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What's the Point?


Today, I watched the filming of two episodes of the BBC1 game show Pointless.

I was struck by how relaxed the shoot was. It was a world of difference from my previous game show experience, when I attended a recording of the Paul Daniels-fronted Nineties quiz Wipeout (I've never been starved for entertainment). That programme was filmed in a much larger studio at Television Centre (today’s was shot in Elstree) - and consequently felt like a much bigger deal.

Conversely, today's shoot was relatively low-key. I’m not saying that Armstrong and Osman were blasé about the job in hand (except for then, when I just said it). They were just completely in control of proceedings. It was like watching a well-oiled machine. A well-oiled machine that intersperses dry one-liners with trivia. 

(I'm not sure what would be the purpose of this appliance.)

The hardest thing was refraining from playing along out loud. This is perfectly acceptable at home; less so when you’re sitting front-centre in the audience, in the direct line of sight of both the presenters and contestants.

I didn’t do too badly in my mind, if I do say so myself. I managed to get three pointless answers: one in a round about Beatles songs, another in a round about Oasis, and one about 1984 (the year, not the novel). I also scored seven points with the British Grand Prix-winner Jackie Stewart. You'd almost be fooled for thinking that I know stuff.

I didn’t score so well when the cameras were turned on the audience for a few reaction shots. There was nothing natural about my performance.

(It's not as if I earn my living as an actor.)
 
I even briefly held a Pointless trophy. They’re tiny: about the size of two Crystal Maze crystals if they'd been melted into one. 

That was apparently the most universal scale I could come up with.

A David's-eye-view of the studio.

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