På minuten (translation: On the Minute) is a Swedish radio comedy panel game based on The BBC's long-running series Just a Minute. As in the British original, it features a panel of four people (generally actors/actresses or comedians) who are tasked by the chairman with speaking for sixty seconds on a given subject without hesitating, repeating any words, or deviating from the subject. If they fall into any of these traps, their opponents can challenge them; if the challenge is upheld, the challenger gains a point and takes over the subject for however much of the sixty seconds remain, while if the challenge is overruled, the original speaker gains a point and continues. Speaking when the sixty seconds have elapsed gains two points, while speaking for the entire minute without interruption gains three points; the panellist with the most points at the end of the episode wins.
The series began airing on Sveriges Radio P1 in February 1969, a year and a half after Just a Minute debuted. Originally recording in Malmö, it was chaired by Herbert Söderström, but after two months production moved to Stockholm and Lennart Swahn took over the chair. The regular panellists from the early years were actors Margaretha Krook, Catrin Westerlund, Moltas Eriksson, and Stig Järrel, with Hans Alfredson taking over Westerlund's seat after her death in 1982. The series went off the air in 1988, but returned six years later chaired by Erik Blix and re-titled 60 sekunder; the following year, the revived series reverted to its original title and Ingvar Storm took over as chair, a position he still holds today. Recurring panellists in the revival include Pia Johansson, Hans Rosenfeldt, My Holmsten, David Batra, and Peder Falk.
Although the rules on hesitation are the same as those for Just a Minute, while the rules on deviation are somewhat more relaxed (the panellists cannot challenge each other for "deviation from the truth", for example, although this was originally permitted), the rules on repetition vary from those of the parent series. In contrast to Just a Minute, panellists on På minuten cannot repeat any words during their speech, including the words in the subject, and cannot sidestep this by using multiple forms of the same word (such as the singular and plural of a noun). However, if they lose the subject and gain it back, they can repeat words they used before they originally lost the subject. Panellists can also be challenged for stealing each other's approaches to the subject, or for laughing during their speech.
Scorekeeping and timekeeping are performed by the "Notarius Publicus" (formerly "Överdomaren", or "Chief Justice"), the chairman's assistant. When Bibi Rödöö took over this role in 2004, she began offering prizes to the winners, starting with tins of exotic food purchased from Stockholm's supermarkets, then moving on to food brought back from Rödöö's holidays, and then to food sent by audience members or listeners. In some episodes, the prize is a lesson from a music teacher who advertises "Learn how to play [instrument] in one hour!", and the winner must give a performance at the next recording. Recordings also feature live incidental music performed on an electric organ at the end of each round.
The series was briefly adapted for television in the spring of 1975 as part of the series Nöjeshallen.
This series provides examples of:
- Audience Participation: If faced with a difficult challenge, the chairman will offer the decision to "The People's Court" (i.e., the studio audience), who are instructed to cheer when they hear the name of the panellist with whom they side, the challenger or the challenged.
- Foreign Queasine: Some of the tins of exotic food that have been offered as prizes have been so bizarre that the panellists have actively tried to avoid winning so as not to get stuck with them.
- Gratuitous Latin: When Helge Skoog took over the job of scorekeeper-timekeeper in 2012, he changed the job title to "Notarius Publicus", Latin for "Notary Public", even though the similarities between the two professions are scant at best.
- Sound-to-Screen Adaptation: Between April and June 1975, six episodes of På minuten were filmed and included as installments of the series Nöjeshallen.
