Ten shows to mark 45th anniversary

Radio 4 panel show Just A Minute is to transfer to TV next year, to mark the show’s 45th anniversary.

Nicholas Parsons, 88, will host ten daytime shows on BBC Two early next year – to add to more than 700 radio shows he has recorded since 1967 – while radio regular Paul Merton will be among the guests.

But this will not be the first time the show has moved to TV. The first attempt, featuring the likes of Kenneth Williams and Clement Freud, was as early as 1969; but it never made it to air. Four series were made in the late Nineties for both BBC and ITV, but none came close to capturing the success of the radio show.

Just A Minute was invented by BBC producer Ian Messiter, whose Latin teacher punish used to punish pupils by making them talk on a given subject for 60 seconds.

Published: 20 Oct 2011