Would I Lie To You?. Image shows from L to R: David Mitchell, Rob Brydon, Lee Mack. Copyright: Zeppotron
Would I Lie To You?

Would I Lie To You?

  • TV panel show
  • BBC One
  • 2007 - 2024
  • 151 episodes (17 series)

Panel show in which believable lies and unbelievable truths must be identified. Stars Rob Brydon, Angus Deayton, Lee Mack and David Mitchell.

  • Due to return for Series 18
  • Series 3, Episode 5 repeated Monday at 8:20pm on Dave
  • JustWatch Streaming rank this week: 420

Press clippings Page 13

Much, much more heart-warming and just plain funnier than Mock the Week, I'd say - is BBC One's Would I Lie To You?. The show gets a lovely mix of guests but at its core is the genius idea of pitting David Mitchell and Lee Mack against each other as team captains. The highbrow vs lowbrow, South vs North dynamic is endlessly entertaining, and they are so quick, so sharp. I laugh out loud every week.

And in this latest series in particular, the producers seem perfectly happy to throw in a few lies per episode that are so utterly unbelievable that the guest can just have fun with it without being shackled by the need to make it sound plausible. A well-told, utterly convincing lie is impressive; a ridiculous one can be hilarious. Enter the supreme David O'Doherty, charged with persuading the opposing team that he is seeing a hypno-therapist to get over his addiction to hypno-therapists. THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is entertainment...

Anna Lowman, Dork Adore, 3rd October 2011

There are times when you wonder if this show wouldn't work just as well as a head-to-head between David Mitchell and Lee Mack - everyone else is making up the numbers really, and they know it. You can imagine a programme where the two of them simply sat there and mocked each other's different worlds, and a very funny show it would be.

But probably not as funny as this is, because it's often the rogue elements that make it - such as Nigel Havers this week claiming he once went out with a flamenco dancer who turned out to be a man. Mack's flights of fancy as he interrogates that story are inspired, as is Mitchell's cross-examination of Charlie Brooker's far-fetched Valentine's Day anecdote. I mean, what kind of teenager was he?

David Butcher, Radio Times, 29th September 2011

Did ever a panel game generate so much pure, simple comedy pleasure with apparently so little effort? Tonight, most of the claims that guests are required to make are laughably implausible. But the laughable bit is what matters. As Lee Mack keeps up the pretence that he can tell someone's head size just by looking at it, or Katherine Parkinson maintains that when she was 15 she thought Wombles were real, the laughs tumble in thick and fast - particularly when David Mitchell goes off on a flight of fancy about how Uncle Bulgaria got his glasses.

Louie Spence adds a brilliantly lewd edge to proceedings, and there are unexpected twists on the usual running gags, as Mitchell accuses Mack of intellectual snobbery (yes, that way round) and Mack wonders if Mitchell might actually shop at Argos.

David Butcher, Radio Times, 23rd September 2011

Lee Mack and David Mitchell's quick-witted cross examinations are by far the best bits of this show, and tonight they get to bounce off Terry Wogan, who claims, among other things, that he likes to fire a loaded pistol every Christmas. The broadcasting legend also gives Rob Brydon an excuse to roll out his impression.

Sharon Lougher, Metro, 16th September 2011

Terry Wogan is on the panel this evening, so you know it's only a matter of time before host Rob Brydon employs his scarily accurate impersonation of the great broadcaster. But he's not the only one present with a facility for accents, as comedian Kevin Bridges proves when he drops his Scottish brogue quicker than you can say "John Barrowman".

As ever, though, it's the forensic cross-examinations that make the show, particularly those directed at Sir Terry, who has to convince the opposing team that he performs minor acts of arson for kicks and begins his Christmas Day celebrations in a most unorthodox manner. You'll also get a strange buzz when he says the words "blank" and "blanks" again after so many years.

David Brown, Radio Times, 16th September 2011

Sir Terry Wogan joins the panel this week for the comedy game show in which celebrities tell supposedly true tales for the consideration of a rival team. Wogan claims that he begins Christmas Day by firing a loaded pistol. Plus, comedian Kevin Bridges has to explain what happened when he found a suitcase of bananas. Team captain Lee Mack is also joined by his Not Going Out co-star Katy Wix, and David Mitchell welcomes his comedy partner Robert Webb].

Rachel Ward, The Telegraph, 15th September 2011

I really don't know what they're giving panellists before they go on this show.

The start of series five dissolves into a puddle of infectious hysteria that has more than one of the cast absolutely weeping with laughter.

I blame The Apprentice's Nick Hewer, who kicks off proceedings with a wonderfully straight-faced tale of how he and Lord Sugar like to relax after a tough day's filming in the boardroom.

He's a very welcome addition to the line-up, proving that you don't have to be a professional stand-up to get big laughs on this show.

Team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell are also joined this week by Jack Whitehall and Rebecca Front as well as Miranda Hart.

The latter is reduced to helpless tears of mirth by her own very unlikely sounding tale about trying out for QPR's women's football team. But it's host Rob Brydon's own demonstration of a cuddle jumper that really brings the house down.

While much of Would I Lie To You? would work almost as well on radio, the cuddle jumper is an item of clothing which absolutely must be seen to be fully enjoyed.

A perfect blend of innocent silliness and razor-sharp wit, Would I Lie To You? is still the perfect way to wind down for the weekend.

And this might just be the funniest episode ever.

Jane Simon, The Mirror, 9th September 2011

Lee Mack interview

Funnyman Lee Mack tells TV Choice about his return as a team captain for the new series of the comedy panel show Would I Lie To You?...

David Collins, TV Choice, 30th August 2011

BBC confirms more 'Would I Lie To You?'

The BBC has confirmed that comedy panel show Would I Lie To You? will return for a fifth run.

Morgan Jeffery, Digital Spy, 21st October 2010

Two things can happen when this show really takes off. The back-and-forth over whether a story is true can spiral off in daft directions, as when Julian Clary relates how he's trying to persuade his broody chicken to hatch a duck egg. Or the exchanges can get surprisingly heated. These take-off moments can be too much for the rhythms of the show and end up being edited out. However, here in the final episode of the series, those unseen bits are gathered in for our amusement, and a very enjoyable bunch they are, too.

David Butcher, Radio Times, 17th September 2010

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