Catchphrase, for years a popular game show, long inhabited the lonely territory of the niche quizzing channels, where it offered viewers the opportunity to revel in slightly weary graphics and an array of wonderful fashion choices. Where better to learn about 1980s-90s comedy hosting and street style than a show which combined the beautiful comment “it’s good but it’s not right” (repeated ad nauseam to comfort guests who’d made a ridiculous guess) and, week in week out, men and women with the most spectacular Deirdre Barlow glasses and floral blouses.
Now, eleven years after the final host said his goodbyes, Catchphrase returns with the charming Stephen Mulhern taking on the main role. Mulhern, an exceedingly affable man, shares the gentle humour of his predecessors, whilst resembling a teacher giving an interview lesson as, in an attempt to fill many of the rather awkward pauses in the show’s format, he has a tendency to babble on whilst we look at the board. His tentative offering as a catchprase, with some rhyming jingle about “screen” and “mean,” is not thoroughly convincing and I fear that those in charge of the show have attempted to cultivate in no time at all the same talent for family-friendly rapport which Roy Walker previously personified.
The contestants themselves in the third episode were delightful, but even so the length of time spent at the beginning of the show introducing them seemed quite excessive. After the first four minutes I felt bored and desperately craved an increase in the pace.
Luckily, the format of the quiz itself is essentially the same as before, and once things really began I forgot about any initially clunkiness, utterly absorbed in working out what possible phrase a boy taking a leaf out of a book could represent? Truly taxing stuff. Embarrassingly enough I did find myself saying some of the answers under my breath, to the puzzlement of those around me, so if anyone saw a girl watching itv Player on her laptop and occasionally muttering “traffic jam” or “seal of approval,” my apologies.
Ok, so it’s not Eggheads, and Mulhern’s helpful commentary – usually along the lines of “What is going on here? What can you see? What are these people doing?” – might mimic the voice in my head as I dedicate 45 minutes of potential reading/biscuit-eating time to watch some people work out problems one might find in the back of a comic, but I have definitely not lost my fondness for Catchphrase. It’s comforting, and the return of Mr Chips, holiday-prizes, and the same general look of the previous incarnation definitely help retain many of the previous virtues and give it a retro feel. Overall, I hope that it shares in the success of the original, to introduce the show to a whole new generation.
