Hit BBC Radio 4 quiz show The 3rd Degree has chosen De Montfort University as a venue for its new series, in which our academics will pit their wits against students - and see who comes out on top.
The show, hosted by Stephen Punt, of ‘Mock the Week’ and ‘Horrible Histories’ fame, is recorded on location at a different university each week and DMU has been picked as one of the six venues the programme will use for the new series.
The show has the underlying rigour of a formal quiz, combined with a light-hearted quest to discover how the students will fare against their elders and betters.
But being a Radio 4 comedy quiz both the questions and the scoring will be approached in a unique style.
The rounds vary between “Specialist Knowledge” and “General Knowledge” with quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds, while academics and undergraduates will be put on the spot with rounds of individual questions.
Members of The 3rd Degree team visited the campus late last year and have selected PACE One, in DMU’s PACE Building (Performing Arts Centre of Excellence) as the venue.
The programme will be recorded in front of a live audience made up of students and staff.
The 3rd Degree producer is David Tyler, for Pozzitive, whose credits include Spitting Image, Thanks a Lot Milton Jones! and Cabin Pressure.
David said: "We're delighted to be coming to De Montfort University, not least because the uni's motto is "Excellence & Zeal" which are exactly the qualities needed in a quiz - together with an encyclopaedic knowledge of all the winners of X Factor..."
Host Stephen added: "Mind you, Excellence & Zeal do rather sound like Oliver Cromwell's shortlist for names for his children."
Barbara Matthews, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities, welcomed the news, saying: “It’s news to me that we have a motto – but I’m looking forward to lots of zeal and some flashes of excellence. Obviously the academics will win...”
Bringing The 3rd Degree to DMU is a great endorsement of the facilities on offer as the producers have chosen the PACE building as the ideal setting to stage and record a national radio programme.
As well as being fun for students to attend it will also be a learning experience too, as they get to see how a BBC programme is set-up, recorded and then broadcast to the nation.
Posted on Monday 19 January 2015