It's Only a Theory

It's Only a Theory is a British television panel game show, first aired on BBC Four in 2009. It was conceived by and starred Andy Hamilton and featured Reginald D. Hunter as a regular panelist. Announced by the BBC in April 2009, the eight-episode series was produced by Hat Trick Productions.

It's Only a Theory
Created by	Andy Hamilton
Directed by	Paul Wheeler Ian Lorimer
Starring	Andy Hamilton Reginald D. Hunter
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	Language
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	8
Production
Producer	Adam King
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Hat Trick Productions
Original release
Network	BBC Four
Release	6 October (2009-10-06) – 24 November 2009 (2009-11-24)

The panelists discuss theories "about life, the universe and everything" submitted by professionals and experts. The panel debates each theory and decides whether it is worth keeping.^[1]

Guests

The two regular panelists were joined by one guest in each of the episodes.

Episode	Guest	Original air date
1	Clare Balding	6 October 2009 (2009-10-06)
2	Martha Kearney	13 October 2009 (2009-10-13)
3	Kirsty Wark	20 October 2009 (2009-10-20)
4	Clare Balding	27 October 2009 (2009-10-27)
5	Martha Kearney	3 November 2009 (2009-11-03)
6	Vince Cable	10 November 2009 (2009-11-10)
7	Dermot Murnaghan	17 November 2009 (2009-11-17)
8	Clare Balding	24 November 2009 (2009-11-24)

Reception

The first episode in the series received a number of reviews from critics. Writing for The Times, Andrew Billen gave the programme 3 out of 5, saying it "must be the most intelligent parlour game since QI".^[2] Describing the idea for the programme "strange", Sam Wollaston for The Guardian said: "I'm not sure it totally works. But it doesn't really matter, because you get to see cool people like Aubrey de Grey [who submitted a theory], who clearly should get his own show."^[3] However, The Independent's Tom Sutcliffe found it "very difficult to work out what it's for or how it's meant to work", going on the say: "It isn't that the machinery doesn't work, it's that they completely forgot to put the machinery in."^[4]

References

1. "Andy Hamilton and Reginald D Hunter claim It's Only A Theory". BBC Press Office. 3 April 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
2. Billen, Andrew (7 October 2009). "Criminal Justice; Blitz: The Bombing of Coventry; It's Only a Theory". The Times. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
3. Wollaston, Sam (7 October 2009). "It's Only a Theory and Blitz: The Bombing of Coventry". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
4. Sutcliffe, Tom (7 October 2009). "Last Night's Television – It's Only A Theory, BBC4; Blitz: The Bombing of Coventry, BBC2". The Independent. London. Retrieved 14 November 2010.

External links

• It's Only a Theory at BBC Online
• It's Only a Theory at IMDb