Episode 1

August 9, 2013

0.0%

Mastermind - S40 - E1

John Humphrys and the famous black chair return for another series of TV's toughest quiz. Over the next thirty-one weeks, 96 contenders will be whittled down to just one Mastermind champion. Subjects in tonight's first heat are the Muppet films, Alexander the Great, the Biblical writings of St John and the life and work of Benjamin Britten.

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Mastermind: Season 40 - 31 Episode s

40x1 - Episode 1
August 9, 2013
John Humphrys and the famous black chair return for another series of TV's toughest quiz. Over the next thirty-one weeks, 96 contenders will be whittled down to just one Mastermind champion. Subjects in tonight's first heat are the Muppet films, Alexander the Great, the Biblical writings of St John and the life and work of Benjamin Britten.
40x2 - Episode 2
August 16, 2013
John Humphrys invites four more contenders to answer questions in the black chair. Topics are: Catherine Howard, the Green Lantern comics, the life and work of Robert Hooke and British Summer Olympic medalists 1960-2008.
40x3 - Episode 3
August 23, 2013
John Humphrys puts the questions to four more contenders. Subjects are: the Feature Films of Peter Sellers, Orchids, the Life and Music of Paul Robeson and the Open Golf Championship 1960-2012.
40x4 - Episode 4
August 30, 2013
John Humphrys asks the questions as the hunt continues for the nation's Mastermind. Subjects are: Six Feet Under, the life and times of James Ramsay Macdonald, the city of London parish churches of Sir Christopher Wren and the life and work of Alun Lewis.
40x5 - Episode 5
September 13, 2013
John Humphrys asks the questions as the hunt continues for the nation's Mastermind. Four more contenders are questioned on their specialist subject and general knowledge. Topics are: the life and music of Bob Dylan, Sitting Bull, the life and work of Sir Arthur Sullivan and King Henry I.
40x6 - Episode 6
September 20, 2013
John Humphrys asks the questions as four contenders take the walk to the black chair. Subjects are ABBA, the life and work of Charles M Schulz, Harold Larwood and Frederick the Great of Prussia.
40x7 - Episode 7
September 27, 2013
Host John Humphrys invites four more contenders to answer questions in the black chair. Topics are the life and career of Sebastian Coe, the life and work of Eadweard Muybridge, The Byrds and Violette Szabo GC.
40x8 - Episode 8
October 4, 2013
Host John Humphrys puts the questions to four more contenders. Subjects are Eddie Chapman, the history of Portsmouth FC, the Battle of Balaklava and Father Ted.
40x9 - Episode 9
October 11, 2013
John Humphrys asks the questions as the hunt continues for the nation's Mastermind. Subjects are Dad's Army, the Faraday and Winter novels by Graham Hurley, the French Revolution and the European Football Championship 1980-date.
40x10 - Episode 10
October 18, 2013
John Humphrys invites four more contenders to answer questions in the black chair. Topics are Asterix, General Robert E Lee, the life and works of Puccini and the life and times of George IV.
40x11 - Episode 11
October 25, 2013
John Humphrys puts the questions to four more contenders. The subjects are: REM, the fiction of C S Lewis, Queen of the South Football Club and the life of Elizabeth Fry.
40x12 - Episode 12
November 8, 2013
John Humphrys asks the questions as the hunt continues for the nation's Mastermind. Subjects tonight are: Star Trek: The Original Series, the Rugby Union World Cup, the Fethering Mysteries of Simon Brett and the Life of Giordano Bruno.
40x13 - Episode 13
November 15, 2013
Host John Humphrys invites four more contenders to answer questions in the black chair. Topics are: The Pogues, military aircraft of the First World War, Sir Edward Carson and the novels of Jonathan Coe.
40x14 - Episode 14
November 29, 2013
Host John Humphrys invites four more contenders to answer questions in the black chair. Topics are - the life and career of Lester Piggott, Robert the Bruce, the life and times of Hugh Gaitskell and the Simon Serrailler novels of Susan Hill.
40x15 - Episode 15
December 6, 2013
John Humphrys asks the questions as the hunt continues for the nation's Mastermind. Subjects are: the life and work of Janis Joplin, the history of Huddersfield Town, the Richard Hannay novels of John Buchan and the Russian Revolution.
40x16 - Episode 16
December 13, 2013
Host John Humphrys invites four more contenders to answer questions in the black chair. The topics are: Philadelphia soul, the life and novels of Elizabeth Gaskell, German expressionist art and Blackadder.
40x17 - Episode 17
December 20, 2013
Host John Humphrys invites four more contenders to answer questions in the black chair. The topics are: the presidency of John F Kennedy, the novels of Peter Carey, heavyweight boxing and the physicist James Clerk Maxwell.
40x18 - Episode 18
January 10, 2014
Host John Humphrys invites four more contenders to answer questions in the black chair. Subjects are the history of the Scilly Isles, the life and works of Lord Byron, RAF Bomber Command and the feature films of Wes Anderson.
40x19 - Episode 19
January 17, 2014
John Humphrys invites four more contenders to answer questions in the black chair. Subjects include Pulp, FC Barcelona, Catherine the Great and the novels of David Peace.
40x20 - Episode 20
January 24, 2014
Host John Humphrys invites four more contenders to answer questions in the black chair. Subjects are Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Sam Phillips and the Sun Record Label 1950-1960, the Sharpe novels of Bernard Cornwell and Alfred Wainwright's Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells.
40x21 - Episode 21
January 31, 2014
John Humphrys asks the questions as the hunt continues for the nation's Mastermind. The subjects are Manic Street Preachers, the life of Sir Edmund Hillary, the history of Kew Gardens and the ghost stories of MR James.
40x22 - Episode 22
February 7, 2014
John Humphrys asks the questions as the hunt continues for the nation's Mastermind. The subjects are snooker world championships 1977-present, the musicals of Lerner and Loewe, the novels of Cara Black, and Phillip II of Spain.
40x23 - Episode 23
February 14, 2014
John Humphrys puts the questions to four more contenders. Subjects are punk music, the history of Rhodesia 1965-1980, Samuel Beckett and French wines of the Rhone Valley.
40x24 - Episode 24
February 21, 2014
John Humphrys asks the questions as the hunt continues for the nation's Mastermind. Subjects are The Grateful Dead, the novels of Wilkie Collins, the history of Bedlam and the English Civil Wars.
40x25 - Episode 25
February 28, 2014
John Humphrys presents the first semi-final as five contenders vie for a place in the grand final. Subjects are Factory Records, the novels of Carol Shields, Homer's Odyssey, Roald Amundsen and the life and career of Michael Jordan.
40x26 - Episode 26
March 14, 2014
Five more contenders compete for a place in the grand final as John Humphrys hosts another semi-final. Subjects are Vincent Van Gogh, the Black Death, the Musketeer novels of Alexandre Dumas, Field Marshal William Slim and the Eurovision Song Contest.
40x27 - Episode 27
March 21, 2014
John Humphrys presents another semi-final of the classic quiz, as five contenders fight for a place in the Grand Final. Subjects are Tutankhamun, the life and career of Clement Attlee, the life and books of James Herriot, English history 1399-1485 and the life and work of Joseph Cornell.
40x28 - Episode 28
April 4, 2014
Five more contenders vie for a place in the grand final as John Humphrys invites them to return to the black chair in another semi-final. Subjects are Black Sabbath 1968-1979, the novels of Barbara Vine, the life and times of William II, Adolf Hitler and the life and works of Paulo Veronese.
40x29 - Episode 29
April 11, 2014
John Humprhys hosts the penultimate semi-final as five contenders attempt to win a place in the grand final. The subjects are the life and work of John Lennon, Burke and Hare, the life and reign of Charles II, the Peloponnesian War and the novels of Patrick Hamilton.
40x30 - Episode 30
April 18, 2014
Five contenders compete for the last place in the grand final as John Humphrys hosts the sixth semi-final. Subjects are Bobby Fischer, the life and times of Cesare Borgia, the Philip Marlowe novels of Raymond Chandler, Amelia Earhart and British political history 1964-1997.
40x31 - Grand Final
April 25, 2014
Host John Humphrys asks the questions as six contenders battle it out to become the nation's Mastermind in this series' grand final. The subjects are Scottish lighthouses, the life and works of Richard Wagner, the Italian Front in the First World War, the life and poetry of Philip Larkin, French cinema 1895 - 1945 and the Salem witch trials.

40x1 - Episode 1

40x2 - Episode 2

40x3 - Episode 3

40x4 - Episode 4

40x5 - Episode 5

40x6 - Episode 6

40x7 - Episode 7

40x8 - Episode 8

40x9 - Episode 9

40x10 - Episode 10

40x11 - Episode 11

40x12 - Episode 12

40x13 - Episode 13

40x14 - Episode 14

40x15 - Episode 15

40x16 - Episode 16

40x17 - Episode 17

40x18 - Episode 18

40x19 - Episode 19

40x20 - Episode 20

40x21 - Episode 21

40x22 - Episode 22

40x23 - Episode 23

40x24 - Episode 24

40x25 - Episode 25

40x26 - Episode 26

40x27 - Episode 27

40x28 - Episode 28

40x29 - Episode 29

40x30 - Episode 30

40x31 - Grand Final

S0: Specials

S1: 1972

S2: 1973

S3: 1974

S4: 1975

S5: 1976

S6: 1977

S7: 1978

S8: 1979

S9: 1980

S10: 1981

S11: 1983

S12: 1984

S13: 1985

S14: 1986

S15: 1987

S16: 1988

S17: 1989

S18: 1990

S19: 1991

S20: 1992

S21: 1993

S22: 1994

S23: 1995

S24: 1996

S25: 1997

S30: 2003

S31: 2004

S32: 2005

S33: 2006

S34: 2007/08

S35: 2008/09

S36: 2009/10

S37: 2010/11

S38: 2011/12

S39: 2012/13

S40: 2013/14

S41: 2014/15

S42: 2015/16

S43: 2016/17

S44: 2017/18

S45: 2018/19

S46: 2019/20

S47: 2020/21

S48: 2021/22

S49: 2022/23

S50: 2023/24

S51: 2024/25