Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Image shows from L to R: Noel Fielding, Greg Davies, Daisy May Cooper, Jamali Maddix
Never Mind The Buzzcocks

Never Mind The Buzzcocks

  • TV panel show
  • Sky Max / BBC Two
  • 1996 - 2023
  • 300 episodes (31 series)

Panel game based on the world of rock and pop music, featuring comedians and musicians. Stars Mark Lamarr, Simon Amstell, Rhod Gilbert, Greg Davies, Phill Jupitus and more.

Press clippings Page 11

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

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

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

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

Noel Fielding joins Never Mind the Buzzcocks

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

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.

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?

UKTV, 12th August 2009

Noel a Buzzy man

While a new series of The Mighty Boosh seems a dim and distant prospect, Noel Fielding has landed another plum TV job.

The Clown Prince will be a team captain on the next series of pop quiz Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

The Sun, 7th August 2009

Former Ordinary Boys singer Preston says he wishes he hadn't walked out of BBC TV pop quiz 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks' in 2007.

The singer notoriously quit the show midway through filming, after host Simon Amstell repeatedly ridiculed his then-wife Chantelle Houghton's personal life and recently-published autobiography.

NME, 7th August 2009

How to put the buzz back in Buzzcocks

There's an obvious way to fix BBC's floundering pop quiz, Never Mind the Buzzcocks. And her name is Josie Long.

Stuart Heritage, The Guardian, 20th July 2009

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