Only Connect: Series 7: Match 4: General Practitioners vs Fell Walkers

Well, I think it's definitely safe to say now that the new format is justified, as all eight teams who have appeared this series, including the two from last night, have been fairly impressive. A good call by the production team there.

Playing last night were the General Practitioners, Jo Durrant, captain Mike Crowe and Chris David, and the Fell Walkers, Jim Taylor, captain Mike Amberry and Craig Almond. I am unaware of any previous quiz show appearances by any of the six, but I'm sure any will come up over on LAM should there be any.

OK, then, off we went again, with the GPs going first. The music round, on bands whose names derive from Latin, went to the Fell Walkers, which was apt as they had expressed interest in getting it earlier on. The Fell Walkers' second question had been previewed by the Radio Times earlier in the week as a good one: first clue was 'SURFEITED 4-8-9', which was followed by three similar phrases. The GPs managed to pick up a bonus by working out that there was a shorter word that meant the same thing hidden in the longer words that was spelt out by the hinted letters. Victoria described this as '[the] question setter at his evil best'; too right. The sort of fiendish thing you come to expect on OC.

At the end of the first round, it was 4-all. Going into the Sequences round, an unfortunate error by the GPs, who buzzed by mistake when they wanted another clue, cost them some points, but did not allow the opposition a chance to steal. Another question, on Met Office weather warning codes, was also dropped by both sides. The first points of the round came on the fourth question, when the GPs picked up a bonus from a question dropped by the opposition; the Fell Walkers subsequently did likewise.

It was a low scoring round, though both sides had some unlucky misses initially. The Fell Walkers now led by 7-5 going into the Walls round. And a great showing here, as both sides completed the Wall, and got all four connections, resulting in a full ten points each.

So, going into the final quickfire round, the Fell Walkers led by 17-15. Again, the two sides were evenly matched throughout the final round, but the Fell Walkers were slightly quicker on the buzzers, and thus, they managed to hold on to their lead. In the end, the Fell Walkers won by 28-22. But, again, a great showing by two fine teams, who both deserve another match one way or another.

So, next week, we begin to see teams again, as the Corpuscles take on the Cartophiles. I imagine the losing team will be heading home, while the winners get a third match, a la UC. Strange that they've decided to do the elimination matches first, if that's the case. But, no complaints about that; shouldn't be too different.