History Radio / JustAMinute

** Also, Clement Freud was delayed for the recording of one episode in 1977, thus forcing Nicholas to take his place on the panel alongside Kenneth Williams, Derek Nimmo, and Peter Jones, while Ian Messiter took over as chairman. In another episode in 1982, it was Messiter who took Clement's place on the panel alongside Kenneth, Derek, and Peter. (He finished last.)

The object of the game is for panelists to talk "for just a minute" on a given (often rather strange) subject, "without hesitation, repetition or deviation" (except they can repeat the subject or any words therein). These rules stemmed from creator Ian Messiter's old teacher, who told him to repeat everything he had just said without hesitating or repeating himself after accusing him of not paying attention to the lesson (Messiter added the rule about deviating himself).

** Most noticable in the 2012 TV series, the subject of 'The Owl And The Pussycat' came up. Before starting the round, Nicholas decided to spontaneously recite the entire poem, causing the panelists to walk off in search of help...

** Most noticable in the 2012 TV series, the subject of 'The Owl And The Pussycat' came up. Before starting the round Nicholas decided to spontaneously recite the entire poem. Causing the panelists to walk off in search of help...

*** Mostly veterans. The majority of episodes featured at least one guest who had never played before, such as Russel Tovey, Jason Manford, Hugh Bonneville, and Stephen Mangan. All of them were either respected comedians, respected actors, or somewhere in-between.

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': "Tropers/RegShoe you have 60 seconds on the subject of ''Radio/JustAMinute'' starting, now."

-->'''ReportSiht''': (''buzzes-in'') "Radio 4 twice."
-->'''Tropers/RegShoe''': "Radio 8?"
-->'''Report Siht''': "I mean you repeated yourself."
-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': "Ah, yes. I believe that is a correct challenge, so that's [[ThePointsMeanNothing a point]] to Mr. Siht, and you have 50 seconds to explain ''Just A Minute'', starting now."

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': Yes, yes, two different words. So we give Report a point for an incorrect challenge, he's still got the subject, 35 seconds on ''Just A Minute'' starting now...

-->'''That Troper''': (''buzzes-in'') "HESSITATION"
-->'''Report Siht''': "How was that hesitation?"
-->'''That Troper''': "U WERE SPEKING IN DOUBLE BARCKETS"
-->'''Report Siht''': "That was clarifying, and ''[[BerserkButton don't type in]] [[GrammarNazi capital letters!]]''"
-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': "Gentlemen, please, [[TakeItToTheForums let's not argue.]] As long as he doesn't pause for any length of time, it doesn't count as hesitation. So Mr. Siht gets a point for an incorrect challenge, and has 20 seconds to talk about ''Just A Minute'' starting now."

-->'''{{Trope-tan}}''': (''buzzes-in'') "I'm sorry, but you were repeating the word "challenge"."
-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': "Very good, Ms. Tan. So you..."
-->'''Report Siht''': "Oh, ''come on''! I was ''talking'' about ''the rules'', [[UnusualEuphemism for crumbs' sake!]]"
-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': "Mr. Siht, I'm sorry, but that is the peril of this game. Ms. Tan gets a point, and she has 12 seconds starting now."

-->'''That Troper''': (''buzzes-in''): "Deviation [[NoOneCares no one cares]] [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike who played this game anyway!!!!]]"

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': "That... That Troper, I think that was uncalled for, and no, I think a history of the panelists is a very important part of ''Just A Minute'', so I think Ms. Tan gets a point for an incorrect challenge, and has 2 seconds to talk about ''Just A Minute''."

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': "Well, that was a good round, lady and gentlemen. Ms. Tan, congratulations, that was some [[WikiMagic fast speaking back there.]]"
-->'''That Troper''': "i could have done better"
-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': "Now, our next topic, something you may or may not have heard of, is ''TvTropesWiki''. ReportSiht it is your turn, you have a minute to talk about that, starting now..."

** The idea of panellists' contributions meaning more than points was brought in full force of the last episode of Series 62; after some persuasion from Cyrus Broacha, who pointed out that [[PositiveDiscrimination letting the foreign guy win]] [[FridgeBrilliance isn't done in India]], Nicholas decided that Cyrus and Anuvab were in fact the joint winners, given how well they contributed. The two Indian men rejoiced... then pointed out how this was "yet another victory [[SelfDeprecation not legitimately earned!]]"

A [[TheBBC BBC Radio 4]] radio comedy PanelGame which has been broadcast since 22 December 1967 and is hosted by Nicholas Parsons, who has appeared in every single episode since its inception. It began in the year that Radio 4 launched, and...

''Just A Minute'' is one of the station's longest running programs, with over 700 episodes as of 2009, and it won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003. It has been adapted for television thrice; for ITV in 1994, the BBC in 1999 and that same corporation again in 2012 for the forty-fifth anniversary.

** To celebrate the programme's 45th anniversary in 2012, a more straightforward adaptation was filmed with veterans of the radio series (most notably Paul Merton in every episode), and will air for ten days on [=BBC2=] in March and April.

* ForeignRemake: Sweden has had its own version going for almost as long as the UK version

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: And Indians '''''love''''' Just A Minute, having listened to it on the BBC World Service for decades. So much so, that the last two episodes of Series 62 were recorded in Mumbai, with local comedians Cyrus Broacha and Anuvab Pal taking two of the guest spots for both episodes. Nicholas and the British guests, not wishing to offend the hosting country, were very complimentary, even going so far as to the [[BlatantLies compliment Indians on their sensible driving]]. Broacha and Pal [[SelfDeprecation were not so forgiving to their compatriots]].

** The idea of panellists' contributions meaning more than points was brought in full force of the last episode of Series 62; after some persuasion from Cyrus Broacha, who pointed out that [[PositiveDiscrimination letting the foreign guy win]] [[FirdgeBrilliance isn't done in India]], Nicholas decided that Cyrus and Anuvab were in fact the joint winners, given how well they contributed. The two Indian men rejoiced... then pointed out how this was "yet another victory [[SelfDeprecation not legitimately earned!]]"

* NiceGuy: Nicholas is always hugely complimentary to all the panellists, barring the occasional instance where he returns their affectionate ribbing.

The object of the game is for panelists to talk "for just a minute" on a given (often rather strange) subject, "without hesitation, repetition or deviation" (except they can repeat the subject or any words therein). The game comes from attempts to try to keep within these rules, which whilst they appear to be simple, are very hard not to break. To speak for the full minute without being challenged is extremely difficult, and meritorious when achieved (though the most common cause is when the other players agree to ignore any mistakes in order to watch the poor sap struggle for a whole minute [or longer if Nicholas is feeling malicious as well]).

''Just A Minute'' is one of the station's longest running programs, with over 700 episodes as of 2009, and it won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003.

** Also, Clement Freud was delayed for the recording of one episode, thus forcing Nicholas to take his place on the panel and Ian Messiter to be the chairman.

* ThePointsMeanNothing: Nicholas is quick to remind everyone that it is the contributions that really matter - not that this has stopped many panellists over the years from taking the competitive aspect seriously and chasing every last point.
** Calling Clement Freud... Paul Merton also has been known to have quite the interest in scoring. Recently, there have been series where he's won or tied for the win in just about every episode.

** A television adaptation did air for 48 episodes across three series on ITV in 1994-95 and 1999, but mostly with guests who were visibly unfamiliar with the game[[hottip:*: Clement Freud, Derek Nimmo, and Peter Jones made a handful of appearances each across all three series, while Paul Merton was completely absent]] and with various peculiar gimmicks (such as having the panellists talk about a mystery object or, in one series, dividing them into teams captained by Tony Slattery and Dale Winton).

* SwappedRoles: There were a few special episodes in which Nicholas was on the panel, with one of the regular panellists (usually Clement or Kenneth) taking over as chairman. In these episodes, Nicholas tended to showcase just ''[[TaughtByExperience how good]]'' [[TaughtByExperience he had gotten at detecting hesitation, repetition or deviation]] ([[ButtMonkey although when Clement Freud was chairing, this didn't help him much]]).

** Calling Clement Freud... Paul Merton also has been known to have quite the interest in scoring. Recently, there have been series where he's won or tied for the win in just about every episode.

* BlatantLies: Panellists frequently resort to this if they get a historical or cultural subject about which they admit to knowing nothing and yet about which they must now speak. Paul Merton is particularly fond of this device, using it to pursue surreal flights of fancy and/or play up his BookDumb persona.

-->'''ThatTroper''': (''buzzes-in'') "HESSITATION"

-->'''Nicholas Parsons''': "Tropers/RegShoe you have 60 seconds on the subject of ''JustAMinute'' starting, now."