This review contains spoilers for Starter for Ten. 

Thumbing through the student newspaper one afternoon in the lounge of my university’s 1960s arts library, I was caught by a sidebar. Five general knowledge questions. They were inscrutable. At the bottom there was a message: ‘If you’ve answered more than three of these questions correctly, consider getting in touch with us – you could be right for our University Challenge team!’ In terms of dreams dying, it was quick and relatively painless. I knew I never really had a chance. But I still watch – and attempt to play along with – University Challenge when I’m at home with my parents, and I still wish I could a) retain information on an industrial scale and b) not inevitably wilt under the pressure of being asked to summon bits of said information in a TV studio. 

Starter for Ten is adapted from David Nicholl’s book of the same name, taken from the infamous catchphrase of the show. It follows 18 year-old protagonist Brian Jackson, and has already been made into a film in 2006 starring James McAvoy. It makes for an intriguing musical premise, given that the setting is so recognisable, and we start out with Child Brian, watching University Challenge in his pyjamas on the sofa. In a blink, it’s 1985 and he’s grown up, lost his father and left his best friend Spencer in working-class Southend, arriving at Bristol University desperate to join the University Challenge team and make friends amidst the rugby lads, workers’ rights campaigners, and academics. We meet Rebecca (Eubha Akilade), a sparky Glaswegian activist, and Alice (Emily Lane), a beautiful blonde who transfixes him immediately, and who he accidentally gets onto the team, leaving him as reserve. Predictably, he eventually makes it on himself and we watch him and the team as they progress, while he tries to navigate keeping in touch with his mum (Mel Giedroyc), his new friendships with Rebecca and his teammates, and his potential relationship with Alice. Adam Bregman (Brian) has a gorgeous soulful voice, as does Akilade (Rebecca). Lane’s voice is also very pretty, although unfortunately when I saw it, her microphone was turned up a little too much and her character’s number ‘For the Story,’ was a little difficult to listen to when she was belting towards the end.

She and Rebecca are sadly a little thinly drawn, and their characters pale in comparison to Patrick (Will Jennings), the nasal, highly competitive team captain who brilliantly combines the vindictiveness of Matilda‘s Mrs Trunchbull and desperation of Gabe from The (American) Office. He utterly steals every scene he’s in, and it’s a shame he doesn’t get his own song – there’s a great ensemble number as the team prepare for the show in the style of an 80s aerobics workout which felt like it could segue perfectly into a solo and give us more insight into his background. As it is, we get a great but brief flashback to his previous traumatic appearance on University Challenge. Hopefully, as with the rest of the very talented cast, this is the start of huge success for him. He almost manages to out-do Mel Giedroyc, who as well as playing as Brian’s beleaguered mum, gets to do a brilliant electric guitar-wielding Thatcher cosplay as a Granada executive and has the audience in the palm of her hand throughout. As Brian’s mother, her solo about moving on with her life after the death of his dad and wanting her son to be happy is a little thankless, although she gives it her all. The songs in the first half feel a bit brief and under-developed, often ending slightly abruptly. Brian’s teammate Lucy, who previously has been enigmatic, starts the second act with a well-deserved song, but it’s again short and quickly segues into the whole ensemble, which feels like another missed opportunity. Occasionally the dialogue feels a little forced and clunky, which doesn’t help. 

Bamber Gascoigne (Robert Portal), bronzed and blow-dried to perfection, travels through the action and feels appropriately ever-present. He also doesn’t get a full solo, and while we know how much Brian dreams of being on University Challenge, the show never 100% nails why it holds such power for him. It was a point of bonding for him and his dad, and would be an establishment endorsement coming from a working-class background, but what’s so special about the show itself? Why has it retained such cultural power in sixty years of broadcasting (twenty in 1985)? For Brian, is it validation of his intelligence and hard work? How does that chime with Patrick’s motivations? 

The importance of education, particularly the arts, is a theme which feels like it could have done with more exploration, especially given that it’s as pertinent an issue now as it was then, with university becoming increasingly unaffordable and arts degrees being recently deemed by Rishi Sunak to be ‘low-value.’ There was certainly room for a Les Mis-style call to arms song on this topic. Class also feels very present, from the Bristol rugby lads and the competing Oxbridge team to Brian trying to remain in touch with his home and his roots while being distracted by the new world he finds himself in. It would have made sense for these to intersect more, or similarly to have been the subject of a song.

The band is energetic and fun however, and the score is filled with nods to the music of the time. It would be interesting to have more insight into the copyright negotiations behind the scenes; there weren’t any musical references to the theme tune that I noticed, for example. It didn’t really matter, given that the 80s edition of the show was already not necessarily within living memory of the audience, but would’ve been entertaining to hear. The staging is minimalist but fun, with a pastel 80s backdrop and the clunky blocks of University Challenge team seating doubling as lecture halls and simultaneously staged Christmas dinners in two different households as Brian spreads himself too thin. The scene when the team finally make it to the show’s recording feels appropriately high-stakes (even if Brian has somehow had time to attend a dramatic party the night before, have a crisis and go to Southend, and then get back to Manchester for taping.) However – spoilers ahead – he bungles it. He has accidentally seen the crucial winning question and its answer backstage, and gives the correct answer before confessing. We then see him and his friends reconvene for the broadcast sometime later, where he and Rebecca make up and it’s revealed that Patrick has given his captaincy to Lucy. Oddly none of them seem to hold any sort of grudge about Brian’s actions. We are meant to have been convinced that friendship and being good to the people around you is more important than succeeding on the show, but it isn’t completely effective, because the previous action feels unresolved. 

I don’t like writing even slightly negative reviews, as so much work goes into producing a show, and I really enjoyed a lot of it. There were loads of great touches, like the waiters in ‘For the Story,’ the Christmas meal and aerobics scenes and songs, and the climactic televised quiz. But it felt despite the enormous amounts of talent involved onstage and offstage, and some great moments, the whole show needed tightening up. I hope it’s not the last we see of it.