Alexander Armstrong’s Big Ask

I really do not envy those charged with coming up with new ideas for television shows. At first glance, it doesn’t seem too different to what I do; the need to attack themes covered by others many times over in a different way, trying to find something every person who has gone before you has missed… but when you think about it properly, the complexities of a completely different type of television show is far harder – to be different enough to stand out, whilst not alienating your potential audience…to give enough room for those appearing on the show to be themselves, yet to keep it within a base template… it’s not a simple process at all.

So here we have a new kind of quiz-meets-panel-meets-chat show hosted quite predictably by the incredibly likeable Alexander Armstrong. I love the genuineness which Armstrong generally emanates – he amazes me on his fantastic afternoon quiz show Pointless in the way he interacts so openly and honestly with the contestants as an equal rather than the usual patronising “I’m famous, you aren’t” from other quiz hosts and it is nice to see that his personality is much the same in this; showing us that even if it is all an act, at least he puts on the same front with celebs as the general public – and that is the sort of thing that matters, isn’t it!

And before I descend into another rant of fandom, I will address the content of the show itself…

The format is a simple one: three guests are given topics on which to provide a question their co-panelists are to answer. I have to say, the range of questions so far has been brilliant – but that is, I guess, dependant on the guests. Armstrong does a fabulous job of giving equal forum to each guest, facilitating conversation between them all brilliantly and contributing his own thoughts without overly dominating the show. This balance must be quite difficult, yet it does seem to come quite easily to him, giving the programme an overall relaxed, neutral atmosphere.

I have to say, the highlight by far for me has to have been watching Marcus Brigstocke and Graham Norton try to explain the concept of vajazzling to Sandi Toksvig – with Norton giving the classic line: “Imagine icing a cake, but the cake is a vagina.”

If you are as much a collector of useless information as I am, you will love the eclectic nature of this show. I also love that we get a rather unique insight into the minds of the guests in the type of question they bring and the way they answer those of the others.

This really is a brilliant show, so you should make efforts to catch its repeats of which there are many!

New episodes air on Dave on Mondays at 9pm.