2017/18

1. Episode 1

July 28, 2017 · 29m

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

August 4, 2017 · 30m

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

August 18, 2017 · 28m

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

August 25, 2017 · 29m

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

September 1, 2017 · 29m

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

September 8, 2017 · 28m

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

September 15, 2017 · 28m

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

September 22, 2017 · 28m

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

September 29, 2017 · 30m

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

October 6, 2017 · 30m

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

October 13, 2017 · 28m

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

October 20, 2017 · 28m

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

October 27, 2017 · 28m

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

November 3, 2017 · 28m

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

November 10, 2017 · 28m

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

November 17, 2017 · 28m

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

December 1, 2017 · 28m

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

December 8, 2017 · 28m

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

December 15, 2017 · 28m

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

December 22, 2017 · 28m

John Humphrys presents another episode of the classic quiz. The subjects are Doctor Who, Concorde, The Clash and Sir Francis Walsingham.

21. Episode 21

January 5, 2018 · 28m

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

January 12, 2018 · 28m

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

January 19, 2018 · 28m

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

January 26, 2018 · 28m

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

February 2, 2018 · 28m

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

February 9, 2018 · 28m

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

February 16, 2018 · 28m

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

February 23, 2018 · 28m

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

March 9, 2018 · 28m

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

March 16, 2018 · 28m

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

March 30, 2018 · 1h

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