They Think It's All Over (TV Series) - Overview

Overview

The show was originally presented by comedian Nick Hancock. Ex-England football team captain Gary Lineker and ex-England cricket team captain David Gower were the show's team captains from 1995 until they announced their retirement from the show in 2003. They were replaced as team captains by ex-England football goalkeeper David Seaman and ex-England cricketer Phil Tufnell. Former footballer Ian Wright took over from David Seaman in autumn 2004. From October 2005, Boris Becker replaced Tufnell and Lee Mack took over from Hancock as host.

Occasionally, a team captain was unable to appear on the show due to other commitments (for example David Gower going to commentate on the cricket for Sky Sports), so guest captains have been drafted in. Six times World Snooker Champion Steve Davis was a regular choice as guest captain, while Matthew Pinsent, Mark Lawrenson, Mick McCarthy, Sam Torrance, Steve Backley, Sharron Davies, Linford Christie and Michael Johnson also appeared in this role. Additionally, Ian Wright was a guest captain before becoming a permanent team captain.

Each team also had a regular panellist. For the team which was originally captained by Gary Lineker this had been Rory McGrath for the entire show's run. David Gower was originally teamed up with Lee Hurst. Lee left the show in 1998 due to ankylosing spondylitis (although he made a reappearance in 2004 on David Seaman's team) and was replaced for the next two series by a rotating line-up of comedians - Jonathan Ross, Jo Brand, Alan Davies and Phill Jupitus. Despite regularly admitting to having limited sporting knowledge, Ross became the permanent panellist until leaving the show in 2006, and was replaced by Sean Lock for the World Cup and summer sports special editions. The third member of each team varied from week to week, and would typically be a notable sportsperson or comedian.

The show was originally produced for BBC Radio 5, where it was hosted by Des Lynam. The devisers, Simon Bullivant and Bill Matthews, started work on a TV version in 1993, but it was two years before it made it to air. Des Lynam did record a pilot in early 1994, but decided not to do the already commissioned series, which was then put on hold.

In 1999 and 2001, as part of the BBC's Comic Relief broadcasts, one-off special programmes were made called Have I Got Buzzcocks All Over, which combined elements of the show with Have I Got News for You and Never Mind The Buzzcocks, with Angus Deayton as host.

Kenneth Wolstenholme was unhappy with the use of the phrase for the title of the show. He wrote in his autobiography that he had contacted the BBC to find out what relevance the title had to his most famous line, uttered 30 years earlier. However, when the show was first commissioned, he did accept a fee to re-record his famous commentary for the opening titles, as the original was unusable.