Just A Minute

 
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The Guardian writes an editorial on... Clue?

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Dean BedfordNov 18, 2007
 

 
Am I the only one who thinks it's hillarious that 200 people write in
every season asking for the rules to Mornington Crescent...

In praise of ... I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

Leader
Monday November 12, 2007
The Guardian

Mrs Trellis of north Wales will no doubt be sitting by her wireless at
6.30pm this evening when the start of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue's 50th
series is announced by the show's bumbling brass theme (based on a tune
by Haydn). What follows is guaranteed to be brilliant. It always is.
Listening is like being welcomed back into a comfortable club on a wet
winter's night, a cheerful refuge from a dour, serious world outside.
There may be people who are tired of its routines, its in-jokes and
innuendo - but they are the sort of humourless listeners who write in to
the BBC asking for the rules of Mornington Crescent to be explained (200
do every series), who wonder why Samantha hasn't read out the score in
years and probably question the need for the licence fee to fund Humph's
expensive laser display board, too. Everyone else appreciates the show's
relaxed brilliance.

Many things contribute to this, starting with Humphrey Lyttelton, who
has chaired the show since it began in 1972, getting funnier and bolder
through the years. He does deadpan gags better than anybody else in
broadcasting and gets more smut past the BBC, too. Without him the show
would not have made it through 10 series, let alone 50, a magnificent
score matched only by the even longer-lived Just A Minute. By rights
Clue should have stopped being funny years ago. But there is nothing
dusty or exhausted about a programme that still asks silly people to do
silly things, and gets away with it every time.

 
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