Only Connect

I heard mention recently (on Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords) of a new quiz show on the BBC called Only Connect. The tag line is amazing: “A quiz show in which patience and lateral thinking are as vital as knowledge”. Here’s the links to the three segments published so far:

• Episode 1 Segments: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
• Play Only Connect Online

At first I was a bit put off by the show’s look and feel, mostly because I was expecting the typical array of flashing lights, catchy background music, and so forth. (I think the exact opposite of Only Connect would be something along the lines of Press Your Luck.) And the teams had me spooked – Oxford collegians vs. Cambridge librarians? And they use Greek letters as names for categories? (Is that a sigma or a delta?) I have no chance of answering anything!

Or so I thought. I watched the three clips, and I was surprisingly more successful at them than I expected. There were some questions that made me feel totally inept, but a few that I answered before either of the teams did.

The show’s premise is simple – find the common thread that ties four seemingly unrelated clues together. For instance, if the clues were: Rose, Sarah Jane, Tegan, and Ace, the correct answer would be Companions of Doctor Who.

Best quote of the show: “Everyone can do S-O-S in Morse Code, I hope? If not, we’re all going to hell in a hand cart.”