Tim Vine to host comedy quiz show pilot

Wednesday 5th March 2014, 6:17pm

Tim Vine

Tim Vine is to host a new comedy quiz show pilot called You Can't Say That!.

The format is described as a show in which "it's not just the answers that may be wrong... but also the questions".

The producers explain: "In this funny and original take on the quiz show, we've been a bit sneaky. Hidden amongst the genuine ones we've snuck in some devilish (and hilarious) trick questions. And if the contestants can spot the 'trip-ups' from the trivia, they could be winning thousands of pounds."

Two trial episodes of You Can't Say That! are due to be filmed at TV studios in London on Wednesday 19th March to help executives test the show.

The format has been developed by Hat Trick Productions, the company behind a number of sitcoms, plus established comedy entertainment formats including Have I Got News For You and Room 101.

Tim Vine is perhaps best known as a stand-up comedian who specialises in pun-based jokes, however he does have previous experience hosting TV quiz shows. He fronted Channel 5's Whittle in the 1990s, physical challenge game show Fort Boyard in 2004 and ITV's daytime quiz show Don't Blow The Inheritance in 2012. He has also appeared as a contestant on other quiz shows, such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.

Vine can currently be seen on screen in the role of Beach the butler in the BBC One sitcom series Blandings. Speaking to BCG in a recent interview, the comedian and actor said he had a number of ideas for TV shows he'd like to get off the ground.

As part of the interview, he expressed an interest in bringing The Tim Vine Chat Show, his long-running hit improvised live show, in which he interviews members of the audience, to television. However, he explained it was proving hard to find someone to commission it, saying: "I think often with telly, they see an idea and they like it and then they always want to change it, otherwise they are not doing anything. So it is almost the case that if you have something which is, you feel, a finished product, that's not always a good thing."

He also told BCG he would like to star in another TV sketch show and has made a taster tape for his own series. He confirmed: "I hired a crew and we filmed some sketches... so I have got a whole load of sketches." He added: "We ought to do something about that this year, because then we could say to some telly people 'Do you want The Tim Vine Sketch Show? Have a look at this - this is something showing a little taster of it'."

Here's Tim Vine in some outtakes from the 1997 series of Whittle:

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