Never Mind the Buzzcocks returns to Sky Max and NOW on Wednesday 16 October for its fourth series. The music-themed quiz will see actor and comedian Greg Davies back at the helm as host with returning team captain, Noel Fielding and regular panelist, Jamali Maddix.
The first episode of the series will see the one and only Goddess of Grunge, Courtney Love, sitting in the opposing team captain seat for Buzzcocks Does... Rock. Multi award-winning comedian, actor and writer, Sophie Willan, will also sit in as opposing team captain for a handful of shows, with Daisy May Cooper returning for the Christmas Special.
Also sitting in the team captain seat this series will be Mel B for Buzzcocks Does… Nineties, Beth Ditto for Buzzcocks Does… the Noughties and Perrie Edwards will join for Buzzcocks Does… Girl & Boy Bands.
Never Mind the Buzzcocks S4 launches 16 October on Sky Max and NOW
Greg Davies talks about the new series below.
How excited are you to be back with series four?
Oh yeah, I’m delighted. It’s a very full-on ship to try and help steer and I like to think I do it in a uniquely incompetent way.
What do you think is the secret to the success you’ve all had with this series?
It’s just one of those unholy combinations that seems to work. And also the production team are just so brilliant at making it fun for us. They allow us total freedom in terms of what gets said and have a knack of choosing just the right guests. It might look like four idiots messing around, but the work that goes into it from actual adults is incredible.
Having worked together for so long now, does that make it easier when it comes to the rhythm of the show and knowing how to make each other laugh?
Yeah I think there’s a real short hand there now. A group of people who would normally only be thrown together in a natural disaster have become a surprisingly tight knit team. I really love hanging out with them but will deny that violently to their faces.
What kind of reaction do you get from fans?
Well, I’ve found there really is a warmth. It really did feel like quite a heavy burden taking on a show that’s been so beloved for so many years. A lot of people who are far too disgustingly young come up to me and say they enjoy it but also, long-term fans of the show have been universally kind. I think we all feared that die-hard fans would think it had been tampered with too much. But I don’t think they do.
You have got Sophie Willan stepping in for Daisy this series. What do you think she brings to the show?
She is just very natural and very silly and, like Daisy, is just capable of rolling with the punches. She’s very naturally funny. She’s also the first from Bolton to befriend Nelly Furtado. I think that’s a fair statement.
Is she as competitive as Daisy?
I don’t think either of them are even remotely competitive, but I think they occasionally pretend.
You’ve got some themed episodes this series, what can fans expect?
Yeah, that was really good fun to do some specials. The team did a great job of selecting fairly key people from certain periods of musical history. Lovely for someone like me who’s well over a hundred years of age to remember periods in my life. When we zoomed in on the Nineties, when I was essentially a drunk teacher, it was fun to remember a lot of those tunes and some of the memories they stirred up.
Perrie Edwards is the team captain for the boy band/girl band episode, what was she like?
Perrie Edwards is the most competitive little mix I’ve met so far and you can quote me on that. And I approve. I want people to want to win at any cost. If it was up to me the show would have hunger games consequences.
Courtney Love and Beth Ditto were also team captains, what were they like?
How would I describe Courtney and Beth Ditto? Two hand grenades lobbed in to a TV format? They were fun. I think.
Courtney and Noel go way back, was he squirming a bit in case any stories from their old days came out?
Yeah, I think he was a bit nervous, I think maybe they were heavily editing that period in their lives, but there was enough to make the giant gothic crow slightly uncomfortable, for sure. He was pecking away at the desk.
There are some great musical guests this series, who stood out for you?
Oh God, so many of them. The Libertines boys, that’s a good example of me thinking I’m not in charge of this show. They did a song and dance this time, and I just sat behind the desk going, “I don’t know what the fuck’s going on” We had Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols and he had to take charge at one point. He actually said to someone on the show, “Hey, it’s my turn to speak. Be quiet.” It’s a pretty good indication that you’ve lost control of a show if a Sex Pistol has to try and restore order.
Mel B surprised me too. She was delightfully competitive. She was absolutely fuming if it seemed like the rules weren’t being adhered to. Mel B, a stickler for rules: you heard it here first.
There are some brilliant comics on the panel this series, what do you think they bring to the show?
You’d be forgiven for thinking a lot of the time that this show isn’t about music, but we do keep tracking it back. I do keep trying to drag it back to what the show’s about. And so we see another side of them. I’m always amazed by how many boy band fans live amongst comics.
When you have comics on, are they trying to out-do each other, maybe make you giggle to put you off your stride as the quizmaster?
Well, I think I’m generally thrown in this show because the only other entertainment show I’m involved in is Taskmaster, where I’m given ultimate power. And I just feel like Noel, Jamali, Daisy and Sophie just do a wonderful job of reminding me that I’m not in charge of anything in my life, not really. It just feels like absolute chaos and that my own team are working against me. Noel’s eyes light in particular, light up in a haunting way when he knows I’ve lost control.
It’s always hilarious when you get the giggles and can’t control yourself, have there been any of those moments during filming series 4?
There’s been countless times where I’ve lost the plot in this series, but that’s part of the joy of it. It’s not manufactured chaos. It is chaos. There’s a moment in the Christmas special that is literal insanity, I think. Insanity. I won’t spoil it, but that Christmas special made me laugh so many times. I’ve got a running joke with Jamali this series that really made me laugh and for the record it’s true; he does.
I would just say this, if it seems like things are not in my control on screen, it’s because they’re not. And if it seems like someone said something that I don’t think they should have said, then it’s probably because they have said something they shouldn’t have said. There are so many times where I think, “Oh no, we’re going to get in trouble.” The teacher in me finds it all very stressful.
The show also brings up random revelations and we hear there are some unusual showbiz beefs discussed this series...
Jamali’s beefs are very strange. Last season, it was Dave Benson Phillips, and this time he revealed that he’s had a problem with Rod Stewart. And I don’t think he’s making it up either.
Now you need to get Rod on the next series and let them sort it out?
I think we’ve asked him every series! And again, if a Rod Stewart/Jamali Maddix beef can play out on telly, then I’ll probably retire because I’ll just know that life’s not going to get any better.
What was it like having Daisy back for the Christmas special?
It was lovely. I’d never tell her to her face, but I think we’d all missed her. But, I don’t think it’s good for her to know that. If she ever says, “I hear you were thrilled to have me back,” I’ll flat deny it. So my answer is no, it was shit.
Rumour has it that you were a Christmas angel?
Well, that’s one of the things where you think, I cannot believe I’m being paid for this. I didn’t think I’d get to be a festive angel. I didn’t think that I would be part of the final nativity image that people are going to see which is both heart-warming and disturbing.
Have you guys had any wild nights out together after filming?
It’s all so manic that we don’t really have time during the series to socialise. We’re all so exhausted by the end of an episode, because it is such genuine madness that we didn’t have a chance to go out during filming, but we made up for it at the wrap party. I couldn’t walk for 5 days.
Who would you want on as a guest that you haven’t had yet?
Mick Hucknall’s my personal dream guest. I don’t even know why. I think it might be spiritual? We featured Steven Tyler’s strange feet a lot this series, so I’d like to have his feet as a guest. Seriously, look them up, they’re unholy.
And who else?
I bumped into Bonnie Tyler backstage because she was doing Loose Women, and I think I convinced her to come on next time. Welsh lung busting singers would be right up there for me. It’s part of my heritage. I’d love Tom Jones to come on the show and confirm whether some of the rumours about him are true or not. Listerine is all I’m going to say.
Do you get any of your showbiz mates texting you asking to get on the show?
Andy Samberg was over in the UK filming something recently and we almost made the dates work for him to come on but ultimately didn’t. So my showbiz mates influence has been fairly unimpressive.
Interview/pictures supplied by Sky
