OK, time to round off my coverage of this year's University Challenge with my usual round up of series highlights, stats and demographics, and various other bits and pieces.
Starting with my usual selection for the best match of each round:
- First Round + Play-Offs: Definitely Imperial vs Strathclyde, though Edinburgh vs Manchester and Imperial's play-off win over Exeter were also stand-outs.
- Second Round: Definitely St John's vs Balliol, with Durham vs Edinburgh and Corpus Christi vs Magdalene the runners-up.
- Quarter-Finals: The very first one, Magdalene vs Birkbeck.
- The Final Three: The Imperial-Warwick rematch just edges it.
Like most recent series, there weren't exactly that many very close matches, but there were a lot of very high scoring ones. Most of the ones that were both seemed to come in quick succession in the second round. I also think there were a lot of matches this series where the final scores were deceptive; the matches themselves were closer/not as close as they suggest.
Highest score of the series goes to Birkbeck for their 295 against Reading in the second round; second highest was Magdalene's 270 in their semi-final against Balliol, and Imperial take bronze with their 265 in the QFs against King's, with Warwick and St Andrews joint fourth for their 255 each in their respective first round matches. For the second series in a row, the lowest score of the series was one of 40 from Wolfson of Cambridge (I believe the first time such a low score has been 'achieved' by the same institution two series in a row?), while the highest aggregate score was 280 in the Magdalene-Birkbeck quarter-final.
In terms of Oxbridge representation, Oxford had six teams to Cambridge's five, but, for the second series in a row, Cambridge reached further in the tournament; in fact, this was the first time there was no Oxford team in two successive finals since the 2005-06 and 06-07 series (the latter, coincidentally, being Warwick's first series win!). There were four London teams in the series, three from the UoL plus Imperial, four teams from Scotland, the first time that's happened since the very first BBC series, and, for the second series in a row, Wales and Northern Ireland were not represented.
Now normally at this point, I'd give you a list of series highlights, but this year, I've decided not to do so, mainly because there aren't many that I can immediately think of, but also because I think this series the 'entertainment' factor was very much second to the quizzing itself. In fact, in terms of pure quizzing, I think this was the strongest series in a while. All the teams involved, including those that fell in the first round, were strong quizzing outfits, and the series was all the better for it.
Every team involved was also entertaining and watchable in their own right; I mean, that's always been the case, but I really think it was a lot more noticeable this series. Or maybe it was just me and the by-product of my new way of reviewing the show here.
Speaking of which, you may recall back at the start of the series, I said my reviews would be shorter than before, and while this was the case at first, by the end of the series, you could be forgiven for thinking we'd gone back to the way things were before.
You may also recall how, in previous series, I've occasionally stated how I've often felt somewhat fatigued towards the end of a series; this series, not so much. This was the first series in a good few years when I wasn't exhausted of writing my reviews come the end of the series and glad of a rest.
I can think of two possible reasons for this, apart from how enjoyable the series was (which doesn't really count, as every series of the show that I've covered here has been enjoyable in its own right). One is that I'm not really doing anything else at the moment due to the current situation we all find ourselves in, so have been able to put more energy into these posts.
The other is that by ditching the rigid format for my reviews that I spent the past six series adhering to has given me a new lease of life and interest for writing these blogs. You may have noticed a slight formation did eventually slip into the blogs this series, but it doesn't feel as restrictive as the old one did. Plus, being able to devote more wordspace to OC and Mastermind helps to I feel.
So, unlike past series where I usually find myself debating with myself whether to carry on again next series, this year there's no doubt in my mind: I will definitely be covering the next series as well!
Assuming there is a next series that is. I would hope they've been able, or will be able, to get a new series recorded in the current situation. I mean, they found a way to get this series completed, so I would imagine getting a new series remounted and recorded in a shorter timeframe should be a lot easier in comparison. But we shall see.
So, that's my UC coverage completed for another year. All that remains is for me to, once again, thanks Paxo, Roger Tilling and all the participating teams for keeping us all entertained and occupied over the past nine months. And another extra special thanks to all who helped get the show filming again after the long enforced break; much appreciated and many thanks indeed!
I'll be back in a few week's time with a run through of the remainder of Mastermind, and I'll get my UC index page updated in the coming days as well. Until then, sayonara!
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