#weaver's week

[weaversweek]

The Way Out on Dave

Mel Giedroyc puts comedians in a locked room, and films them trying to get out.

An enjoyable romp through the world of escape rooms. There's someone in the cast for every viewer, and i was surprised at how well Chloe Petts clicked with the comedian Ed Gamble.

Doubtless the escape room aficionados will be able to spot which tropes have been used, and will dutifuly document them on their wiki. For us television viewers, The Way Out was an entertaining watch, with just a little bit of science so we didn't feel like we were completely vegging out.

Also loved how the show allowed itself to be immersive, only breaking out of the room for confessionals just before and after the ad breaks. Lesser shows would have cut every ten seconds to Nish Kumar on the sofa.

[weaversweek]

Eurovision Song Contest 2026

My review of Europe's big cultural exchange.

Thoughts on:

why "Bangaranga" is exactly the winner the contest needs

why it's not time for the BBC to withdraw from the contest

the brilliance of so many songs

could the EBU publish data to demonstrate their televote was reliable?

the production problems, and bad production decisions

where ESC Insight's "The Model" went right

and what can we look forward to next year

The Eurovision Song Contest, giving your fast-forward button a bit of a workout since 1956.

[weaversweek]

Jet Lag: Schengen Showdown

More than any other, we've been asked to review Jet Lag. It's the show where a group of young men split up and - in this instance - travel around Europe.

Over the next days, they'll take trains and planes and buses to cross borders. In this game, Liechtenstein is as valuable as Germany.

And there are challenges, silly things to do in an effort to win that country forever. Play beer pong with a waffle! Re-create The Creation of Adam while lying upside down! Blow your way through "Ode to Joy"!

Jet Lag emerges as a show with characters - Ben, Sam, Adam, and special guest Tom Scott prove to be good matches for each other. There's a good balance between process - the rules and travelling - with progress in the game, and challenges to entertain. If there's one weak point, it's that the challenges here were a bit reliant on stereotypes, and never scratched beneath the surface of a culture - it sometimes came across as Yankee Lads On A Gap Year.

But that is being severely picky. Jet Lag is a good show - it has a story, the story evolves organically. It's edited well, we literally didn't know what would happen until it happened. And it proves that widely-available technology is more than capable of making broadcast-quality television.

[weaversweek]

The Week of the Year 2025

What a year it's been in the game show world, eh?

Genius Game came to ITV... and promptly left ITV.

99 to Beat was another one-series wonder on ITV.

The Traitors was the biggest thing on television.

Destination X annoyed us, but proved reasonably popular.

Tom Daley wowed us with his wardrobe, both on The Celebrity Traitors and Game of Wool.

Celebrity Puzzling, Y Deis, and Gladiators impressed us. The 1% Club was completed, and there were series of Chess Masters and Win Win and The Inner Circle.

All this, and the winners of shows, in the Week of the Year.

https://ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Weaver%27s_Week_2026-01-04

Hey, the website's back!

[weaversweek]

The Inheritance on Channel 4

Liz Hurley is dead.

Well, for the purposes of this show, the very-much living Liz Hurley is playing The Deceased, a high-class businesswoman whose empire ran to all sorts of products. And whose empire needs to be wound up gracefully now that she's joined the ranks of the dearly departed.

Such a charismatic and attractive person will have appointed a flamboyant and interesting executor, right?

Robert Rinder, who missed his calling as a John Major-a-gram, rules the show with all the presentational skills and gravitas of Kate Thornton.

Which is a shame: the programme was the first time we've ever seen an iterated Prisoner's Dilemma, the people you shaft can come back and shaft you repeatedly. And there were questions about "fairness" and "justice" we've covered in the past.

And a cast where it was easy to cheer for the good guys and boo for the bad guys and gasp as people shifted in our estimations.

We're going to put The Inheritance down as a worthwhile, but failed, experiment. And that's fine, not all experiments succeed.

Plus! TV Times award nominations, when "A Midsummer's Night Dream" is not "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and why Merton Oxford put in a strong University Challenge performance even against strong competition.

Coming up this week:

Big Brother (ITV2, from tonight)

House of Games (3) with Richard Osman (BBC2, from tomorrow)

Portrait Artist of the Year (Artsworld, Wednesday)

The Inner Circle (BBC1, Saturday)

And if you want next week's Week sent to you by email, pop over to the UKGS Email Group.

[weaversweek]

What we did on our summer holly days, by Weaver's Week aged 24¾

We broke a world record, played in the largest ever game of Werewolf.

Fell in love with Blood on the Clocktower.

Got chased by time parasites, and failed to convince priests that our friend was an ex-pirate.

Solved puzzles around London Zoo, and made some cookies from a recipe by [PUZZLE SOLUTION].

We had an awesome time.

Tumblr bonus: at one point we congratulated the Scouts with "Well done, young warriors!" in the same cadence as Raven. Nothing. Went over their heads. The Scouts are too young to remember Raven, and we're all getting old.

[weaversweek]

Tony Slattery

A tribute to Tony Slattery in today's Week. He was thoroughly funny, then he was everywhere, then suddenly he was gone and he's been living in our memories ever since.

I've got words on five of the many game shows Tony did, including a thoroughly obscure Meridian local show, the original Trivial Pursuit, and Phil Swern's best music game.

And, riffing off something mentioned in University Challenge, how the cliffhanger got its name.

[weaversweek]

Only Connect 2025 final

Episode 504 of Only Connect was the 20th series final.

In the blue corner, Four Opinions, three nice lads who have not yet lost a game.

In the pink corner, Tea Totallers, three experiences quizzers who took the scenic route and clearly know their onions.

Who wins, who loses, and where did they get that picture of the flag of the Earth?

Plus! Yet more stats on University Challenge, joy from Claudia Winkleman, a spectacularly bad idea for BBC2, and Race Across the World takes on its most difficult challenge yet: the North Circular during evening rush hour.