Just A Minute

Maureen Lipman, she is certainly rather unique when it comes to how she does on JAM.   Her very first appearance was opposite Kenneth Williams, Tim Rice and John Junkin in 1982 or 1983 and has since appeared rather sporadically over the years.  In her appearances overall, she definitely showcases a quick wit, is able to pick up on the transgressions of others, but in general seems unable or unwilling to speak for longer than a few seconds without sccommitting one of sins of the game, whether it be hesitating like crazy or blatantly repeating something and then turning around after being challenged and saying 'What?'  like she has no idea why she was even challenged in the first place. 

 

it is certainly rather charming and a rather novel way of playing the game.  However, she certainly contributes quite a bit in between the rounds, and as I mentioned is definitely very quick witted.  she does certainly display a certain Peter Jones-like quality in her ability to take the mickey out of herself and is normally the first to point out how crap she is at the game. 

 

Before JAM, I never heard of Maureen Lipman, but I have since done some digging about the ol' girl, and have found quite a bit of information:  she started off in the theater, trained at the Old Vic when she was part of the Sir Lawrence Olivier's RNTC. 

 

she found herself on a number of sitcoms like 'The Lovers', 'Binmen', and 'Doctor at Large' and played an agony aunt on the series 'Agony', but is primarily known for playing 'Joyce Grenfell' in the series 'Re: Joyce!'. 

 

I seem to recall in her first appearance on JAM mentioning something about being in a program called 'Ugly', which seemed to then descend into some strange moment where Nicholas was trying to pay Maureen a compliment about the reason why she hesitated, and it led to them swapping glasses or some such nonsense.  Major headscratcher that was.

 

She's also made numerous appearances as a Jewish grandmother for a series of commercials advertising British Telecom.

 

I think what surprised me the most, was when I found out that she actually made a rather prominent appearance in the revived Doctor Who series, during an episode called 'The Idiot's Lantern', which is actually one of my favorites (apart from her rather OTT proclamations of 'I'm hungry!' that could've been toned down a bit). 

 

the fact that she is such high demand is probably why she's kept her appearances on panel shows to a minimum, but that's quite alright.  I find her contributions on the program rather entertaining, and she certainly doesn't overstay her welcome by appearing too often, because I'm uncertain if I'd like her on the program in a regular capacity.