Only Connect

I've watched this since day one, in spite of the very annoying hostess.

The questions require lateral thinking and can be pretty difficult. I prefer the missing vowels round, and the wall.

Although the questions are hard - some are gettable if your mind works that way - and the smug way the hostess gives the answers is extremely annoying as she tends to give them as though the contestants should have know them - of course she has the answer there, or has someone giving it in her ear. Often the answer makes no sense at all

Unfortunately the hostess is a wannabe comedian and will attempt to be humorous and the efforts usually fall flat. We switch over as soon as the programme ends as she usually waffles on and on, with some 'funny' anecdotes (they aren't) and a dig or two at a fellow and more popular TV presenter.

We've just watched the 2023 final and it was odd to see the captain of the losing team looking pretty sulky and slow clapping, eyes down and away from the victors.

Rather than having the ability to memorise huge swathes of facts as with most quizzes this quiz tests the ability to connect a series of initially unconnected clues. If I get two or three questions correct in one show I am doing well. The quiz master lightens the tone with just the right joke with even some of these going over my head. Excellent show.

Perhaps one of the oddest game shows on TV, but it has stood the test of time, and seems to be in better shape than ever before.

Definitely pretty high brow, this really is a quiz show for those that appreciate a more complex quiz, if you're anything like me, you'll be wondering what's going on some of the time, but if youre blessed with a high IQ, you'll be one step ahead.

Victoria Coren is a terrific host, I love her humour, I love her wit.

Very enjoyable, 8/10.

Ok. Time to review a show that needs absolutely no explanation. Only Connect.

A good game show should have entertainment, humour, an audience and the ability to either play along at home or be able to watch the show for the whole run time.

This has none of it.

Only Connect has a host who would make the Annoying Orange roll away, a lack of humour (or humour that most people won't understand), no audience whatsoever or maybe an audience that you would expect from a boring TEDTalk or a bad stand up, and there's no way 100% of the audience could play along at home because not everyone knows about the difference between paint colours or the dates of when books were destroyed in wars or whatever. It's a game show where you NEED knowledge, luck won't get you anywhere. The upside is the Wall. It's a cool round where you have the best chance of getting somewhere at home. In fact, there's a website called PuzzGrid where there are different Walls you can play.

My recommendation: don't watch unless you know as much as Albert Einstein and you want to be bored. I, for one, wouldn't be seen dead wanting to look at Egyptian hieroglyphics for an hour.

2/10.

It's a must on my PVR. I genuinely think this is one of those programmes that if you can give it the space to perform gives way more than you expect. Questions are hard, and supposed to be, but it's lateral thinking that really counts. Sadly I'm not that lateral, I get a couple of questions in the first two rounds, am not too bad at the walls & thrive on the missing vowels.

Victoria is the perfect foil for the contestants who are allowed to be themselves, whom ever they are, and she just keeps the pacing spot on. If people don't know the answers, she doesn't chide them, she'll probably agree, the question setters were being daft!

Watched every episode, you can get caught up liking teams who fail but that's part of the enjoyment.

Like it or loathe it, this is one of those that'll engage if you let it.