Monday night is quiz night, as explained in this piece from March 2020. For five successive years, starting in summer 2019, we have had a trio of serious quiz programmes scheduled between 7.30pm and 9pm on BBC2 on a Monday night: “Mastermind”, “Only Connect”, “University Challenge”, in that order. There is no money at stake in any of these shows and they all build up to grand finals several months after the the each new series begins.

Most years the opening episodes of these shows are staggered. Last year “Only Connect” began on 17 July (s19ep1, Cribbagers v Gunners), as did “University Challenge” (s2023/24ep1), but “Mastermind” (s2023/24ep1) began on 28 August 2023. All of these programmes are still available to UK viewers on the iPlayer, so I have been able to check their broadcast dates easily.

In 2022 “Only Connect” and “University Challenge” began on Bank Holiday Monday, 29 August. “Mastermind” began on 19 September 2022.

I thought that “University Challenge” usually starts even earlier than “Only Connect”, but in 2021 they both began new series on the same date (12 July). “Mastermind” began on 23 August that year. 2020 was the last time that all three programmes began on different dates: 13 July for “University Challenge”, 21 September for “Only Connect” (episode 11 of that series of “University Challenge” was broadcast immediately afterwards) and 5 October for “Mastermind” (an hour before episode 13 of that series of “University Challenge”).

I mention all this because tonight all three shows will begin begin their new series, from 7.30pm onwards. I do not feel “match fit”. I would not attempt 90 minutes’ football without a decent pre-season, and I do not feel that it would be wise to watch 90 minutes of serious quizzing (no ad-breaks, very little chat) without more preparation. I will probably begin with just one show (“University Challenge”, which was traditionally the first to be begin) and pace myself for the others, catch up on the iPlayer before next Monday. It’s a long season.