About this season
Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness. Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the contestant's choice, the other a general knowledge round. Wright drew inspiration from his experiences of being interrogated by the Gestapo during World War II. The atmosphere is helped by Mastermind's famously ominous theme music, "Approaching Menace" by the British composer Neil Richardson. The quiz programme originated and was recorded in Manchester at studios such as New Broadcasting House and Granada Studios, before permanently moving to MediaCityUK in 2011.
Episodes (31)
1. Episode 1
Aired 28 July 2017 • 29 min
John Humphrys and the famous black chair return for another series of television's toughest quiz. Ninety-six contenders start the journey towards the final but only one can be crowned Mastermind Champion. Subjects tonight are Paul Simon, the feature films of Hayao Miyazaki, the Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna and the life and poetry of John Donne.
2. Episode 2
Aired 4 August 2017 • 30 min
John Humphrys presents another episode of the classic quiz. Subjects tonight are the four Gospels, Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy, flags of the world and the colour films of Danny Kaye.
3. Episode 3
Aired 18 August 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another episode of the classic quiz. Subjects are Clint Eastwood, the Tommy & Tuppence mysteries by Agatha Christie, Duran Duran and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
4. Episode 4
Aired 25 August 2017 • 29 min
John Humphrys presents another episode of the classic quiz. Subjects include M*A*S*H, John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, English League Football Stadia and U2.
5. Episode 5
Aired 1 September 2017 • 29 min
John Humphrys presents another episode of the classic quiz. Subjects are the Fifa World Cup, Alexander the Great, the films of Rupert Everett and the Battle of Agincourt.
6. Episode 6
Aired 8 September 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Subjects tonight are Australian Test cricket, James Ellroy's LA quartet, Kirsty MacColl and King Henry VI.
7. Episode 7
Aired 15 September 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Specialist subjects in this episode are the sitcom Green Wing, the poet Rumi, Julius Caesar and Lancashire County Cricket Club.
8. Episode 8
Aired 22 September 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Specialist subjects in this episode are Gilbert and Sullivan, the Tour de France, Thomas Becket and Coronation Street.
9. Episode 9
Aired 29 September 2017 • 30 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Subjects tonight are Academy Award-winning performances by British actors and actresses, the life and paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, RMS Lusitania and Everton FC.
10. Episode 10
Aired 6 October 2017 • 30 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Subjects tonight are Crowded House, Super-Middleweight Boxing, Parks & Recreation and Claude Monet.
11. Episode 11
Aired 13 October 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Subjects are the films of James Cameron, the artist Georgia O'Keefe, Guns N' Roses and King Henry IV.
12. Episode 12
Aired 20 October 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Subjects are Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, Tony Hancock, Eva Peron and Muhammad Ali.
13. Episode 13
Aired 27 October 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another episode of the classic quiz. The subjects are Porridge, Peggy Guggenheim, Deep Purple and Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles.
14. Episode 14
Aired 3 November 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Tonight's subjects are Elvis Presley, the Glorious Revolution, the Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov and Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.
15. Episode 15
Aired 10 November 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of he classic quiz. Subjects tonight are The Simpsons, venomous snakes, Sherlock Holmes and Alfred the Great.
16. Episode 16
Aired 17 November 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another episode of the classic quiz. Tonight's subjects are The Vicar of Dibley, the novels of George Orwell, Roman coinage and Harold Wilson.
17. Episode 17
Aired 1 December 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Tonight's subjects are the Champions' League, Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet, the life and times of Hatshepsut and House of Cards.
18. Episode 18
Aired 8 December 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Subjects are Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, Mahatma Gandhi, the Boston Marathon and top-ten singles.
19. Episode 19
Aired 15 December 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Subjects are the Harry Potter novels, the Waterloo Campaign, the Battle of the Bulge and Rosalind Franklin.
20. Episode 20
Aired 22 December 2017 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another episode of the classic quiz. The subjects are Doctor Who, Concorde, The Clash and Sir Francis Walsingham.
21. Episode 21
Aired 5 January 2018 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Tonight's subjects are the Royle Family, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, the Beach Boys and postwar British general elections.
22. Episode 22
Aired 12 January 2018 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Tonight's subjects are Leonardo da Vinci, the Dreyfus Affair, JS Bach and The Inbetweeners.
23. Episode 23
Aired 19 January 2018 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Tonight's subjects are Blur, the short stories of David Foster Wallace, Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next novels and the American Civil War.
24. Episode 24
Aired 26 January 2018 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another heat of the classic quiz. Tonight's subjects are Red Dwarf, the British Overseas Terrority of St Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha, the history of Kentucky, and Emperor Tiberius.
25. Episode 25
Aired 2 February 2018 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents the first semi-final of the classic quiz. The subjects are Olympic track and field, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, Egyptian mythology, the graphic novels of Daniel Clowes and President Andrew Jackson.
26. Episode 26
Aired 9 February 2018 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another semi-final of the classic quiz. The subjects are Frasier, Warrington RLFC, Absolutely Fabulous, Jane Austen and Erik Satie.
27. Episode 27
Aired 16 February 2018 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another semi-final of the classic quiz. The subjects are the films of Paul Thomas Anderson, the novels of Virginia Woolf, the wines of Burgundy, Motley Crue and Kazuo Ishiguro.
28. Episode 28
Aired 23 February 2018 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another semi-final of the classic quiz. The subjects are Pink Floyd, Marshal Georgy Zhukov, Stan Cullis, the works of HP Lovecraft and the films of Tom Hanks.
29. Episode 29
Aired 9 March 2018 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another semi-final of the classic quiz. The subjects are Manchester music, the Battle of Clontarf, ER, Augustus Pitt-Rivers, and the Giordano Bruno novels of SJ Parris.
30. Episode 30
Aired 16 March 2018 • 28 min
John Humphrys presents another semi-final of the classic quiz. The subjects are Peep Show, Albert Speer, the X-Men films, King Henry III and the Jack Parlabane novels of Christopher Brookmyre.
31. Final
Aired 30 March 2018 • 60 min
John Humphrys presents the grand final of the classic quiz. The subjects are Golf Majors, the Revolt of the Netherlands, the Hannibal Lecter novels of Thomas Harris, US Constitutional Amendments, Indian Premier League cricket and Hadrian's Wall