Never Mind the Buzzcocks is back for series five! Host Greg Davies returns as the ringmaster of rock n’ roll, joined by team captains Noel Fielding and Sophie Willan, regular panellist Jamali Maddix, and special themed episodes featuring guest captains. On the playlist this time are episodes devoted to the 1980s, 90’ Pop and fresh from the summer of Oasis, a battle between Britpop and Madchester, featuring guest captains Pepsi & Shirlie, Melanie Blatt, and Bez. Among the other guests this series will be Matt Goss, PinkPantheress, Boyzone, Jamie Demetriou, Tom Grennan, Jessie J, Sam Ryder, Tinie Tempah, Debbie Gibson and every member of 5ive acting as a single entity.
The new series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks launches 7 October on Sky Max and NOW.
Read an interview with Greg Davies below
You've just finished filming for the latest series of Buzzcocks, How do you feel it went?
Really good, really fun series. The special themed episodes are back, and we wrapped on an ‘80s special that was so joyful I’m medically 30 years younger now.
Pepsi and Shirlie were guest team captains that episode?
Yeah, they were. And they were able to debunk a myth with that I’ve lived with for 40 years since the 1980s.
Care to share?
I had a strange mix of musical interest in the ‘80s. I was really into pop because it was the sort of decade of pop. But I was also into the sort of burgeoning hardcore rap scene. My friends and I were obsessed with this late 80s. rap group called Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E - they were these West Coast Samoan rappers. They were hard as f***. And in my joint obsession with pop music and rap, one of the things that I read was that when Pepsi and Shirlie went to LA to film a video in the ‘80s, they hired Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E as their bodyguards. So, it was a nice moment for me to be able to ask whether it was true... and indeed it's absolutely not. Or if they did hire them, they don't remember it. So yeah, it was a disaster. I've been telling people this story for four decades and it's absolute bulls***. So if nothing else comes out of that episode, I've cleared up a personal urban myth. Also, as a side note, Shirlie is surprisingly scary. Lovely, but an underlying authority.
Did you have anyone you really enjoyed having on?
We have great guests this series and they really delivered. I was saying to Debbie Gibson... now that’s a sentence. Who’d have thought our paths would cross? It's a first, really, that no one in this series, (none of our guests, at least), irritated me. Whether that makes for good TV or not, we’ll see.
Are you going to say who irritated you in past series?
Of course not. I would never be so vulgar. They know who they are.
There’s one occasion this series where all five members of 5ive are on one team?
We did have all five members. They were so glorious. We classified them as one team member and props built us this stage extension... Poor Jamali was almost pushed out so the desk could accommodate all five. But those boys were absolutely delightful. They’ve had very public spats and their careers have waxed and waned, but now they're just sort of a group of boys in their 40s who've just sold out twelve arenas in a week, have all kissed and made-up and are just having a great time. They were such great fun and one of the more musically talented guests we’ve had on. I was a bit blown away when we did the intros round, it was like we were in a recording studio, they sounded brilliant. Also on a personal note, Jay taught me his special hip thrust dance and I’m having to see a chiropractor.
A couple of the other themed episodes this series lean into 1990s nostalgia...
We do a Britpop vs Madchester episode, and of course I was around at the time and it’s not like they were competing cultural movements at all, so it’s a slightly manufactured idea that there was any competition between the two. But we had some great characters from that time and I consider the 1990s to be my glory years so it was pretty exciting – having Bez as a team captain was an interesting choice.
Yes, how was Bez?
As I fully expected, he delivered on everything I would want of him. He is a free spirit and is loving life. Whether his captaincy skills will lead to other positions and responsibilities is questionable. But he was certainly good fun. We also had Clint Boon from the Inspiral Carpets, who I loved as a kid... Okay as a 30-year-old. The great Danny from Supergrass was on too as well as was Patsy Kensit – who as we all know was once married to Liam Gallagher. The thing we were taken aback by was the warmth in the room. As the host, I’m always trying to drive the laughs and silliness, but the warmth and wholesomeness was sort of unavoidable. And I sort of think that’s in the context of the Oasis reunion – there was a lot of love for the boys getting back together. Obviously, we spoke in depth about massive drug use and hedonism – it wasn’t all diary entries of glassy eyed elderly people.
Will you be attending the Oasis reunion concerts?
I am!
It's an interestingly uniting thing, isn't it? I know so many people from such different backgrounds, who've been to see it and the universal response is that they all had a wonderful time. You know, they all had an amazing night. They’ve got the kids too-My 14-year-old niece said it was the ‘best night of her life!’
We asked Jamali to rank the Buzzcocks crew in terms of music trivia and he put you down the bottom. Would you say that’s justified?
No, it wasn't justified at all. I can tell you now, it's an act of spite by Jamali. And it’s because I've exposed the fact that he’s trying to pass himself off as a young man but he’s in early 40s and that he still lives at home with his mum. Of course, he’s going to be bitter and lash out.
The truth is, he probably bases his assertion on the fact that he thinks I don’t know as much about contemporary rap as him. But I do. And I don’t live with my mum.
Apparently, people are coming to Jamali’s gigs and heckling him about living with his mum. Are you proud of yourself?
I'm very proud, as is his mum. She tells him when she tucks him in at night.
Is there an ongoing beef between you two?
No. I'm very fond of the man. Would I tickle the tummy of someone I had beef with? Doubt it.
Jamali, Sophie and Noel are all Taskmaster veterans...
Between the three who would you say had the most memorable run?
It's a bit of a cop out, but they all had their moments. Finding out that giant crow (Noel) is really sporty did my head in, but Sophie's slut drop has lived in my memory. I think probably I lost part of my brain in that moment. She likes to express herself physically and she's also a terrifyingly intelligent woman. So, the juxtaposition of her intrinsic cleverness and her comic sensibilities, you contrast that with a sudden and unexpected slut drop, you've got quite the heady brew. Similar rush as when I found out I’m the screen saver of Jamali’s mum’s phone.
We’re five series into Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ revival period. Looking back, do you have any favourite moments you can pick out?
God, I have so many. I don't know why this is my go-to thing but the moment when Nile Rogers revealed that on a night out, he’d partied so hard he was found to have had, I think, five heart attacks. That’s a night out, eh?
But the number one moment for me so far is Holly Johnson from Frankie goes to Hollywood, who as a 16-year-old, I was obsessed with. I fully bought into the hype around Frankie goes to Hollywood. (Paul Morley would be proud of how I was manipulated into adoring them and him). But a 60-something-year-old Holly Johnson singing the power of love on a Christmas episode a few feet from my desk will forever, I think, be my favourite moment.
I’m sure a few guys who grew up in the 1980s are going to have some long-buried feelings come to the surface when Betty Boo guest stars on the show.
Well, speaking as a man of ballpark vintage, who was a young, impressionable man during the Betty Boo years, there will be nothing unusual about that. And Betty didn't disappoint. She's just a delightful, warm character. And sort of strangely switched on and wonderfully naïve at the same time. There was a great story about her and a rabbit.
Pardon?
The animal. Wash your mouth out. Betty Boo was talking about doing that sort of do.
Glad you cleared that up. The Buzzcocks format is almost 30 years old now. What do you think it is it about the show that’s given it such a long run?
It's a great format, eh? I'm amazed (and delighted) that there aren't more formats that centre around music. And you know that ‘90s special is a pretty good example of why I think the show is special, because we messed around and the usual chaos ensued, but at the same time there was this almost overwhelming sense of positive nostalgia to it, because music triggers so many powerful memories in people.
So, I think the secret of the success is that the format was always good, the games are fun to play and Noel, Jamali and Sophie are always hilarious. But we're also talking about an art form that’s so important to people so there’s also a heart to it. I hope it comes across that we as a team have so much fun doing it. There's this amount of people that work behind the camera that make this show work too and I like to think that they’re also having a good time.
Interview supplied by publicists
