British Comedy Guide
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As Seen On TV. Image shows from L to R: Fern Britton, Steve Jones, Jason Manford. Copyright: Shine
As Seen On TV

As Seen On TV

  • TV panel show
  • BBC One
  • 2009
  • 8 episodes (1 series)

BBC1 panel show based around TV trivia. Hosted by Steve Jones, with team captains Fern Britton and Jason Manford. Also features Beardyman.

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Episode menu

Series 1, Episode 1

Television aficionados Tina Hobley, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Pauline Quirke and Lauren Laverne join Steve Jones, Fern Britton and Jason Manford to battle it out in five TV trivia rounds.

Broadcast details

Date
Friday 17th July 2009
Time
8:30pm
Channel
BBC One
Length
30 minutes

Cast & crew

Cast
Steve Jones Host / Presenter
Fern Britton Team Captain
Jason Manford Team Captain
Beardyman Beat Boxer
Guest cast
Tina Hobley Guest
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen Guest
Pauline Quirke Guest
Lauren Laverne Guest
Writing team
Adam Bostock-Smith Writer (Additional Material)
Richard Easter Writer (Additional Material)
Production team
Stuart McDonald Director
Leon Wilde Producer
Claire Callaghan Producer
Chris Heath Producer
Karen Smith Executive Producer
Robin Ashbrook Executive Producer
Jo Wallice Executive Producer
Mirella Breda Executive Producer
Duncan Balmain Editor
Daniel Richards (as Dan Richards) Editor
Nick King Editor
Rudi Thackray Production Designer
Paul Farrer Composer

Press

As Seen On TV review

The brilliance of Harry Hill appears to have intimidated the BBC that the philosophy of relentless mockery should be avoided, so As Seen On TV instead worships at the altar of pseudo-celebrity.

Luke Knowles, The Custard TV, 18th July 2009

Steve Jones chairs this quiz themed on the TV archives, with Fern Britton and Jason Manford captaining two teams of celebrity guests, whose calibre this week runs to Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Pauline Quirke. Unable to decide whether it's edgily hip or comfortably staid, it includes items such as a human beatboxer rendering theme tunes, alongside a straightforward steal of the "What happened next?" bit from A Question of Sport.

The Guardian, 17th July 2009

Just one week after Channel 4 launched a new panel quiz about the telly, You Have Been Watching, BBC One follows suit with its own As Seen on TV. This one is chaired by the painfully unfunny Steve Jones. The outgoing This Morning presenter Fern Britton and smiley stand-up Jason Manford captain the teams. The puns and one-liners come thick and fast but sadly the (genuine) laughs are thin on the ground.

Catherine Gee, The Telegraph, 17th July 2009

Charlie Brooker has a rival (um, sort of) to his You Have Been Watching - Steve Jones with his own celeb game show chewing over recent telly. The fact that his team captains are Fern Britton and Jason Manford, the cut-price Peter Kay, will give you an idea of the level this is pitched at.

Sharon Lougher, Metro, 17th July 2009

Just hours after her 10-year run on This Morning comes to a tearful end today (we predict), Fern Britton is back on our screens as a team captain (together with Jason Manford) on a new TV trivia quiz hosted by Steve Jones.

Not quite as leftfield as Charlie Brooker's You Have Been Watching, on C4 - this is actually good fun with some cleverly inventive rounds in which the panellists show off their telly knowledge.

Bonus points tonight go to Laurence Llewellyn Bowen, for pointing out that their studio desk looks like a giant red toilet bowl. "We're like germs under the rim," he grumbles, accurately. And a prize to the wag responsible for providing us with a (possibly unintentional) shot of Steve Jones posed neatly between the nipples of a bare-chested James Corden.

Jane Simon, The Mirror, 17th July 2009

Responding to the nationwide clamour for a return of Telly Addicts, the BBC have a new panel show about TV. It is positioned as a sort of Mock The Week for people who find current affairs a bit taxing. Handsome idiot Steve Jones from T4 is your host, while the deeply personable Fern Britton and Jason Manford are the team captains for a trivia quiz, while tonight's guests give you a fairly accurate read on the sort of 'hilarity' that will ensue: Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Lauren Laverne, Pauline Quirke and Tina Hobley.

TV Bite, 17th July 2009

As Seen on TV (Link expired)

With As Seen on TV you have to wonder if any one of the panellists would recognise a Python if he slapped them on a face with a fish.

Jack Kibble-White, Off The Telly, 17th July 2009

BBC1's new summer entertainment quiz, As Seen on TV is not for me, I'm afraid. Its smiles and jollity left me cold. It told me nothing I wanted to know about popular telly. There is nothing new in its format, in which two teams of celebs answer TV trivia questions over five rounds. The set looks like a preschool playroom. I was just amazed to count 12 producers, executives and directors on the credits.

Taylor Downing, Broadcast, 16th July 2009

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