# What the Dickens

What the Dickens was a television panel game hosted by Sandi Toksvig. Team captains were Dave Gorman and Tim Brooke-Taylor for the first series, and Sue Perkins and Chris Addison for the second and third. It was recorded at Sky Studios in West London.

## Transmissions

| Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
| 1 | 28 May 2008 | 2 July 2008 | 6 |
| 2 | 12 November 2008 | 14 January 2009 | 10 |
| 3 | 27 May 2009 | 1 July 2009 | 6 |

## Rounds of the show
### 3 Steps to Heaven

Each team viewed up to three picture clues to help them identify a book, film, play, or musical from the world of fine arts and entertainment, scoring three points if they guessed the correct answer after just one picture clue, two after two, and one after all three were revealed. If they failed to guess, the other side could guess for one point.

### Love It or Loathe It

Each of the guests (or team captains at least once when a guest appeared twice) chose a subject from the world of arts and entertainment and had to present two arguments, one claiming they loved the subject and the other claiming they loathed it. If the opposition could guess correctly whether the guest loved or loathed the subject, they scored two points. If not, the guest making the arguments got two points.

### Yes, and I'm Mickey Mouse

Played only in series 1 and 2. The teams met members of the general public who coincidentally shared their names with characters from books, films, TV shows, plays, or musicals. They had 90 seconds to ask yes or no questions to the mystery guest and then take a guess, for two points if guessed correctly. If wrong, Sandi threw it over to the other side for one point.

### Common People

Played only in Series 3, replacing Yes, and I'm Mickey Mouse. The teams were shown three famous people and had to guess what all three had in common.

### Losing the Plot

The final quickfire round. Each team captain had 90 seconds to communicate the titles of books, films, plays, musicals, or TV shows, without using any proper names. A common running gag in series 2 and 3 emerged when Sue Perkins pretended to get angry with her teammates when they had troubles guessing, leading her to continuously rant on and on, and in the process, saying the titles, and leaving no time for the other person to speak. Nicholas Parsons was one teammate that had to sit and let her rant when she pretended to get angry, although he could only watch with a surprised look on his face. Because of this running gag, Chris Addison won more games than Perkins in all cases where she ranted, though he didn't necessarily win more games overall.
Comedian Richard Herring (a teammate of Perkins) scored a record 10 points in this round, and Germaine Greer (a teammate of Addison's) had to humorously guess her own 1970 international best-selling book, The Female Eunuch.

## Episodes

The coloured backgrounds denote the result of each of the shows:
    – indicates Tim's / Chris' team won.
    – indicates Dave's / Sue's team won.
    – indicates the game ended in a draw.

### Series 1

| Episode | First broadcast | Tim's guest | Dave's guest |
| 1x01 | 28 May 2008 | Robin Ince | Rory McGrath |
| 1x02 | 4 June 2008 | Marcus Brigstocke | Adam Boulton |
| 1x03 | 11 June 2008 | Stephen K. Amos | Ian McMillan |
| 1x04 | 18 June 2008 | Rich Hall | Dom Joly |
| 1x05 | 25 June 2008 | Andre Vincent | Rosie Boycott |
| 1x06 | 2 July 2008 | Dom Joly | Paul Blezard |

### Series 2

| Episode | First broadcast | Chris' guest | Sue's guest | Score |
| 2x01 | 12 November 2008 | John O'Farrell | Robin Ince | 16–8 |
| 2x02 | 19 November 2008 | Jackie Clune | Alun Cochrane | 10–8 |
| 2x03 | 26 November 2008 | Andrew Collins | Russell Kane | 13–12 |
| 2x04 | 3 December 2008 | Phil Hammond | Dave Gorman | TBC |
| 2x05 | 10 December 2008 | Jenny Eclair and Mark Steel | Jenny Eclair and Mark Steel | TBC |
| 2x06 | 17 December 2008 | Graeme Garden and Will Smith | Graeme Garden and Will Smith | TBC |
| 2x07 | 24 December 2008 | Germaine Greer | Richard Herring | 15–10 |
| 2x08 | 31 December 2008 | Dave Gorman | Stephen K. Amos | 7–7 |
| 2x09 | 7 January 2009 | Josie Long | Jenny Eclair | 12–11 |
| 2x10 | 14 January 2009 | Lucy Porter | John O'Farrell | 15–11 |

### Series 3

| Episode | First broadcast | Chris' guest | Sue's guest | Score |
| 3x01 | 27 May 2009 | Jan Ravens | Rick Wakeman | 11–10 |
| 3x02 | 3 June 2009 | Frank Skinner | John O'Farrell | 14–14 |
| 3x03 | 10 June 2009 | Dave Gorman | Robin Ince | 13–10 |
| 3x04 | 17 June 2009 | Alistair McGowan | Nicholas Parsons | 9–8 |
| 3x05 | 24 June 2009 | Giles Coren | Josie Long | 14–12 |
| 3x06 | 1 July 2009 | Robin Ince | Lucy Porter | 12-9 |