Spicks and Specks is an Australian music-themed comedic television quiz show in which the host, Adam Hills, asks two teams, of three people each, varying music-themed questions in different games. Team leaders are Myf Warhurst and Alan Brough. Members of each team vary from episode to episode; one per team generally comes from the world of music and the other from comedy. Scores are kept, but the prize for the winners is simply personal satisfaction. Many games are named after, or otherwise reference, well known song titles.
The series originally aired on what was then ABC1 at 8:30pm on Wednesday nights, with the show repeated on Thursdays on what was then ABC2 at 8pm. The previous year's season was repeated every Friday at 2:30pm on ABC1.
After the show's end in 2011, and an unsuccessful 2014 relaunch featuring new hosts, a new series began airing in an hour-long weekly format from 18 April 2021 with the original hosts.
Format
The show's general style, employing a mix of music and comedy, is similar to the British show Never Mind the Buzzcocks and fellow Australian TV show RocKwiz, but the question formats and program style (Satirical vs. Family vs. Pub Quiz) are different.
Although there are no prizes for the winners, on rare occasions Hills decides to award some convenient prop for comedic effect – a "Fools' Gold" sandwich very similar (they used strawberry jam as opposed to grape jam) to that eaten by Elvis, for example.
The show takes both its name and theme music from the Bee Gees' 1966 song, Spicks and Specks. The theme music was performed and produced by The Dissociatives, a duo consisting of Silverchair singer Daniel Johns and dance musician Paul Mac, and replaced all the lyrics bar the title refrain with scat singing. In addition, Mac once appeared on the show as a panellist.
The show is hosted by stand-up comedian Adam Hills who poses questions to two three-person teams each headed by a permanent team captain, actor/comedian/author Alan Brough and radio announcer Myf Warhurst.
Games in the show include: Substitute, in which one member from each team sings three well-known tunes, substituting unrelated words from a text provided by Hills, while the other team members have to name the song; Cover Versions in which one team's member is chosen to draw pictures (in silence), initially representing an album cover and, in later episodes, song titles, while the other members attempt to name the album/song; Musician or Serial Killer, in which each team member is shown a photograph of a person and is asked to identify whether that person is a musician or a serial killer; and The Final Countdown, always the final game of each program, in which members of both teams compete to be first to attempt to answer general questions on music.
History
Original series (2005–2011)
Guest team members, who varied from week to week, included some regulars: Hamish Blake, Jason Byrne, Frank Woodley, Colin Lane, Ross Noble, James Morrison, Renée Geyer, Ella Hooper, Meshel Laurie, Denise Scott, Antoinette Halloran and Dave O'Neil. With the exception of Dave O'Neil, Blake appeared more often than any other guest panellist, and his comparative lack of musical knowledge was a running gag.
In 2007 during a game called Kid's Music Special, the question "What children's song is contained in the song Down Under?" led to music publisher, Larrikin Music, taking legal action against Men at Work songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert over the main flute riff. After three years of litigation, the lawsuit was settled in favour of Larrikin Music after Down Under was deemed to have used key elements of the Australian children's nursery rhyme Kookaburra.
The show returned for its seventh season on 4 May 2011. On 25 May 2011, the ABC announced the seventh season would be last, with the last program on 23 November 2011.
2014 relaunch (2014)
The ABC announced on 28 November 2012, during its 2013 program launch, that Spicks and Specks would be returning in the new year but without Hills, Warhurst, or Brough. The re-launch of the series was delayed by the broadcaster until 2014, with the first episode airing on 5 February. The new host was comedian Josh Earl with Adam Richard and Ella Hooper as team captains.
The revival was axed after 20 episodes due to low ratings, with the final six recorded episodes airing over the summer non-ratings period.