University Challenge - Special Shows

28th December 1992
Keble, Oxford	70	155	Graduates

A special show, shown on BBC2 as part of a 'Granadaland' evening, was arranged to set the team who won the final Bamber Gascoigne series, Keble College, Oxford (though with the four champions replaced with a new team of undergraduates) against four celebrities ("Graduates") who had appeared on the show as students (Alastair Little, John Simpson, Stephen Fry, Charles Moore). Repeated on 4th August 1993.

1st January 1997
Imperial, London 1996 125 265 Michigan

Punctuating the 1997 season there was a transatlantic match between the 1996 champions, Imperial College, London, and the 1996 winners of College Bowl, the US equivalent.

23rd December 1997
Mastermind 205 260 Magdalen, Oxford 1997

In the Christmas break of the 1998 series there was a match between the four finalists of the "final" series of Mastermind (Clare Ockwell, Andrea Weston, Colin Cadby, Anne Ashurst) and the 1997 champions Magdalen College, Oxford (Colin Andress, Gwilym Thear, Jim Adams, Alison Reeves).

30th December 1997
University Challenge 155 300 College Bowl

Also during the festive hiatus of the 1998 series there was a match between the "four most outstanding contestants from last year's series" from University Challenge and its US equivalent College Bowl. Representing the UK were Martin Heighway (Open), Stephen Pearson (Manchester), Cormac Bakewell (Queen's, Belfast), and Colin Andress (Magdalen, Oxford). College Bowl sent Eric Tentarelli (Cornell), Robert Margolis (Texas at Dallas), John Harris (Virginia), and Mark Staloff (Harvard).

21st December 1998
Leicester, 1963 145 220 Magdalen, Oxford, 1998

Continuing the Christmas specials, during the 1999 series was a match between the winners of the first ever series, Leicester (Madalene Moore, née Hall, John Hewitt, Geoffrey Ford, Oliver Andrew), and the champions of the 1998 series, Magdalen College, Oxford (Paul O'Donnell, Phil Jones, Sarah Fitzpatrick, Alex de Jongh).

2nd January 1999
Tabloids 210 165 Broadsheets

The participants in the 1999 season's now-traditional 'special' were: Jane Moore (The Sun), Peter Hutchens (The Express), Ann Leslie (Daily Mail) and Tony Parsons (The Mirror) for the Tabloids, and Decca Atikinhead (The Guardian), Libby Purves (The Times), Boris Johnson (Daily Telegraph) and Richard Ingrams (The Observer) for the Broadsheets.

14th March 2003
Gownies 185 190 Townies

On Comic Relief Day 2003, BBC2 held a match between four graduates (David Baddiel, Frank Skinner, Stephen Fry, Clive Anderson) and four non-graduates (Jeremy Beadle, Gina Yashere, Danny Baker, Johnny Vaughan), hosted by Angus Deayton.

23rd, 24th, 26th December 2004
Television 130 100 Radio

Stage 120 165 Critics

Television 100 195 Critics

Christmas 2004 saw a series of three special shows between celebrity teams representing various aspects of the media. They were Television (Monty Don, Martha Kearney, Andrew Neil, Clare Balding); Radio (Henry Blofeld, Jenny Murray, Ned Sherrin, Roger Bolton); Stage (Adrian Noble, Harriet Walter, Tim Rice, Ken Campbell); Critics (Waldemar Januszczak, Russell Davies, Brian Sewell, Andrew Graham-Dixon). The teams played semi-finals followed by a Boxing Day final.

11th March 2005
North 150 180 South

On Comic Relief Day 2005, the tradition was continued with a BBC2 match between "North" (Colin Murray, John Thomson, Armando Iannucci, Neil Morrissey) and "South" (Sarah Alexander, Hugh Grant, Stephen Fry, Omid Djalili), again hosted by Angus Deayton.

30th, 31st December 2005, 1st January 2006
Politics 105 180 News

Actors 105 185 Writers

News 45 190 Writers

As in 2004, 2005 saw a series of three special shows between celebrity teams. They were Politics (Mark Oaten, Diane Abbott, Tim Yeo, Stephen Pound); News (Kate Adie, Nick Robinson, Michael Buerk, Bridget Kendall); Actors (Robert Powell, Sam West, Janet Suzman, Martin Jarvis); Writers (Tony Marchant, Andrew Davies, Iain Banks, Jimmy McGovern). The teams played semi-finals and a final.