Broadcast date
2020-10-05 • 31 episodes
Episodes of this season
1. Episode 1
event 2020-10-05 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys presents the first heat of the series. The specialist subjects are The Levellers, Julie Andrews, Black Books and Isabella of Castile.
2. Episode 2
event 2020-10-12 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys presents the second heat of the classic quiz. The specialist subjects are Manchester United, the novels of Toni Morrison, Berthe Morisot and William Tyndale.
3. Episode 3
event 2020-10-19 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Tonight's specialist subjects are Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin, Blackadder, the Boxer Rebellion and Blake's 7.
4. Episode 4
event 2020-10-26 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys presents the fourth heat of the classic quiz. Tonight's specialist subjects are the Montgomery Bus Boycott, The Crown, the history of anaesthesia and Stormzy.
5. Episode 5
event 2020-11-02 • schedule 30m
The hunt for the nation's Mastermind continues as John Humphrys tests four more contenders. Tonight's specialist subjects are Vanessa Bell, Rachmaninoff, Sherlock and David Bowie.
6. Episode 6
event 2020-11-16 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys hosts the classic quiz where contenders take the famous black chair. The specialist subjects are the Weimar Republic, Alex Higgins, the bridges of London and UK cheeses.
7. Episode 7
event 2020-11-30 • schedule 30m
Four more contenders brave the famous black chair. Specialist subjects are Joe Calzaghe, The Beach Boys, Joseph Stalin and the Gospel of John.
8. Episode 8
event 2020-12-07 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys hosts the classic quiz. Tonight's subjects are freshwater fish of the British Isles, Nick Cave, the history of Scouting in the UK and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
9. Episode 9
event 2020-12-14 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys hosts the classic quiz where contenders take the famous black chair. Specialist subjects are John Singer Sargent, The Sopranos, Jane Austen novels and Nick Drake.
10. Episode 10
event 2020-12-21 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys hosts the classic quiz where contenders take the famous black chair. Specialist subjects are Lyndon B Johnson, A Song of Ice and Fire, seabirds and children's TV.
11. Episode 11
event 2020-12-28 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys hosts another heat of the classic quiz. Tonight's specialist subjects are Kenneth Williams, UK hit singles 2000-2004, Ada Lovelace and the Rugby World Cup.
12. Episode 12
event 2021-01-04 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys hosts another heat of the classic quiz where contenders take to the black chair. Tonight's subjects include Life on Mars, the Titanic, Barbara Castle and the Periodic Table.
13. Episode 13
event 2021-01-11 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys asks the questions in another heat where the contenders answer questions on Marlene Dumas, Edward Thomas, Guy Burgess and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.
14. Episode 14
event 2021-01-18 • schedule 30m
Four more contenders take to the black chair to answer questions on their specialist subjects, including the London 2012 Olympic Games, Hancock's Half Hour and John Wyndham novels.
15. Episode 15
event 2021-01-25 • schedule 30m
Four more contenders brave the black chair in another heat of the classic quiz and answer questions on Tchaikovsky, the Evil Dead trilogy, Rafael Nadal and This Country.
16. Episode 16
event 2021-02-01 • schedule 30m
In another heat of the classic quiz, four more contenders brave the black chair and answer questions on the mammals of the British Isles, Friends, Damien Hirst and Wimbledon.
17. Episode 17
event 2021-02-08 • schedule 30m
Four more contenders take to the black chair in tonight's programme, where the specialist subjects include the Mongol invasions, the plays of Aristophanes and Broadway musicals.
18. Episode 18
event 2021-02-15 • schedule 30m
Four more contenders take to the black chair in tonight's heat where the specialist subjects are Homer's Odyssey, The Good Life, the history of Portsmouth and Taika Waititi.
19. Episode 19
event 2021-02-22 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz, with four contenders answering questions on Sidney Poitier, Greek mythology, Soundgarden and the Women's Institute.
20. Episode 20
event 2021-03-01 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys hosts as contenders answer questions on their specialist subjects, which are Ernest Rutherford, Hitchcock films, the motorways of England and the Poldark novels.
21. Episode 21
event 2021-03-08 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys presents the classic quiz where contenders take the black chair. Specialist subjects are the Russian Revolution, King Crimson, The Hunger Games and George Orwell.
22. Episode 22
event 2021-03-15 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys is back at his desk, asking four more contenders questions on their specialist subjects. In this programme, they are Kimi Raikkonen, Gloucestershire, Poirot and lidos in Britain.
23. Episode 23
event 2021-03-22 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys hosts and contenders answer questions on their specialist subjects, which are Stephen Sondheim musicals, dog breeds, Alan Partridge and the Charles Paris novels.
24. Episode 24
event 2021-03-29 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys asks the questions in another heat of the classic quiz. The specialist subjects are Otto von Bismarck, hand knitting, Robert Louis Stevenson and the films of the Coen Brothers.
25. Episode 25
event 2021-04-05 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys asks the questions in the first semi-final. The specialist subjects are the Booker Prize, the city of York, the Busby Babes and the Russo-Japanese War.
26. Episode 26
event 2021-04-05 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys asks the questions in another semi-final. The specialist subjects are films based on the works of Stephen King, Joan Rivers, US state capitals and Neil Gaiman novels.
27. Episode 27
event 2021-04-12 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys asks the questions in another semi-final. Specialist subjects are the films of Powell and Pressburger, the Bauhaus movement, Emil Zátopek and the Liberal Democrats.
28. Episode 28
event 2021-04-12 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys asks the questions in another semi-final. The Specialist subjects are R.E.M., Father Ted, David Niven and John Wesley.
29. Episode 29
event 2021-04-19 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys asks the questions in another semi-final. The specialist subjects are Christopher Eccleston, Metallica, Beatrix Potter and the Greco-Persian Wars.
30. Episode 30
event 2021-04-19 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys asks the questions in another semi-final. The specialist subjects are William Pitt the Younger, The Bridge, the Grand National and the plays of Joe Orton.
31. Final
End of season • event 2021-04-26 • schedule 30m
John Humphrys asks the questions in the grand final of the classic quiz. Tonight’s subjects include Shackleton's Antarctic expedition of 1914-17, Cole Porter and Jimmy Carter.
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