British Comedy Guide
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We Need Answers. Image shows from L to R: Mark Watson, Tim Key, Alex Horne. Copyright: BBC
We Need Answers

We Need Answers

  • TV panel show
  • BBC Four
  • 2009 - 2010
  • 16 episodes (2 series)

Mark Watson, Tim Key and Alex Horne lead a comic quiz show where the questions come from a txt messaging answering service. Stars Mark Watson, Tim Key and Alex Horne.

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Episode menu

Series 2, Episode 2 - Love

Journalist and presenter Vanessa Feltz competes with actor and star of the The Inbetweeners, Simon Bird, and their physical challenge is Sleeping Lions.

Preview clips

Broadcast details

Date
Tuesday 8th December 2009
Time
10pm
Channel
BBC Four
Length
30 minutes

Cast & crew

Cast
Mark Watson Host / Presenter
Tim Key Host / Presenter
Alex Horne Host / Presenter
Guest cast
Vanessa Feltz Guest
Simon Bird Guest
Writing team
Mark Watson Writer
Tim Key Writer
Alex Horne Writer
Day Macaskill Script Editor
Production team
Nick Wood Director
Simon London Producer
Jo Sargent Executive Producer
Rachel Springett Edit Producer
George Sawyer Edit Producer
Graham Barker Editor
Justin James Editor
Ravinder Takher Production Designer
Will Charles Lighting Designer
Alex Horne Graphics
Ian Locker Production Manager

Press

We Need Answers is now in its second series. This is an excruciatingly student-y comedy quiz hosted by Mark Watson, Tim Key and Alex Horne, which was transferred to television after proving a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe. Two celebrities (in this week's case, Vanessa Feltz and The Inbetweeners' Simon Bird) are quizzed on themed questions originally sent by members of the public to the text message answering service. Watson is the host and link to the audience, Key is the quizmaster (who is spat out into the studio on a railed leather armchair through a concealed door), and Horne provides supportive music cues, sound effects, action-replays, and homespun graphics from a laptop.

It's incredibly cheap, very silly, and not particularly funny. I suspect that by crossing over into my 30s, this kind of comedy has stopped looking hilariously anarchic and intellectual-but-daft, to just become annoying and puerile. That said, the trio behind it are aged 29-33, so maybe it's just me who's stonily bored by Shooting Stars-esque absurdity, particularly when it's in the guise of a cheapo '70s series. We Need Answers ran at the Fringe for two successful years, but I'm guessing it helps if you're a half-drunk festivalgoer attending the show in a live format. On television, it's another matter. There's a distance that Watson, Key and Horne can't bridge.

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

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