Would I Lie to You? (TV series)

Would I Lie to You?
Titles used since series 3
Genre	Comedy
Format	Panel game
Directed by	Barbara Wiltshire (2007-8, 2011-present) David Coyle (2009-10)
Presented by	Angus Deayton (2007–8) Rob Brydon (2009–present)
Starring	Team Captains David Mitchell Lee Mack
Voices of	David de Keyser (2007) Paul Ridley (2008-10)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	7
No. of episodes	51 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Peter Holmes Ruth Phillips Gilly Hall (2011-present)
Producer(s)	Andrew Westwell (2007-8) Derek McLean (2007-10) Fiona McDermott (2009-10) Kate Staples (2011) Stephanie McIntosh (2012-present)
Editor(s)	Steve Andrews (2007-8) Tim Ellison (2007-8) Bex Murray (2007-8) Steve Nayler (2009-present) Tom Munden (2011-present)
Location(s)	The Fountain Studios (2007) BBC Television Centre (2008) Pinewood Studios (2009—)
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Zeppotron
Distributor	Endemol UK
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One
Picture format	PAL (576i) (2007-10) HDTV (1080i) (2011-present)
Original run	16 June 2007 (2007-06-16) – present
External links
Official website

Would I Lie to You? (often abbreviated to WILTY) 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.^[1] The team captains are comedians David Mitchell and Lee Mack.

For each show, two celebrity guests join each of the team captains. The two teams then compete with each player revealing unusual facts and embarrassing personal tales for the consideration 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, as 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.^[2]

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 an 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 at Pinewood Studios. It started airing from 9 September at 21:30.^[3]

The sixth series of the show was recorded in March 2012 and began its broadcast on 13 April 2012.^[4] This series was aired in a pre-watershed slot, at 20:30, for the first time.^[5]

Rounds

In all the 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, in 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 have 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 have to work out which it is.
"Quick-Fire Lies": Same as "Home Truths" but 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.

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 5, 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.

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Guest appearances

The following have all appeared multiple times as one of the guest panelists on the show (as of 17 May 2013). This list does not include the special Comic Relief episode.

5 appearances

Jason Manford

4 appearances

3 appearances

2 appearances

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Reception

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.^[6] The following year, it won the same category.^[7]

The show won the British Comedy Award for "Best British TV Panel Show" in 2010.^[8] It was nominated in the same category at the following year's ceremony, but lost to Shooting Stars.^[9]

Ratings

The first show of Series 1 had 3.8 million viewers, a 19% audience share at the time it was broadcast.^[10]

The first show of Series 2 had 3 million viewers and a 14% audience share.^[11] Later episodes indicated ratings of 2.7 - 3.2 million,^[12]^[13]^[14] with the final show of the series getting 3.3 million viewers and a 15% audience share.^[15]

The first show of Series 3 had 2.8 million viewers, the lowest amount for a series opener so far; however, this equated to a 17% audience share.^[16] The final show attracted only 2.5 million viewers, but with a 19% audience share overall.^[17]

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.^[18] The series 5 premiere had the show's highest ratings to date, with 4 million viewers and a 17.2% audience share.^[19]

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Official merchandise

A DVD of the complete fourth series was released in September 2011.^[20]
A board game based on the show was released in 2012.^[21]^[22]
A DVD of the complete fifth series was released in October 2012.^[23]

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Transmissions

Main article: List of Would I Lie to You? episodes

Original series

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	16 June 2007	28 July 2007	6
2	11 July 2008	29 August 2008	8
3	10 August 2009	28 September 2009	8
4	23 July 2010	10 September 2010	8
5	9 September 2011	28 October 2011	8
6	13 April 2012	22 June 2012	8
7	3 May 2013	2013	9

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.

Specials

Date	Entitle
19 September 2008	The Best & Unseen Bits from Series 2
17 December 2009	The Best & Unseen Bits from Series 3
17 September 2010	The Unseen Bits from Series 4
5 March 2011	24 Hour Panel People Comic Relief Special
25 November 2011	The Unseen Bits from Series 5
29 June 2012	The Unseen Bits from Series 6

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International editions

A New Zealand version of the show, presented by multinational broadcaster Paul Henry who also presents an Australian breakfast television program and featuring team captains Jesse Mulligan and Jon Bridges, began airing on TV3 in 2012.^[24]