jboothmillard Review of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year (2006 TV Special)

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2006

[9/10 · 4 January 2007]

If you are a fan of pub quizzes, and have a good knowledge of the news events in the world, entertainment, TV, film, music, sport, technology and science, politics and much more in the year gone by, then this is a great show to watch and have fun with. Hosted by Jimmy Carr, with celebrity panellists in three teams: Jonathan Ross and Cat Deeley (The Conventionally Attractive Team), Rob Brydon and David Walliams (Rob & Dave), and Russell Brand and Noel Fielding (Raven Spawn / Rod's Progeny / The Goth Detectives). This quiz focused on the year 2006, with all sorts of questions to answer about the past twelve months. These questions are asked as they are, with video and sound clips, with pictures (including Say What You See), and by celebrity and mystery guests on screen or in the studio, so it really does feel like a proper quiz that you can take part in. Events in the year 2006 that were questioned and joked about, and mentioned (or pictured) included: Muslims outraged by a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad with a bomb as a hat, James Cracknell and Ben Fogle rowing the Atantic naked, French woman Isabelle Dinoire having the world's first face transplant after a dog mutilated her original face, the Northern Bottlenose whale swimming in the River Thames, Celebrity Big Brother with (non-celebrity) Chantelle Houghton, Michael Barrymore, Pete Burns, George Galloway and Rula Lenska, a clinical trial going wrong and a girlfriend describing volunteer boyfriend looking like The Elephant Man, Isaac Hayes quitting his role as Chef in South Park after they mocked his Scientology religion, "Trapped in the Closet" the hip hopera by R. Kelly, the book The Da Vinci Code being accused of plagiarism, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, "Patience" by Take That (reunited without Robbie Williams), "America" by Razorlight, Fathers for Justice storming the National Lottery show with Eamonn Holmes, the (football) World Cup, Lordi winning the Eurovision Song Contest for Finland, the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip farting on the balcony causing the royal family to giggle from the palace balcony, "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley becoming the first number one single from downloads alone, the autobiography of Jade Goody, two yellow cards given in one World Cup match by referee Graham Poll, Big Brother 7 with Nicki Grahame, new airport security measures with bags and luggage following a terrorist threat, David Walliams swimming the English Channel for Sport Relief, the Royal Mail measuring size as well as weight for envelope and jiffy bag deliveries, the wedding of Matt Lucas to long-term partner Kevin McGee, Mel Gibson arrested for drunken behaviour, being racist and calling a police woman "sugar tits", The Queen (Dame Helen Mirren), Snakes on a Plane (Confetti, Mission: Impossible III, Superman Returns, and Brokeback Mountain also mentioned), Madonna adopting a child from Malawi, parents rebelling against the schools with burgers and chips for their children at schools changed by the Jamie Oliver healthy eating campaign, Ant and Dec taking out life insurance against each other's death, YouTube being sold for $1.68 billion to Google, the autobiography of Kerry Katona, North Korea testing nuclear weapons, Billie Piper leaving Doctor Who, Mike Baldwin leaving Coronation Street after 30 years, Ross Kemp returning to EastEnders as Grant Mitchell, Deal or No Deal, Sadie King (Patsy Kensit) leaving Emmerdale with a bang, Dancing on Ice, Extras, the return and end of Prime Suspect with Dame Helen Mirren, the end of Top of the Pops with Sir Jimmy Savile, Saddam Hussein sentenced to death by hanging, the death of Desert Orchid the horse, Daniel Craig as James Bond 007 in Casino Royale, ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko poisoned, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Myleene Klass auctioning her bikini for collapsed firm Fairpak, the tornado in Kensal Rise, North West London, Leona Lewis winning The X Factor, two priceless Chinese vases knocked over by unemployed artist Nick Flynn at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and Les Lailey eating a 50 year old can of chicken he received at his wedding to celebrate his golden wedding anniversary. Other celebrity and special mystery guests in the show included the children of Mitchell Brook Primary School in Neasden who act out well known news stories, Jon Snow who reads news related to lyrics from songs of the year, Lily Allen, Girls Aloud (Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh), Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen), Boy George who performed community service picking up trash in New York City, mystery guest Guy Gomer who accidentally appeared on BBC News 24 (instead of Guy Kewney), Myleene Klass (runner-up) and Matt Willis (King of the Jungle) from I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, Courtney Love, Sir Ian McKellen who reads passages from celebrity autobiographies of the year, and Carol Vorderman. The jokes and the questions are what make this show so much fun, they always choose the right celebrity panellists, and it works as a funny way to reminisce on the recent events you remember, a great comedy quiz show. Very good!