1st October 2009

Fans of the pop quiz will have been gutted by Simon Amstell's announcement he was quitting to concentrate on his live work. We hoped he was joking - but for once he was deadly serious.

On Amstell's watch Buzzcocks was unmissable weekly irreverence. He read an autocue like nobody's business but the best stuff came off the top of his head - scattering unpredictably like priceless comedy dandruff.

Guest hosts starting with James Corden will helm the new run - but generating that relaxed, free-wheeling chemistry that flourished under Amstell will be tough for anyone dropping in. Noel Fielding, who's been excellent value in the past, becomes a team captain opposite Phill Jupitus.

Jane Simon, The Mirror, 1st October 2009

Simon Amstell made this pop-music panel game outrageously, unmissably funny - but he also made it his own. It was Amstell doing a comedy act, with a quiz interrupting on occasion. Now he's made the logical decision to concentrate on his own stand-up, where he won't have to weave his jokes around asking someone from GMTV questions about Climie Fisher. So Buzzcocks has been left to go down the guest-host route. First to try to follow Amstell is James Corden, co-creator of both the untouchable Gavin & Stacey and the relentlessly (and slightly unfairly) panned Horne & Corden. His appearances on panel shows so far have been more fun for him than for us, but he's naturally funny and he knows his music. Also new, but full-time, is team captain Noel Fielding of absurdist rock-star comedy duo Mighty Boosh. He should slot right in opposite Phill Jupitus, who's now in his 14th year of humming intros and picking has-beens out of line-ups.

Jack Seale, Radio Times, 1st October 2009

The line-up seems to change as often as the cast of your average soap but somehow this comedy music panel game has endured. Since the show's inception in 1996, Mark Lamarr and Simon Amstell have had spells as presenter, and Sean Hughes and Bill Bailey have both taken the role of regular team captain. Only Phill Jupitus has lasted the distance. Even the tone of the show has changed over the years - particularly after Amstell took over presenting duties. He put his own quirky, irreverent and somewhat juvenile mark on the programme and when team captain Bailey quit last year he referred to the guests as "gormless indie twerps". Now Noel Fielding (of The Mighty Boosh fame) will take the captain's seat opposite Jupitus, and Amstell will be replaced by guest presenters (beginning tonight with Gavin & Stacey's James Corden). Whether the show will survive after such a flurry of changes remains to be seen. Although Buzzcocks has long since left the illusion of improvisation behind, it has certainly become much "trendier" in recent years and, thanks mostly to the wit of Amstell and Jupitus, it has remained entertaining. Now one must hope that Jupitus can carry on that tradition alone. Joining the teams this week are the potentially dull Tom Clarke of indie band The Enemy and singer Paloma Faith but fortunately actor/comedians Ben Miller and Janeane Garofalo should help keep the proceedings lively.

Daily Telegraph, 1st October 2009

Noel Fielding joins Never Mind the Buzzcocks

Never Mind the Buzzcocks also plans guest hosts including Alex James and David Walliams.

Written by Leigh Holmwood. The Guardian, 14th September 2009

Noel Fielding axed as Buzzcocks captain

Noel Fielding has been axed as team captain on the next series of Never Mind The Buzzcocks. The Clown Prince had been signed up as a regular on the long-running BBC comedy panel show. But when details of his drug taking emerged over the weekend, Beeb top brass withdrew the offer.

Written by Gordon Smart. The Sun, 17th August 2009

Simon Amstell vs. Mark Lamarr

It's a battle royal between the '50s throwback and the curly-haired upstart, but which of them has been the best presenter of Never Mind The Buzzcocks?

Channel Dave, 12th August 2009