Question Time

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The Question Time logo

The man in the pink shirt~ Ancient Question Time proverb

Question Time (QT) AKA How Fandom Justifies Getting Drunk Every Thursday

History[edit | edit source]

Question Time began on Tuesday 25 September 1979, as a television version of the BBC Radio 4 programme Any Questions? where politicians and people important in the media sit around and talk about topics chosen by the audience in attendance. Originally intended to have only a short run, the programme became very popular and so the BBC kept it going. And going. And going.

The set is moved around the country so people from all over the UK get to sit in the audience and heckle politicians. Generally the panel membership of a particular episode reflects the political make up of the local area.

Panel Membership[edit | edit source]

David Dimbleby is the current host of Question Time and has been since 1994, although when the BBC were looking for someone to take over as the new host they also trialed Jeremy Paxman which would have been a very different show.

Every week the panel is made up of politicians and others linked either to big news stories of the previous week or the local area[1]. The exact number of people on the panel varies but is generally six - David Dimbly and five guests. These tend to include a combination of politicians, representatives from lobbying groups, unions, think tanks, journalists, comedians and talking heads.

Sometimes politicians appear in the audience as well as on the panel; for example in one early episode of Question Time a young John Bercow can be seen in the audience, heckling Barbara Castle and generally being a spotty, greasy-haired young Toryof the 1970s. A 2010 edition of the show Jess Phillips in the audience five years before she became an MP[2].

Controversies[edit | edit source]

In early 1981, David Steel declared his support for "a marriage" between the Liberal Party and any party which might be formed by the Gang of Four - the previously Labour MPs who had defected from the party. David Owen, who was also on the programme, said he could see advantages in an "electoral alliance" between them but didn't respond to Steel's marriage proposal much to Steel's sadness.

In 2009 Nick Griffin, the head of the BNP, won a seat in the European Parliament election. This, along with the party's increase in vote share at local elections, resulted in the BBC asking Griffin to appear on Question Time. At the time the move was widely criticised and people were angered that the BNP was being given a platform on the BBC when other parties of similar sizes were not. However, the show turned out not as bad as people were worried about because Griffin showed just what an arse he is and his arguments were taken down time and again by basically everyone on the panel and in the audience. The episode with Griffin produced the highest ever viewership for Question Time with an estimated 7.9 million people tuning in to watch. Usually viewing figures average around 2.7 million so it was a pretty big deal.

David Dimbleby also has a habit of wearing interesting ties. This cause much comment from fandom and the general public.

Importance in Fandom[edit | edit source]

The fandom holds weekly watch-a-long posts on the main LJ comm and people on their individual twitter and tumblr accounts also liveblog the event. This has lead to a number of in-jokes on the main post and a drinking game whenever one of these in-jokes appears. Such jokes include the phrases "up and down the country", "hard working people" and "long term economic plan", Dimbleby referencing twitter even though he has no idea what it is and every time Dimbleby calls on a member of the audience by referring to a piece of their clothing (all of which are worth one shot).

As well as providing more material for fanficcers and the like to work with[3], Question Time often comes with crack prompts and throws politicians who are usually not seen together into a high pressure, short lived environment, all of which tends to result in a lot of silliness being had.

Question Time has also given rise to DIMBLEBOT.

References[edit | edit source]