The Easiest Quiz: celebrity contestant Stacey Colter
Friday brought the first “celebrity edition” of the Easiest Quiz, although the contestant had become famous only because of the quiz itself.
Earlier in the week, Elaine had been asked to name a famous Stacey and had answered “Stacey Colter”. The real Stacey Colter from Glasgow heard the moment with her young son and was immediately contacted by friends saying she had been mentioned on Radio 2.
Scott invited her to play, declaring that she was now a celebrity because she had become an answer on the programme. Stacey admitted she was usually terrible at quick questions and worried that appearing might damage the reputation she had acquired accidentally.
Her call completed one of the quiz’s stranger running stories: an apparently incorrect answer becoming correct because the named person was brought onto the radio and turned into a recognisable figure.
Doctor Who Big Guest Friday
Scott devoted the full 8am hour to Doctor Who ahead of the new series beginning the following evening.
Russell T Davies joined as writer and showrunner, alongside new companion Varada Sethu and Anita Dobson, whose mysterious character had already attracted considerable fan attention.
Russell discussed returning to the programme, the scale of producing modern Doctor Who and the balance between honouring its history and making every new series understandable to somebody watching for the first time.
He also addressed the difficulty of publicity interviews in which almost every interesting question risked revealing a plot point. Scott invited listeners to submit questions that were as geeky or non-geeky as they liked, while warning that many could not be answered.
Varada spoke about joining Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor’s new companion Belinda Chandra. She described the secrecy surrounding casting, costumes and scripts, and the unusual experience of entering a programme whose audience examined every released image.
The conversation covered the physical demands of filming, the scale of sets and locations, and the responsibility of creating a companion with her own aims rather than somebody who existed only to react to the Doctor.
Anita Dobson discussed her recurring appearances and the fan theories surrounding her character. Scott also returned to her pop connection through the EastEnders theme, recalling her chart version and introducing it to Varada, who had never heard it.
The guests responded to listener questions about the TARDIS, monsters, continuity and what they could safely reveal about the new adventures. Russell repeatedly balanced enthusiasm with carefully worded refusals.
The hour ended as both a preview and a celebration of the programme’s long ability to reinvent itself, with Scott directing listeners to the new series on BBC One and iPlayer.
The Wonder Years
The Wonder Years began in 1995 with The Original’s I Luv U Baby, requested by Terry in Wakefield because it was playing when he met his husband Stuart across a dance floor in Manchester.
The sequence moved into 1996 and continued through songs associated with the late 1990s and early 2000s.
11 April 2025: Gary Davies
Gary Davies sat in after Scott and connected the morning’s Doctor Who theme to his own Saturday programme, which would include a Doctor Who Mastermix and Russell T Davies choosing songs for My 80s.
Their handover also revisited Anita Dobson’s EastEnders record and the quiz’s new celebrity, Stacey Colter.
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