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Popmaster TV is the televisual equivalent of Ken Bruce‘s radio quiz show Popmaster, which he recently took from Radio 2 to Greatest Hits Radio, and I have to admit that bar the occasional clip, I’ve never actually listened to it…
Now, he does introduce it as radio’s best loved music quiz, but what about Dave Lee Travis’ Give Us A Break? Okay, not specifically music, but it was on the radio.
For this one, however, there are five contestants and six rounds. Whoever wins in each of the first five shows (Monday-Friday this week) will go through to the Grand Final on Monday July 3rd.
Up first is Links, and by way of an example, you have to name the artist singing on the 1993 track, Steam, and then name the band who released a 1994 single by the same name. I knew the answers to both, and subsequent questions also link back to the previous one.
Round two is Intros, Middles and Ends. He’ll play one of the three for a song, and whoever buzzes in quickest with the artist and title gets the chance to scoop the points, the sooner they do giving them more points, although wrong answers see them frozen out for the next question. One of them, I particularly remember from I’m Alan Partridge.
The third round is Video GaGa. Up to five images and clues are given for a particular music video, and the quicker you get the answer, the more points you get. I got the first one straight away, because it was quite bizarre.
Going forth is Top Tens, with Top 10 singles from a particular week in history, this time being 2nd August 1986, and a question relating to each of the Top 10 tracks at the time.
The penultimate round, Pop Years, sees you having to guess when, while being told up to three tracks from that year, while the final round, It’s Only Words, is about famous lyrics from pop history, and guessing which track they’re from.
But wait… when it gets down to the last two, it’s Original Popmaster, with 39 points up for grabs… and I haven’t heard the original properly, as I’ve mentioned, but this is more general pop questions, and whoever gets the most will win… but it’s still not over!
The winner gets a silver disc, but can upgrade to a gold disc with another round (yes, another!), 3 in 10, where the finalist has to guess three Top 75 hits for a particular artist.
Is it over yet? Yes… Well, for that episode, since there’s a whole week of shows before the Grand Final on Monday July 3rd, and while Ken Bruce makes for a very personable host, I’m not sure I’ll be watching too many of the episodes. However, rather than put this on More4, it could make for a weekday afternoon Channel 4 hit, if the host has the time inbetween his daily radio duties.
Popmaster TV begins Monday June 26th on More 4 at 8pm, running on weeknights until Monday July 3rd inclusive, and after each episode, they will be on online to stream. It’s unlikely to be released on Blu-ray or DVD.
Director: Derek Hallworth
Producer: James Woolley
Writer: David Reilly
Music: Craig Brown
Presenter: Ken Bruce
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.