Greg Davies on the return of Never Mind The Buzzcocks

Never Mind the Buzzcocks returns to Sky Max next for the fourth series of the rebooted series. Here host  Greg Davies talks about losing control of the show, Sophie Willan joining as team captain … and Steven Tyler’s strange feet

How excited are you to be back with series four?

Oh yeah, I’m delighted. It’s a very full-on ship to try and help steer and I like to think I do it in a uniquely incompetent way.

What do you think is the secret to its success?

It’s just one of those unholy combinations that seems to work. And also the production team are just so brilliant at making it fun for us. They allow us total freedom in terms of what gets said and have a knack of choosing just the right guests. 

It might look like four idiots messing around, but the work that goes into it from actual adults is incredible.

Having worked together for three series, does that make it easier when it comes to the rhythm of the show and knowing how to make each other laugh?

Yeah I think there’s a real shorthand there now. A group of people who would normally only be thrown together in a natural disaster have become a surprisingly tight-knit team. I really love hanging out with them but will deny that violently to their faces.

What kind of reaction do you get from fans?

Well, I’ve found there really is a warmth. It really did feel like quite a heavy burden taking on a show that’s been so beloved for so many years. A lot of people who are far too disgustingly young come up to me and say they enjoy it but also, long-term fans of the show have been universally kind.

I think we all feared that die-hard fans would think it had been tampered with too much. But I don’t think they do.

You have got Sophie Willan stepping in for Daisy May Cooper this series. What do you think she brings to the show?

She is just very natural and very silly and, like Daisy, is just capable of rolling with the punches. She’s very naturally funny. She’s also the first from Bolton to befriend Nelly Furtado. I think that’s a fair statement.

Is she as competitive as Daisy?

I don’t think either of them are even remotely competitive, but I think they occasionally pretend.

You’ve got some themed episodes this series, what can viewers expect?

Yeah, that was really good fun. The team did a great job of selecting fairly key people from certain periods of musical history. Lovely for someone like me who’s well over 100 years of age to remember periods in my life. 

When we zoomed in on the Nineties, when I was essentially a drunk teacher, it was fun to remember a lot of those tunes and some of the memories they stirred up. I wonder how many people associate Blur with hating children.

Courtney Love and Beth Ditto were also team captains,what were they like?

Two hand grenades lobbed in to a TV format. They were fun. I think. I think they were fun.

Courtney and team captain Noel Fielding go way back, was he squirming in case any stories from their old days came out?

Yeah, I think he was a bit nervous, I think maybe they were heavily editing that period in their lives, but there was enough to make the giant gothic crow slightly uncomfortable, for sure. He was pecking away at the desk.

Which musical guests stood out for you?

Oh God, so many of them. The Libertines boys, that’s a good example of me thinking I’m not in charge of this show. They did a song and dance this time, and I just sat behind the desk going, 'I don’t know what the fuck’s going on.’

We had Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols and he had to take charge at one point. He actually said to someone on the show, ‘Hey, it’s my turn to speak. Be quiet.’ It’s a pretty good indication that you’ve lost control of a show if a Sex Pistol has to try and restore order.

Mel B surprised me too. She was delightfully competitive. She was absolutely fuming if it seemed like the rules weren’t being adhered to. Mel B, a stickler for rules: you heard it here first.

What do you think the comedian guests bring to the show?

You’d be forgiven for thinking a lot of the time that this show isn’t about music, but we do keep tracking it back. I do keep trying to drag it back to what the show’s about. And so we see another side of them. I’m always amazed by how many boy band fans live amongst comics.

When you have comics on, are they trying to out-do each other, or maybe put you off your stride as the quizmaster?

Well, I think I’m generally thrown in this show because the only other entertainment show I’m involved in is Taskmaster, where I’m given ultimate power. And I just feel like Noel, Jamali [Maddix], Daisy and Sophie just do a wonderful job of reminding me that I’m not in charge of anything in my life, not really. It just feels like Absolute Chaos and that my own team are working against me. 

Noel’s eyes light up in a particular, haunting way when he knows I’ve lost control.

There have been countless times where I’ve lost the plot in this series, but that’s part of the joy of it. It’s not manufactured chaos. It is chaos. 

There’s a moment in the Christmas special that is literal insanity, I think. Insanity. I won’t spoil it, but that Christmas special made me laugh so many times. 

I’ve got a running joke with Jamali this series that really made me laugh and for the record it’s true; he does. 

I would just say this, if it seems like things are not in my control on screen, it’s because they’re not. And if it seems like someone said something that I don’t think they should have said, then it’s probably because they have said something they shouldn’t have said. 

There are so many times where I think, "Oh no, we’re going to get in trouble." The teacher in me finds it all very stressful.

What was it like having Daisy back for the Christmas special?

It was lovely. I’d never tell her to her face, but I think we’d all missed her. 

But I don’t think it’s good for her to know that. If she ever says, ‘I hear you were thrilled to have me back,’ I’ll flat deny it. So my answer is no, it was shit.

Rumour has it that you were a Christmas angel?

Well, that’s one of the things where you think, I cannot believe I’m being paid for this. I didn’t think I’d get to be a festive angel. I didn’t think that I would be part of the final nativity image that people are going to see which is both heartwarming and disturbing.

Have you guys had any wild nights out together after filming?

It’s all so manic that we don’t really have time during the series to socialise. We’re all so exhausted by the end of an episode, because it is such genuine madness that we didn’t have a chance to go out during filming, but we made up for it at the wrap party. I couldn’t walk for five days.

Who would you want on as a guest that you haven’t had yet?

Mick Hucknall’s my personal dream guest. I don’t even know why. I think it might be spiritual? We featured Steven Tyler’s strange feet a lot this series, so I’d like to have his feet as aguest. Seriously, look them up, they’re unholy.

Who else? I bumped into Bonnie Tyler backstage because she was doing Loose Women, and I think convinced her to come on next time. Welsh lung-busting singers would be right up there for me. It’s part of my heritage.

 I’d love Tom Jones to come on the show and confirm whether some of the rumours about him are true or not. Listerine is all I’m going to say.

• Never Mind the Buzzcocks series 4 launches on  October 16 on Sky Max and NOW

Published: 30 Sep 2024