Quote... Unquote

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Quote... Unquote
Genre Panel game
Running time 30 minutes
Country Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Languages English
Home station BBC Radio 4
Starring Nigel Rees
Creators Nigel Rees
Producers Tilusha Ghelani (Series 36-38)
Claire Bartlett (Series 39-)
Narrated by (Readers)
Peter Jefferson
William Franklyn
Air dates 1976 to 
No. of episodes 410 so far
Opening theme Duddly Dell, written and performed by Dudley Moore
Website
Quote... Unquote

Quote... Unquote is a good-humoured panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4 based on quotations. Every episode since the beginning of the series in 1976 has been chaired by its inventor, Nigel Rees. Its 40th series was broadcast in 2007. Formerly broadcast on a Monday evening, it can now be heard in a new daytime midweek slot.

The main part of the programme consists of a just-for-fun quiz where the chairman asks each of the four panellists in turn to identify where a certain quotation, phrase or saying comes from. In between these rounds, the panellists are asked to share some of their favourite quotations on a specified theme. Other parts of the programme are devoted to answering listeners' queries about the sources of quotations and the origins of everyday phrases and idioms.

The programme uses voice-over artists to read the quotations. In recent years the main reader was William Franklyn (who died in 2006) and then Peter Jefferson.

A number of notable comedy stars have produced the programme, including John Lloyd (Blackadder producer and devisor of QI), TV executive Geoffrey Perkins, Have I Got News for You producer Harry Thompson and satirist Armando Iannucci.

The programme's theme tune, between which snatches of quotations are inserted at the beginning of each show, is called "Duddly Dell", written and performed by Dudley Moore — the B-side of the single "Strictly for the Birds" (1961).

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