Hello.  This is a one-off blogpost to display data I collected to show the ratio of men to women on British TV panel shows.

This is not supposed to be an exhaustive list.  The ten programmes selected are just ten that I either watch or have watched.  The purpose of this exercise is simply to demonstrate an institutionalised pattern of behavior.  A pattern you’ve no doubt noticed yourself but never had exact figures for before.

The ten shows I chose were: Mock the Week, Would I Lie To You?, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Have I Got News For You, Celebrity Juice, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, QI, What The Dickens?, You Have Been Watching, and Big Fat Quiz Of The Year.

The statistics shown are not just of guests but of  every person appearing on every episode.  If you feel that this means some shows are unfairly weighted due to all their regulars being male then I suggest you spend some time considering that.

Now on with the stats.

10.   What The Dickens?

(Sky Arts)

9.  Celebrity Juice.

(ITV2)

8.  8 Out Of 10 Cats.

(Channel 4)

7.  You Have Been Watching.

(Channel 4)

6.  Big Fat Quiz Of The Year.

(Channel 4)

5.  Would I Lie To You?

(BBC1)

4.  Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

(BBC2)

3. Have I Got News For You.

(BBC2/BBC1)

2.  QI.

(BBC2)

Note:  Jo Brand accounts for 29 of the female guests on QI.

 

1.  Mock The Week.

(BBC2)

So there you go.  I hope this is of some interest to someone.  You can send any feedback to russell.moore138@gmail.com

Note:  I give myself a 1% margin of error, mostly for Buzzcocks where some of the guests in the 90s had gender-neutral names and don’t have Wikipedia pages.  I also didn’t factor in DVD-only episodes and Comic Relief specials.