Would I Lie to You? (TV series)



Would I Lie to You? is a British comedy panel show aired on BBC One, made by Zeppotron for the BBC. It was first broadcast on 16 June 2007.

Format
The show was presented by Angus Deayton in 2007 and 2008 and by Rob Brydon (who had appeared as a guest panellist in the second series) from 2009 onwards. The team captains are comedians David Mitchell and Lee Mack. As revealed by Lee Mack on Alan Carr: Chatty Man on 19 September 2014, Alan Carr was a team captain in the pilot but subsequently turned down an offer to appear on later shows. For each show, two celebrity guests join each of the team captains. The teams compete as each player reveals unusual facts and embarrassing personal tales for the evaluation of the opposing team. Some of these are true; some are not, and panellists’ task is to decide which is which.

The first series was recorded at The Fountain Studios in Wembley during March and April 2007, and aired at 21:55 between 16 June and 28 July 2007 on BBC One (missing a week for coverage of the Concert for Diana memorial event).

Filming for the second series took place between 15 November and 18 December 2007. The second series was filmed at BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, because the Fountain Studios were being used for The X Factor at the time. The second series aired at 21:00 between 11 July 2008 and 29 August 2008 on BBC One, and contained eight shows, an increase of two from series one. A compilation episode featuring some previously unaired material was aired on 19 September 2008 at 21:30 on BBC One.

Filming of a third series of eight episodes took place at Pinewood Studios during March and April 2009, and was broadcast between 10 August 2009 and 29 September 2009 on BBC One at 22:35. A compilation episode was also recorded. The airdate was 17 December 2009, due to the addition of Match of the Day to the BBC One schedule.

Filming of a fourth series of eight episodes took place at Pinewood Studios again during April and May 2010, and was broadcast between 23 July 2010 and 10 September 2010 on BBC One at 22:35. The compilation episode aired on 17 September 2010.

The fifth series was filmed during March 2011 and started airing from 9 September at 21:30.

The sixth series of the show was recorded in March 2012 and began its broadcast on 13 April 2012. This series was aired in a pre-watershed slot, at 20:30, for the first time.

Rounds
In all rounds, the scoring system is the same: teams gain a point for correctly guessing whether a statement is true or not, but if they guess incorrectly the opposing team gets a point. It is impossible for viewers to follow the scores until they are read out at the end of each round, as some questions are edited out. However, from the sixth series the scores were re-recorded to reflect what had made the edit and not the whole recording.

Current rounds

 * "Home Truths": Panellists read out a statement about themselves. The opposing team has to decide whether it is true or false by asking the panellist questions. The first series used all six panellists; from the second series onwards, only the four guests read statements.
 * "This is My...": A guest person is introduced. Panellists on one of the teams tell the opposing team about their relationship to the guest person; only one is genuine, and the opposing team has to work out which it is.
 * "Quick-Fire Lies": Same as "Home Truths" but ostensibly against the clock, with the panellists chosen at random. In series two a 'possessions' element was introduced; the panellist takes an item out of a box and has to convince the opposing team that it belongs to them. From the fourth series Rob Brydon also participated in this round, with both teams questioning him at once. In the later series, this round is usually restricted to Mitchell and Mack.

Former rounds

 * "Ring of Truth": A celebrity fact is read out by the host, each team have to reach a joint decision whether it is true or false. This round was generally edited out of the fourth series; as of series five, it is no longer being played.
 * "Telly Tales": Clips from a TV show are shown, a statement is read out about the show by a member of one team and the other team has to guess whether it is true or false. This round was only played in the first series.

Guest appearances
The following have all appeared multiple times as one of the guest panelists on the show, up to and including Series 10. This list does not include the special Comic Relief episode.

7 appearances
 * Rhod Gilbert

6 appearances 5 appearances
 * Jason Manford
 * Bob Mortimer
 * Miranda Hart
 * Richard Osman
 * Gabby Logan

4 appearances
 * Jimmy Carr
 * Greg Davies
 * Mel Giedroyc
 * Stephen Mangan
 * Sarah Millican
 * Dara Ó Briain
 * Claudia Winkleman

3 appearances
 * Frankie Boyle
 * Jo Brand
 * Hugh Dennis
 * Russell Howard
 * Miles Jupp
 * Jon Richardson
 * Henning Wehn
 * Jack Whitehall
 * Josh Widdicombe

a. Including an appearance where he substituted for Lee Mack as captain

Ratings
The first show of Series 1 had 3.8 million viewers, a 19% audience share at the time it was broadcast.

The first show of Series 2 had 3 million viewers and a 14% audience share. Later episodes indicated ratings of 2.7 - 3.2 million,  with the final show of the series getting 3.3 million viewers and a 15% audience share.

The first show of Series 3 had 2.8 million viewers, the lowest number for a series opener so far; however, this equated to a 17% audience share. The final show attracted only 2.5 million viewers, but with a 19% audience share overall.

The first show of series 4 had 3.12 million viewers and a 19.7% audience share, the best performance for a series opener since series 1.

The series 5 premiere had the show's highest ratings to date, with 4 million viewers and a 17.2% audience share.

Series 6 began with an audience share of 14.9% and peak viewing figures of 3.53 million. These figures were above the seventh series figures of 2.83 million / 12.8% audience share, although these rose to 3.17 million by the end of the series with a 14.7% share.

Awards
The show came second place in the British Comedy Guide's 2010 awards for the category "Best British TV Panel Show", losing out to QI. The following year, it won the same category. It also won the category in 2013, and also won the "Comedy of the Year 2013" award, making it the first non-scripted show to do so. It won the "Panel Show" category for the third time at the 2014 awards.

The show won the British Comedy Award for "Best British TV Panel Show" in 2010. It was nominated in the same category at the following year's ceremony, but lost to Shooting Stars. It won the award twice in a row at the 2013 and 2014 ceremonies.

The programme was nominated for its first BAFTA in 2014, for the category "Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme", losing to A League of Their Own. It was nominated again in the same category the following year, but lost to The Graham Norton Show; it went on to receive a third nomination at the 2016 awards.

International sales

 * The show airs on ABC1 and ABC2 in Australia, and began screening on BBC UKTV in New Zealand from November 2014.

Official merchandise

 * A DVD of the complete fourth series was released in September 2011.
 * A board game based on the show was released in 2012.
 * A DVD of the complete fifth series was released in October 2012.
 * A DVD of the complete sixth series was released in October 2013.
 * A book based on the series, Would I Lie to You? Presents the 100 Most Popular Lies of All Time, will be published in October 2015. The publishers, Faber and Faber, have also ordered a second book.
 * Series 4 to 7 were released individually on DVD in Australia across July and August 2015.

Transmissions
The coloured backgrounds denote the result of each of the series:
 * – indicates David's team won the series.
 * – indicates Lee's team won the series.
 * – indicates the series ended in a draw.

International editions

 * A New Zealand version of the show, presented by broadcaster Paul Henry, and featuring team captains Jesse Mulligan and Jon Bridges, began airing on TV3 in 2012. It followed the Rob Brydon era UK format very closely but was short lived.
 * The Czech version of this show will broadcast from January 2013 on ČT, a public television broadcaster.
 * The Malaysian version, Betul ke Bohong (English: Truth or Lie) is presented by AC Mizal and airs on Astro Warna.
 * A Swedish version, Tror du jag ljuger?, presented by Anna Mannheimer with team captains Johan Glans and Fredrik Lindström.