The 53rd series of University Challenge began on 17 July 2023 on BBC Two.[1]

This is the first series to be hosted by Amol Rajan, who succeeded Jeremy Paxman. The series employs a newly designed TV card and studio set.[2] In this series, Northeastern University – London made its first appearance on the programme.

Results

  • Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
  • Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated (as they were not one of the highest scoring losers).
  • Teams with orange scores had to win one more match to return in the next round.
  • Teams with yellow scores indicate that two further matches had to be played and won (teams that lost their first quarter-final match).
  • A score in italics indicates a match decided on a tie-breaker question.

First round

Team 1ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
Trinity College, Cambridge 175 185 University of Manchester 360 17 July 2023
University of Aberdeen 190 125 University of Birmingham 315 24 July 2023
Birkbeck, University of London 220 205 Oxford Brookes University 425 31 July 2023
University of Southampton 155 180 Christ Church, Oxford 335 7 August 2023
Emmanuel College, Cambridge 240 60 Jesus College, Oxford 300 14 August 2023
King's College, Cambridge 145 190 University College London 335 21 August 2023
University of East Anglia 235 125 University of Strathclyde 360 28 August 2023
The Open University 155 230 Hertford College, Oxford 385 4 September 2023
Balliol College, Oxford 145 285 Imperial College London 430 11 September 2023
University of Sheffield 290 115 Loughborough University 405 18 September 2023
University of Warwick 265 140 Wolfson College, Cambridge 405 25 September 2023
Bangor University 150 320 University of Edinburgh 470 2 October 2023
Lincoln College, Oxford 225 65 King's College London 290 9 October 2023
University of York 190 120 Northeastern University – London 310 16 October 2023

Highest scoring losers play-offs

Team 1ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
Trinity College, Cambridge 245 120 University of Southampton 365 23 October 2023
Oxford Brookes University 155 255 The Open University 410 30 October 2023

Second round

Team 1ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
University of Warwick 185 205 Trinity College, Cambridge 390 6 November 2023
The Open University 265 130 University of East Anglia 395 13 November 2023
Emmanuel College, Cambridge 130 155 Christ Church, Oxford 285 20 November 2023
Hertford College, Oxford 140 225 University College London 365 27 November 2023
University of Manchester 215 105 University of Edinburgh 320 4 December 2023
University of York 155 165 Birkbeck, University of London 320 11 December 2023
University of Sheffield 130 105 University of Aberdeen 235 1 January 2024
Lincoln College, Oxford 120 250 Imperial College London 370 8 January 2024

Quarter-finals

Team 1ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
University of Manchester 160 95 Birkbeck, University of London 255 15 January 2024
University of Sheffield Imperial College London 22 January 2024[3]

Spin-off: Christmas Special 2023

First round

Each year, a Christmas special sequence is aired featuring distinguished alumni. Out of 7 first-round winners, only the top 4 highest-scoring teams progress to the semi-finals. The teams consist of alumni who have gone on to be notable in their field, representing their alma maters.

This year, there were only 6 first-round matches due to one episode being removed. This was after complaints were received from two contestants where they felt their accessibility requirements were not met during filming.[4] The contestants have not been named nor their institution other than being colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. The rest of the series is to be broadcast as normal.

  • Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
  • Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
  • Teams with grey scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.
  • A score in italics indicates a match decided on a tie-breaker question.
Team 1ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
King's College London 155 120 City, University of London 275 18 December 2023
Royal Holloway, University of London 170 95 University of East Anglia 265 19 December 2023
University of Dundee 75 185 Bangor University 260 20 December 2023
Corpus Christi College, Oxford 265 80 University of Edinburgh 345 21 December 2023
Imperial College London 110 80 University of Liverpool 190 22 December 2023
Middlesex University 175 115 University of Leeds 290 26 December 2023

Standings for the winners

Rank Team Team captain(s) Score
1 Corpus Christi College, Oxford Alex Bellos 265
2 Bangor University David Neal 185
3 Middlesex University Dan Renton Skinner / Heather Phillipson 175
4 Royal Holloway, University of London Liz Sayce 170
5 King's College London Ayshah Tull 155
6 Imperial College London Anjana Ahuja 110

Semi-finals

Team 1ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
Royal Holloway, University of London 160 180 Corpus Christi College, Oxford 340 27 December 2023
Bangor University 85 195 Middlesex University 280 28 December 2023

Final

Team 1ScoreTeam 2TotalBroadcast date
Corpus Christi College, Oxford 80 175 Middlesex University 255 29 December 2023

The winning Middlesex University team consisted of David Heathcote, Lola Young, Heather Phillipson[lower-alpha 1] and David Hepworth, who beat Corpus Christi College, Oxford and their team of Francesca Happé, Michael Cockerell, Alex Bellos and Steve Waters.

  1. ↑ Originally Dan Renton Skinner was the team captain, but was unable to make the recordings of the semi-finals/final, so Heather Phillipson took over as captain, and David Heathcote took his place as a team member.

References

  1. ↑ "BBC Two - University Challenge, 2023/24, Trinity College, Cambridge v Manchester". BBC Online. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  2. ↑ Bryan, Scott (14 July 2023). "New host, new set, same fiendish questions: behind the scenes with the all-new University Challenge". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  3. ↑ "BBC Two - University Challenge, 2023/24, Sheffield v Imperial". BBC Online. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  4. ↑ "University Challenge: Christmas episode axed after ableism complaints". BBC News. 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2023-12-19.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.