History Series / TheyThinkItsAllOver

*** In a Series 6 episode with Jo Brand, Gabby Yorath, and Pauline [=McLynn=], Gary's team won by 1 point, but Nick Hancock revealed that they had only identified a quote from Roger Black's autobiography two weeks earlier because Gary had sweet talked the autocue girl into giving him the answer (Rory protested; he was the one who had sweet talked the autocue girl). He docked Gary's team 1 point, and they lost in a tiebreak.

** In both 1999 and 2001, the series crossed over with ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'' and ''Series/NeverMindTheBuzzcocks'' for a UsefulNotes/ComicRelief special entitled ''Have I Got Buzzcocks All Over'', presented by Angus Deayton. Nick Hancock was a captain on both specials (accompanied by Phil Tufnell and newsreader Carol Barnes in 1999, and by David Gower and Creator/StephenFry in 2001), and in both specials his team played variations on "Feel the Sportsman" ("Feel the Pop Star" in 1999 with guest Samantha Fox, "Feel the Politician" in 2001 with guest Roy Hattersley[[note]] who, in a nod to one of the most famous ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'' episodes, appeared on stage carrying a tub of lard[[/note]]), while the 2001 special finished with "The Name Game" but with names from politics and pop music as well as sport.

** Following his arrest for spending a night with a prostitute and taking cocaine, ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'' presenter Angus Deayton was the object of many jokes about drug-fuelled orgies, most of them made by Nick Hancock and Rory [=McGrath=] (both of whom appeared on ''Have I Got News for You'' multiple times before ''They Think It's All Over'' premiered), both of whom sarcastically referred to him as "my good friend Angus Deayton".

** A Series 1 episode with Ally [=McCoist=] and Hugh Dennis finished level after "The Name Game" and was declared a draw. Starting with the first episode of Series 2, any episode that finished level after "The Name Game" would go to a SuddenDeath round.

* SuddenDeath: From Series 2 onward, if an episode finished level after "The Name Game", the teams would play a tiebreak game, the formats of which were often {{Call Back}}s to earlier rounds. If the two teams had won equal numbers of episodes by the end of a series, they would also play a tiebreak for the series. Examples of tiebreak games included answering questions from trivia books purportedly written by David Gower and Gary Lineker (neither captain could answer questions from "his" book), musical chairs, a race on "skeleton bobsleds" (tea trays with skateboard wheels), launching football boots at cutouts of David Beckham's face,[[note]] A reference to a then-recent incident in which Sir Alex Ferguson (supposedly accidentally) kicked a boot at Beckham during a dressing room tirade when Manchester United were trailing 2-0 at Arsenal.[[/note]] riding a mechanical bull, and seeing who of Rory and Jonathan could hold their breath for the longest while face down in a bowl of water.

* SuperOCD: In a Series 12 episode with Alec Stewart and Clive Anderson, the "Sporting Bluff" question for David Gower's team referenced England wicket keeper Jack Russell's case of this. Clive Anderson claimed that Russell soaked his Weetabix in milk for exactly twelve minutes every morning, Gary Lineker claimed that Russell refused to tell his teammates where he lived and circled roundabouts three times to throw off imaginary pursuers, and Rory [=McGrath=] claimed that Russell insisted that workmen working on his house wear blindfolds. The true statement: [[spoiler:all of them]].

* '''The Name Game:''' The closing round of each show; the regular comedians would be given a set of cards with the names of sporting personalities on them and have to give their teammates clues as to their identities (the only rule being that they could not use rhyming clues, such as "Rubbish cricketer, hair as white as ''flour''" for "David Gower"). Variations included requiring the comedians to give clues in mime, as impressions, or as ''Pictionary''-style drawings. Generally, the first few names would be relatively familiar, and the rest would be obscure and often suggestive, leading the comedians to come up with increasingly creative ways to convey the names. Occasionally replaced in the 2005 series by "Sporting Vogue", in which the comedians (or, occasionally, team captains) would have to re-enact famous sporting photographs, and their teammates would have to identify the subjects.

* NamesTheSame: Several in-universe examples.
** When Lee Hurst was a regular on the series, there was a player at Southend United FC also named Lee Hurst. Inevitably, he was the subject of David and Lee's round of "Feel the Sportsman" in the 1996 Christmas special.
** One example became a RunningGag in a Series 12 episode with Alec Stewart and Clive Anderson. "What's Going On?" featured footage of the British Lawnmower Grand Prix, won by one Bob Wilson, whom Nick noted shared his name with a former Arsenal and Scotland goalkeeper turned ''Football Focus'' pundit. For "Feel the Sportsman", David and Jonathan had to identify Bob Wilson the lawnmower driver, while Gary and Rory had to identify Bob Wilson the goalkeeper,[[note]] Wilson was accompanied by tailor's dummies wearing masks of Terry Venables and Ally [=McCoist=], his fellow pundits on ''The Premiership'', which had just launched that autumn.[[/note]] and they were also the first two names for David's team in "The Name Game".
** There were several rounds of "The Name Game" with a theme of athletes who share their names with other famous people; the clue givers were allowed to give clues for the sportsmen or the famous people with whom they shared their name.

* FilkSong: Sometimes found in "Sing When You're Winning", with the terrace chants of various clubs set to the tunes of folk or pop songs or television theme tunes. For example, in the ''No Holds Barred'' video episode, Sunderland fans sang the following spoof version of the folk song "In My Liverpool Home"[[note]] for which there are already "official" versions for both Liverpool and Everton fans to poke fun at each other[[/note]]:
-->"In your Liverpool homes\\
In your Liverpool homes\\
You speak with an accent exceedingly rare[[note]] Which Rory [=McGrath=] labelled HypocriticalHumour, as the Mackem accent is just as impenetrable to outsiders as the Scouse accent.[[/note]]\\
You all wear pink shell suits and have curly hair\\
In your Liverpool homes"

The TV series was initially presented by comedian and ''Series/Room101'' presenter Nick Hancock, and featured two teams of three panellists captained by former England cricketer David Gower (who had made several appearances on the radio version) and former England footballer Gary Lineker, with regular spots taken by comedians Lee Hurst on Gower's team and Rory [=McGrath=] on Lineker's. The third members of each team were generally either athletes, commentators, or comedians, although occasionally politicians (such as Creator/AlastairCampbell or Jeffrey Archer) or broadcasters in other areas (such as [[Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire Chris Tarrant]] or [[Series/TopGear Richard Hammond]]) would appear. Hurst left the series in 1998 to concentrate on running his comedy club in Bethnal Green, and after two series of rotating guest comedians, his place was permanently taken by radio and TV presenter Jonathan Ross.

''They Think It's All Over'' was a sport-themed PanelShow which began airing on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC Radio 5]] in 1992. It was chaired by sport broadcaster Des Lynam and featured two teams of two panellists each, captained by comedians Rory Bremner and Rory [=McGrath=], with guests from the world of sport. After two series and a ChristmasEpisode in 1992 and 1993, the format [[SoundToScreenAdaptation made the jump to television]] in 1995, airing on [=BBC1=] for 155 episodes across nineteen series and several specials.

The TV series was initially presented by comedian and ''Series/Room101'' presenter Nick Hancock, and featured two teams of three panellists captained by former England cricketer David Gower (who made several appearances on the radio version) and former England footballer Gary Lineker, with regular spots taken by comedians Lee Hurst on Gower's team and Rory [=McGrath=] on Lineker's. The third members of each team were generally either athletes, commentators, or comedians, although occasionally politicians (such as Creator/AlastairCampbell or Jeffrey Archer) or broadcasters in other areas (such as [[Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire Chris Tarrant]] or [[Series/TopGear Richard Hammond]]) would appear. Hurst left the series in 1998 to concentrate on running his comedy club in Bethnal Green, and after two series of rotating guest comedians, his place was permanently taken by radio and TV presenter Jonathan Ross.

* YourCheatingHeart: In a Series 13 episode with guest captains Matthew Pinsent (replacing David) and Steve Davis (replacing Gary) and guests John Francome and Jo Brand, John recounted the story of a colleague of his at Channel 4 who spent every Wednesday with a mistress but told his wife he was going ten-pin bowling. For his birthday, she bought him a bowling ball, and he decided to take it with him every Wednesday to maintain his cover story. When the annual staff party, to which his wife was invited, was held at a bowling alley, he brought the ball along... and discovered it had no fingerholes in it, as they needed to be custom drilled to fit his hand.

* ShoutOut: The series' title is a reference to Kenneth Wolstenholme's commentary from the BBC broadcast of the final seconds of England's 1966 FIFA World Cup victory, which is played over the end of the opening titles: "And here comes Hurst! He's got- some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over! ''[Hurst fires the ball into the back of the net]'' It is now!"[[note]] Wolstenholme was reportedly not flattered by the reference, finding the programme loutish, although he did accept payment to re-record his commentary, as the original audio was unusable.[[/note]] Nick Hancock regularly quoted the commentary in his closing spiel: "My name's Nick Hancock, they think it's all over, it is now."

* CurseCutShort: A print version of this trope featured in a Series 2 episode with John Gordon Sinclair and Kriss Akabusi. During the "Electronic Pencil" round, in which the teams were tasked with establishing where the ball went in a veterans' tennis match between Jimmy Connors and Guillermo Vilas, Lee Hurst said he'd make John Gordon Sinclair feel at home and wrote "7-0" on the screen (a CallBack to Tommy Docherty's LameExcuse for why Scotland lost to Uruguay by that score in the 1954 FIFA World Cup). John took the pen and got as far as writing an F and half of a U before Lee grabbed the pen back.

* LameExcuse: The answers in the "Excuses" round nearly always boiled down to these. For example, according to the series' researchers, boxer Mike Tyson's excuse for biting off Evander Holyfield's ear in their 1997 fight was simply, "This is my career. I have children to raise," while mountaineer Alan Hinkes claimed that he had to abandon his plans to scale the fourteen highest peaks of the Himalayas in succession after injuring his back when he sneezed while eating a chapati.

* TooSoon:
** Invoked by the audience in a Series 13 episode with Barry Davies and Junior Simpson when "What's Going On?" featured footage of the 2002 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Salt Lake City.
--->'''Jonathan Ross:''' Is that the sweet dream that Jonathan King has every night?[[note]] The pop singer had been convicted of several counts of indecent assault against underage boys a few months before this episode was recorded.[[/note]] ''[audience groans]'' Oh, ''[bleep]'' off, then! ''[groans change to laughter]'' What d'you expect? ''Question of Sport''[='=]s next door!
** Invoked by the audience again in a Series 14 episode with Sharron Davies and Mark Waugh when "Excuses" featured footage of swimmer Ian Thorpe breaking world records at the Commonwealth Games.
--->'''Rory [=McGrath=]:''' He's supposed to be the fastest swimmer in the world, I've seen Gary swim faster than that. Michael Barrymore's pool party, wasn't it?[[note]] The TV presenter had fallen from grace precipitously after a 31-year-old man named Stuart Lubbock was found dead in his swimming pool after a party the year before this episode was recorded; a post mortem revealed drugs in his system and evidence of sexual assault.[[/note]] ''[audience groans while Gary {{Facepalm}}s and Rory mouths "What!?" while shrugging in mock innocence; the groans slowly change to applause]''\\
'''Nick Hancock:''' And that's the last in the current series of ''They Think It's All Over''!

* PainfulRhyme: Referenced in-universe for a Series 7 episode with Jo Brand, Fred [=MacAulay=], and David Coulthard during "Sing When You're Winning". The teams had to identify the first line of rhyming couplets used to introduce the national teams at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, and after each team had been given two rhymes each, Nick Hancock showed a fifth video introducing the athletes from Cyprus in which the couplet saw fit to rhyme "astronauts" with "Cypriots". Nick wasn't shy about showing his disgust at the painful rhyme.

*** After Jonathan registered his horror at having accidentally groped a man's behind, Gary Lineker and Rory [=McGrath=] took their places, with Gary audibly wondering how they could possibly follow that. He got his answer when rally drivers Nicky Grist and Colin [=McRae=] pulled up in a car which launched a shower of oil over the entire panel (except for Jonathan and, mostly, David), with Gary getting the worst of it.

* FrenchJerk: In the Series 6 opener with Alan Davies, Frank Leboeuf, and Arthur Smith, Frank repeatedly reacted to witticisms at his expense by declaring, "I don't care, I won the World Cup!" In a Series 8 episode with Frankie Dettori and Sean Meo, he claimed in a recorded segment for "Excuses" that Gary Lineker had advised him to adopt the French jerk persona for comic effect during his appearance, and that it had backfired when many Premiership footballers assumed he was being genuinely arrogant and began aggressively fouling him at every opportunity.

** In a Series 4 episode with Steve Collins and Tony Hawks, an autocue gag about snooker player Jimmy White referenced the fact that he was illiterate until early adulthood (having spent more time in snooker halls than in school as a child). Nick declared, "Jimmy White, of course, is famous for not being able to read. But we don't care, Jimmy, we think you're a truly great player." He grinned at the camera as the subtitle "HE'S RUBBISH" flashed at the bottom of the screen.

* IllBeInMyBunk: Referenced in the "Handbags" round of a Series 12 episode with Hazel Irvine and Nasser Hussain, in which Gary Lineker's team were shown footage of a ladies' doubles tennis match involving Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova. After Rory [=McGrath=] insinuated that the duo had a lesbian tryst involving tennis racket handles, Nick and Jonathan gave us the following:
-->'''Nick:''' There's going- a load of 14-year-old boys at home going, "Can I go to bed now, Mum?" "But you ''love'' this programme!" "No, I wanna go to bed ''now,'' Mum!"\\
'''Jonathan:''' And Nick, the dad'll go, "You know, I might turn in early as well!"

* SpitTake: In a Series 13 episode with guest captain Linford Christie (replacing Gary), Ulrika Jonsson, and Phil Tufnell, Jonathan Ross began "Sporting Bluff" by welcoming Ulrika to the show and praising her hosting stint on ''Dog Eat Dog'', describing her as "a female [[Series/TheWeakestLink Anne Robinson]]". Nick Hancock was in the middle of a swig from his water bottle, and tried and failed to keep from spitting out the mouthful he had just drunk.

* InherentlyFunnyWords: Invoked in the Series 11 finale with Allan Border and Sean Hughes, as Sean exploited the inherently funny nature of the word "hedgehog" by working it into his answers in almost every round, starting by telling Gary Lineker that when he claimed Shane Warne was sponsored by a headgear manufacturer for "Sporting Bluff", his card actually said "hedgehog".

** In a Series 3 episode with Chris Waddle and Jo Brand, the "Celebrations" round was de-railed by side bets among Gary's team members. When Nick Hancock tried to curb Jo's use of sexual terms, as his parents were in the audience, she went down a list of words to gauge their acceptability: "poo", "bum", and [[RuleOfThree "Mariella Frostrup"]]. When the audience laughed at the last of these, Jo revealed that she had bet Gary £10 that she could get a laugh just by mentioning Frostrup's name, and collected her money. After a second digression about whether or not Jo shaved her legs led to her allowing Gary to feel them, she asked if he had been sexually excited by the experience, and he said he had. As he had bet her £60 that he would claim to "have a hard-on" at some point during the episode, it was then his turn to collect.

** Jonathan Ross was by far the most talkative panellist after becoming a regular, but this didn't stop him from cursing out David Gower for talking over his clues during "The Name Game" in the Series 12 episode with TheSwearJar, Audley Harrison, and Fiona Allen. He likened Gower's comments to his childhood Christmases when his grandfather would talk all the way through the Christmas Day film on television. Nick Hancock fired back, "And now it's ''you!''"

Gower and Lineker both left after fifteen series in May 2003 to focus on their careers as commentators/pundits, and were replaced by cricketer Phil Tufnell and goalkeeper David Seaman. Seaman only stayed for two series before being replaced by his former Arsenal teammate Ian Wright, while Tufnell left after another series and was replaced by German tennis star Boris Becker. Hancock was replaced as presenter by standup comic Creator/LeeMack at the same time Tufnell left, and finally Ross left after another series and was replaced for two specials by comedian Sean Lock. This frantic revolving door of personnel and the gradual shift in tone of ''Series/AQuestionOfSport'' (of which ''They Think It's All Over'' was conceived as a more irreverent version) from serious game show to light-hearted comedy contributed to the series' cancellation in 2006.

* ThePointsMeanNothing: David Gower certainly thought so, as he had a much more casual attitude toward the competitive side of the show for most of his appearances than Gary Lineker, to the point of blithely admitting that he neither knew nor cared about the answers to some questions - which, as Lee Hurst and especially Jonathan Ross were poor clue givers during "The Name Game", resulting in Gary winning more episodes than David, was probably just as well. By contrast, Gary and especially Rory [=McGrath=] placed so much emphasis on winning that they frequently resorted to cheating; as detailed under CheatersNeverProsper, this backfired on many occasions, so that David won almost as often through Gary's disqualification as he did through his team's own merits. The team captains from Series 16 onwards took the competitive aspect more seriously.

* PuttingThePeeInPool: Referenced in a Series 16 episode with Anthony Worrall-Thompson and James Gibson. During "The Treble", Jonathan brought up the rumour that pools were treated with chemicals that would change colour in the presence of urine, and eventually the conversation turned to whether or not champion swimmer Gibson had ever relieved himself while swimming. He cheerfully admitted that he had done so all around the world.
-->'''Nick Hancock:''' And people say that youngsters in this country have nothing to offer! There's a young man who's been ''around the world'' pissing in other people's swimming pools!

*** In a Series 6 episode with Jo Brand, Greg Rusedski, and Fred [=MacAulay=], the Scottish FA were so convinced that the programme would use footage of Alloa Athletic in action as a source of mockery that they tried to charge them double the going rate. The producers responded by using free archive footage of embarrassing gaffes by Scotland in FIFA World Cup tournaments, conceding easy goals to Peru in 1978, Brazil in 1990, and Brazil (again) and Morocco in 1998, with Hancock saying they didn't need to mock Scottish football: they could just let it speak for itself.
*** Even Scottish panellists joined in the mockery. In a Series 2 episode with John Gordon Sinclair and Kriss Akabusi, Sinclair said that Scotland's 7-0 defeat by Uruguay in the 1954 FIFA World Cup was technically a win by Scottish standards, while in the Series 6 episode with Jo Brand, Greg Rusedski, and Fred [=MacAulay=], the montage of Scotland's World Cup blunders prompted [=MacAulay=] to joke that those were some of their better games.