Only Connect

Question labels
in hieroglyphs

Only Connect is deliberately difficult,[4][5] and its contestants are often characterized – including within the show itself – as nerdy or geeky.[5][6] Teams are encouraged to take names which reflect specialist interests or hobbies, such as the 'LARPers' or 'Francophiles'.[6][4] The show's questions will cover any topic, and many may require knowledge of both arcane subject areas and popular culture. Questions may also be self-referential, or based on linguistic or numeric tricks, rather than requiring any particular factual knowledge.[7] When presented with the clues, contestants are not told the type of the connection, and as such part of the gameplay involves establishing whether the connection is thematic, linguistic, factual, mathematical, etc.[7] Coren Mitchell's presenting includes very dry, sarcastic humour, which may include a gentle mocking of herself, the contestants, the viewers, the show's production team, celebrities, or other popular quizzes.[6][8]

Each programme has two teams of three people competing in four rounds of gameplay. In the first three series, clues in Rounds 1 and 2 and the connecting walls in Round 3 were identified by Greek letters. In series 4 Coren Mitchell announced that this idea had been dropped, ostensibly due to viewer complaints that it was too pretentious. Henceforth Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs (two reeds, lion, twisted flax, horned viper, water, and the eye of Horus) would be used instead. The show's opening sequence displayed Greek letters in the first episode of Series 4, but these were replaced with the hieroglyphs in subsequent episodes.

Series 1–6 had a straight round-robin "knockout" format, which was then modified to a double-elimination tournament, in a rule change that Coren Mitchell said that even she did not fully understand. Series 12–13 shifted to a format identical to University Challenge, with a knockout first round combined with a repechage for the best performing losers and double-elimination quarter-finals. The number of competing teams has fluctuated: 16 in series 1, 3–6, 10–11 and 14; 8 teams in series 2, 8 and 9; and 24 in series 12–13. The difficulty of questions generally increases by each round.

For Series 16 changes had to be made to the production of the show due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the new British government requirements and guidelines on television productions. For this new series, each team now sit at their desks socially distanced with perspex screens dividing the team members, with no huddled conferring permitted. For the connecting wall round, each team stands socially distanced apart, with perspex screens separating them, with only the team captain permitted to use the keyboard.

Round 1: Connections

Teams are given up to four clues and must try to figure out the connection between them within 40 seconds. The team is initially shown one clue, and may request the remaining three clues at any time within the 40 seconds (they are not automatically shown). The team may press their buzzer to guess after the first clue for 5 points, the second for 3, the third for 2, or the fourth for 1. If the team guesses incorrectly, or fails to buzz within the time allotted, the question is posed to the other team for a bonus point, after being shown any remaining clues. Typically, one of the six puzzles involves pictures, and another uses pieces of music, both classical and contemporary. Music questions are generally considered among the toughest questions in the quiz, and a team's dismay upon realising they have chosen the music question is a frequent source of humour on the programme.

Example Puzzle for Round 1. To earn points on this puzzle, teams would have to provide the answer "Items left on the Moon" (or a variant thereof).

Round 3: Connecting Wall

An example "Connecting Wall" puzzle. The answer requires dividing the items into "Terms for zero", "Poker terms", "Flying ___" and "Things made of rubber".

Each team receives a wall of 16 clues and must figure out a perfect solution, consisting of four groups of four connected items. The puzzles are designed to include red herrings and to suggest more connections than actually exist, as some clues appear to fit into more than one category.[7] Teams score 1 point for each group found within 2 minutes 30 seconds. They try to create one group at a time, and may make unlimited guesses on the first two groups. Once two groups have been identified, they only have three chances to identify the remaining two groups.

Should the team fail to complete the wall, the missing groupings are shown. Teams can then earn 1 point per group for identifying the connection, regardless of whether they correctly identified the grouping. A team that identifies all four groups and all four connections earns a 2-point bonus, for a total of 10 points. Unlike the previous two rounds, teams have no opportunity to score on their opponents' wall.

On 1 March 2010, an interactive online version of this round was put on the Only Connect website.[9] From mid-2011, coinciding with series 5, the website took online submissions for new Connecting Walls; the online game was discontinued for series 10.

• Series 1 Champions: Crossworders (Mark Grant,[10] David Stainer,[10] Ian Bayley[10])
  • Runners-Up: Lapsed Psychologists (Richard McDougall,[11][12] Jack Waley-Cohen,[11][12] Matthew Stevens[11][12])
• Series 2 Champions: Rugby Boys (Richard Parnell,[13] Gary Dermody,[13] Mark Labbett[13])
  • Runners-Up: Cambridge Quiz Society (Paul Beecher,[14][15] Simon Spiro,[14][15] Joshua Karton[14][15])
• Series 3 Champions: Gamblers (Jenny Ryan,[16] Dave Bill,[17] Alan Gibbs[17])
  • Runners-Up: Strategists (Chris Cummins,[18] Michael Dnes,[18] Sarah Higgins[18])
• Series 4 Champions: Epicureans (David Brewis,[17] Katie Bramall-Stainer,[17] Aaron Bell[17])
  • Runners-Up: Radio Addicts (Dave Clark,[19] Gary Grant,[19] Neil Phillips[19])
• Series 5 Champions: Analysts (Paul Steeples,[17] David Lea,[17] William De Ath[17])
  • Runners-Up: Antiquarians (Simon Belcher,[20] Will Howells,[20] Debbie Challis[20])
• Series 6 Champions: Scribes (Holly Pattenden,[21] Dom Tait,[17] Gareth Price[22])
  • Runners-Up: Draughtsmen (Andy Tucker,[23] Iwan Thomas,[23] Steve Dodding[23])
• Series 7 Champions: Francophiles (Ian Clark,[24] Mark Walton,[24] Sam Goodyear[24])
  • Runners-Up: Celts (Beverley Downes,[25] Huw Pritchard,[25] David Pritchard[25])
• Series 8 Champions: Board Gamers (Hywel Carver,[26] Jamie Karran,[17] Michael Wallace[17])
  • Runners-Up: Bakers (Tim Spain,[27] Peter Steggle,[27] Matt Rowbotham[27])
• Series 9 Champions: Europhiles (Douglas Thomson,[17] Mark Seager,[28] Khuram Rashid[17])
  • Runners-Up: Relatives (Hamish Galloway,[29] Davina Galloway,[29] Nick Latham[29])
• Series 10 Champions: Orienteers (Paul Beecher,[30] Sean Blanchflower,[30] Simon Spiro[30])
  • Runners-Up: Chessmen (Henry Pertinez,[31] Stephen Pearson,[31] Nick Mills[31])
• Series 11 Champions: String Section (Tessa North,[32] Richard Aubrey,[32] Pete Sorel Cameron[32])
  • Runners-Up: Wayfarers (Barbara Thompson,[33] Gerard Mackay,[33] Matt Beatson[33])
• Series 12 Champions: Verbivores (Phyl Styles,[34] Graeme Cole,[34] Tom Cappleman[34])
  • Runners-Up: Cosmopolitans (Annette Fenner,[35] Amy Godel,[35] Emily Watnick[35])
• Series 13 Champions: Escapologists (Frank Paul,[17] Lydia Mizon,[17] Tom Rowell[17])
  • Runners-Up: Belgophiles (Helen Fasham,[36][37] Ben Fasham,[36][37] Phil Small[36][37])
• Series 14 Champions: Dicers (George Corfield,[38][39] Hugh Binnie,[38][39] Joey Goldman[38][39])
  • Runners-Up: Time Ladies (Charlotte Jackson,[38][39] Rebecca Shaw,[38][39] Emma Harris[38][39])
• Series 15 Champions: 007s (Frankie Fanko,[40][41] Andrew Fanko,[40][41] Andrew Beasley[40][41])
  • Runners-Up: Suits (Kyle Lam,[40][41] Toby Nonnenmacher,[40][41] Isi Bogod[40][41])

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