I was fortunate enough to get tickets to this recording so can reveal a bit more of what we can look forward in Series 72.
First of all, JAM has a new producer, Victoria Lloyd. She revealed that the first episode of the new series will be broadcast on Monday, 18th May 2015, and it will run for 8 episodes.
This was the last recording date - the other six episodes were recorded March 10, March 17 and April 8. I turned up a couple of hours early to get my tickets validated and to make sure I would get a seat near the front! The Shaw Theatre seats 446. Unfortunately the tiny bar area downstairs can only fit 150 standing so it was a relief to finally be called in and allowed to sit down.
I got a seat in the second row, a few rows in front of Annie Parsons. In fact, most of the reserved seats were in Rows 5-10, instead of the front rows like they do at the Radio Theatre.
The recording started 15 minutes late, as they tried to pack everyone in. I was surprised to see they were allowing people to stand at the back near the exits so there must have been about 500 of us in total throughout the auditorium.
After a short introduction by Victoria, we then had 10 minutes with Nicholas introducing the guests and testing the buzzers and microphone levels. The seating arrangement, left to right from the audience perspective, was Paul Merton, Sir Tim Rice, Hayley Sterling, Nicholas Parsons, Liza Tarbuck and Graham Norton.
The first recording of the evening finally started at ten to eight and lasted for 35 minutes. There were many hilarious moments especially when Nicholas mentioned Graham's beard and the numerous retakes of the closing announcement as he struggled to get everyones name correct.
The eight subjects were given out as follows:
English Sparkling Wine (Paul)
Muesli (Tim)
The Rain in Spain (Liza)
The Colosseum in Rome (Graham)
The Eden Project (Paul)
Rhyming Slang (Tim)
The Wow Factor (Liza)
Crows Feet (Graham)
After a short break while we waited for Gareth, the sound man, to change the CD, and for Angela, an audience member, to return from the ladies room, the second recording got underway. Again it lasted for 35 minutes, including a re-take of the closing announcements. This time, they managed to squeeze in nine subjects:
The Cornish Pasty (Graham)
Home Improvement (Liza)
Che Guevara (Tim)
How to Eat an Oyster (Paul)
Making a Good Impression (Graham)
Blackpool Tower (Liza)
English Breakfast (Tim)
The First Man on the Moon (Paul)
My Only Regret (Graham)
A very entertaining evening. I stood up to applaud Nicholas at the end and was pleased to see that the rest of the audience followed my lead. He certainly deserves a standing ovation for over 70 years work in radio, television and film.