Never Mind the Buzzcocks ★★★
SBS, Monday, 9.25pm

Nostalgia in television is a double-edged sword. The fond memories of a beloved show, which make reviving it a viable idea, are also what make it so difficult for the revival to succeed, as fans inevitably compare it to the original. In the case of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, some of the memories are fresh: the original run of the venerable-if-rambunctious music panel quiz, which started way back in 1996, only ended in 2015, barely giving fans a chance to miss it.

The old Buzzcocks featured various regular hosts and myriad guest hosts. In the new edition, Greg Davies takes over the quizmaster role, no doubt with the hope that the magic of Taskmaster will rub off. It’s a very different role, though: Taskmaster is a unique gig in TV, and Davies got to shape the nature of that host job from the start, establishing his own intimidating-yet-mischievous style as the essence of the Taskmaster. On NMTB he’s following in the footsteps of many others and playing a far more conventional panel show presenter part.

He does well.. Loose and relaxed, with his usual air of hugely enjoying everything he’s doing and his familiar willingness to get bitchy with the insults, he justifies the producers’ choice. At the same time, it’s a conventional role and Davies does little to break convention: those desiring full-flavour Davies will find more pleasure in Taskmaster or his sitcom The Cleaner.

On either side of Davies sit the teams and their captains: one is Daisy May Cooper, new to the NMTB world; the other is Noel Fielding, veteran of panel shows, narrative comedy, The Great British Bake-Off and, most importantly, the latter years of NMTB’s first run as one of the various regular captains. Fielding’s return provides attractive continuity, but more importantly brings the off-kilter wit and experienced skill with panel show cut-and-thrust that Fielding excels at.

The captains have been well-chosen: Cooper and Fielding are both great comics, but of very different kinds. Cooper’s low-key bumbling everywoman persona is a lovely contrast with Fielding’s slightly unnerving Goth surrealist schtick. Fielding is as rock ‘n’ roll as it’s possible to be when you’re a middle-aged English comedian who hosts a baking competition – Cooper, meanwhile, is as un-Fielding-like as it gets. The dichotomy works well, akin to the complementary roles of Lee Mack and David Mitchell on Would I Lie to You?

However, strong as the central trio are, NMTB needs good guests to properly shine. Episodes will inevitably vary in quality according to the talents of the players on the teams. The first episode struggles a little in this regard: Cooper is accompanied by singers Anne-Marie and Jade Thirlwall, neither of whom show any great comedy chops, and that problem will beset the new version as it did the old: the nature of the show means musical stars must be booked, but those stars’ ability to make people laugh will always vary wildly. On the other hand, both do better than actual comedian Nish Kumar, whose entire career has been built on loud, shrill and unconvincing laughter at seemingly everything he ever sees or hears.

Kumar’s trying-much-too-hard demeanour is emblematic of the issues – hopefully just teething troubles – of the first look at the new-age Buzzcocks. While the old show was notoriously edgy, fractious and happy to offend – on-set blow-ups and celebrity walk-outs helped cement its legend – the new version, while still including the expected verbal barbs and copious swearing, is a little too eager to please, and feels more stilted and rehearsed. It fails to capture the rock-appropriate air of danger and chaos that its progenitor did.

That might come, however: it’s still a strong format with idiosyncratic rounds like Intros, in which two members of a team must try to recreate the intro to a song a cappella, and the third must guess the song, and Identity Parade, in which teams must guess who out of a lineup is the real former pop star, still carry the old whiff of ramshackle boisterousness. At this stage the participants seem a little awkward, the show yet to become comfortable in its skin. But with a proven format and a very funny regular cast, big things may well grow.

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