Film and television questions divide cleanly into two kinds: the ones about
the finished thing, which anyone who watched it can answer, and the ones about
how it was made, which almost nobody can. Setters know this, and the second kind
is where the round is decided.
Awards, casting, and catchphrases
Best Picture winners are the backbone — particularly the surprises and the
records: most Oscars won, most nominations without a win, the films that swept
the major categories. Casting near-misses are the setter's favourite shape,
because the answer is a famous person who is not in the film: the actors who
turned down Bond, the studio's first choice for a part that later defined
someone else. The Bond casting history
is asked about in every one of its six incarnations.
Television in a British quiz means soaps, sitcoms and catchphrases far more
than it means prestige drama. Catchphrase-to-programme is nearly free marks if
you have them; the harder version asks for the character rather than the actor.
Settings are the other reliable seam — the fictional towns, streets and pubs.
The Christmas Day EastEnders
episode watched by 30 million people is the sort of record that gets asked
every few months.
Production stories
These carry the hardest and most satisfying questions:
the shark that would not work,
the shower scene,
the accidents on The Wizard of
Oz, the studio that
expected Star Wars to fail,
the marketing campaign that
convinced people it was real, and
the flop that took a studio down with
it. Each is worth several distinct questions.
Best Picture winner for 2002 (films of that year)?
Answer Chicago
Brookside was set in which city?
Answer Liverpool
Peaky Blinders is set in which English city?
Answer Birmingham
Best Picture winner for 1997 (films of that year)?
Answer Titanic
The Royle Family barely leaves one living room in which city?
Answer Manchester
Who sang the Skyfall theme?
Answer Adele (won the Oscar)
It's Always Sunny in… — which city completes the title, home of Paddy's Pub?
Answer Philadelphia
First fully computer-animated feature film?
Answer Toy Story (Pixar, 1995)
The American Office is set at which paper company, in which city?
Answer Dunder Mifflin, in Scranton, Pennsylvania
EastEnders first aired?
Answer 1985
Best Picture winner for 1994 (films of that year)?
Answer Forrest Gump
Director of Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill?
Answer Quentin Tarantino
Director of Psycho, Vertigo, and The Birds?
Answer Alfred Hitchcock
South Park is set in which US state?
Answer Colorado
Bond film — who played 007 in Dr. No (1962)?
Answer Sean Connery
The Wire is set in which US city?
Answer Baltimore
Director of Jaws, E.T., and Schindler's List?
Answer Steven Spielberg
Twin Peaks is set in which US state?
Answer Washington
Best Picture winner for 1991 (films of that year)?
Answer The Silence of the Lambs
Family Guy is set in Quahog, in which US state?
Answer Rhode Island
Best Picture winner for 2000 (films of that year)?
Answer Gladiator
First Bond film?
Answer Dr. No (1962)
Stranger Things is set in the fictional town of Hawkins, in which US state?
Answer Indiana
Director of Titanic and Avatar?
Answer James Cameron
Best Picture winner for 1999 (films of that year)?
Answer American Beauty
The longest-running radio soap in the world?
Answer The Archers (BBC Radio 4, since 1951)
Best Picture winner for 2011 (films of that year)?
Answer The Artist
Coronation Street first aired?
Answer 1960 (Britain's longest-running TV soap)
'You are the weakest link — goodbye' — who said it?
Answer Anne Robinson (The Weakest Link)
Hollyoaks is set in a suburb of which English city?
Answer Chester