Since it made its debut in the teatime schedule seven years ago, titan quiz show The Chase – one of ITV’s biggest daytime successes ever – has had to lounge in the shadow of regular National Television Award winner This Morning.
This year, everything was a lot different. With This Morning being moved to a new category, The Chase faced competition from the likes of Pointless and Jeremy Kyle for the Best Daytime Show award and finally got the recognition its team and fans have been hoping for.
As the show, which regularly pulls in between 3 and 5 million viewers per episode, picked up the gong, no-one could be happier than its stars.
Metro.co.uk caught up with ‘The Beast’ Mark Labbett and ‘The Governess’ Anne Hegerty as they recovered from their celebrations.
Here they discuss what makes the show so special, their thrill at finally being rewarded at the NTAs and how much rivalry there really is with Pointless.
With This Morning out of the running, did you expect that you had more of a chance this year?
Mark: This Morning being out of the running made a huge difference. We got together a bit of a canvas for social media – I suppose we almost copied them a bit as it worked so well for them. It’s always a bit unseemly to go grabbing for votes but we thought ‘what the hell!? We want the award!
To be fair, the amount of followers Richard Osman and Alexander Armstrong have they could’ve done it with Pointless too but they didn’t. That’s when wre thought we might have a chance – when we didn’t see them in the auditorium. We guessed they would have turned up if they thought they were going to win.
Anne: We were a bit more hopeful, but I was trying so hard not to get my hopes up. I just didn’t know what the chances were of the others winning out, and it would have been so galling to be beaten by Pointless in particular! Paul [Sinha] had been keeping an eye on the betting odds, and a couple of days beforehand we knew we were pretty much joint favourites, with Pointless perhaps a little ahead.
In the car there, Paul kept talking about how nervous he was, and I remember thinking that I actually wasn’t – in fact I was possibly more relaxed than I remember being before (enough sleep and a comfy dress will do that!). When I was on the stage I remember noticing with surprise that my knees were beginning to shake – I suppose it was delayed shock!
So how did it feel to finally win after seven years?
Anne: I’d rehearsed that moment so many times in my head. Funnily enough, a split second before Piers [Morgan] said it, I thought, ‘He’s going to say The Chase,’ so it felt almost like an anti-climax! It really only sank in over the next few hours that after all those years we’d finally done it, and it sounds sappy but I was really so proud for the team, the producers and co-ordinators and question setters and researchers that no one ever knows the name of.
I found a text this morning from our first producer, Sue Allison, and I texted back saying that we couldn’t have done it without her original vision, and the way the show developed in series 2 under her guidance. She said that meant a lot.
Mark: It’s weird because on one hand it was absolutely ordinary. But then I turned around and look out and it was like ‘blimey there’s 20,000 people looking at us!’ We were absolutely ecstatic – especially, Bradley, Michael Kelpie [series producer], Shaun Wallace and myself as we’re four of about seven who have been there from the start.
We started as a ten episode sort of filler where the production team were told if this doesn’t do well it’s your job. There was another show called The Fuse and there was a rumour going around that whichever team did best kept their jobs. I don’t know how true that is. Fortunately for us, Bradley is the better presenter. No disrespect to Austin Healey but Bradley is a master of his craft!
What makes The Chase so successful? Quiz shows come and go all of the time but The Chase is as popular as ever!
Mark: It’s that sense of fun. Although I feel under utilised as one of 5 Chasers, it turns out that the variety of Chasers makes the show. We all have different shows so it can be fresh and unexpected. Everyone has their own theories on the best chaser, favourite chaser, who is the best to go down the pub with and it’s all part of the fun.
Anne: I always say it’s two things. The format. It just works so well. If you come in part way through (rather important for a 5-6 pm show) you can just glance at the desk and you know how many people are through, with how much money, and it indicates how strong the team are and what kind of form the Chaser’s on. And the final two minutes is so compelling. We get through tons of questions in a single show, so many more than Pointless.
And Bradley. He is just BRILLIANT. We are so lucky to have him. He absolutely gets the ethos of the show and how it should work, and has this superb rapport with both the Chasers and the contestants. I hope we have him insured for billions, because he’s just irreplaceable.
Mark: The win loss record – as a man who had 33 wins and only four losses in 2014, I can say this – doesn’t mean anything. If anything it shows the quality of the opposition. If you get teams who score 20 or more correct answers almost every time, your loss record would go up. Paul didn’t have a great 2014, but if you looked at the stats and how well he was playing – he had a huge number of 20 plus teams. It was ridiculous!
Stats tell you some of the story but not all. Who’s the best Chaser at grinding out a win when it’s in the balance? I expect its Shaun. The amount of times he has to pull out key answers because he has to is incredible. Whereas Paul, he’s so good that it’s rare but when he ends up in that situation he can wobble.
What the contestant team unashamedly do is make sure that if you’re the on form Chaser, you’ll get better teams the next year and that’s how it should be and I’ve found that this year. I’ve racked up a few losses this season but almost all of them are against teams who scored above 20. But if every team who beats me is above 20, I’ll take that to the bank. They deserve to win!
What about the rivalry with Pointless – is the war as heated as viewers think?
Mark: Long may Pointless continue. Between us we get 7 million a day and we spur each other on and it destroys any other opposition. The Paul O Grady Show or other new quizzes come on over the summer and the ratings go down by about half!
The 5pm slot has to be one of the massive success stories for BBC and ITV. We’re living in a golden age for quiz shows – Only Connect, University Challenge… and Tipping Point, our wing man, is very good. It’s lighter and frothier and we love it airing before us. The regional news love it as they get double the audience they used to get before The Chase started.
Anne: I really love that there are these two excellent quiz shows getting a combined 7 million viewers at a time when people are still travelling home from work! It’s no secret that I’m a big Pointless fan, but obviously I’m thrilled that we beat them!
Finally, what does the future hold for The Chase and do you both want to stick around with the show?
Mark: It’s business as normal as far as I’m aware. They’re always looking for new chasers but the danger is that the roster could get bloated and there’s quality control to take into account. They must have interviewed 1000 people now including known celebrities and it took them 2 to 3 years to get Jenny [Ryan] in place.
It’s hard to find someone with no gaping knowledge holes and a big personality. You can’t just give answers, you need something about you. That’s why everyone is always trying to find another Anne Hegerty – but there’s only one Anne Hegerty – she’s precious! She’s one of the top two lady quizzers in the world. That’s why Jenny has tough shoes to follow – she will be compared to Anne!
Anne: Oh goodness, I’m here ’til they fire me or we get cancelled! I’m not aware of any changes planned. I’m keen to keep doing the Australian show too, of course, but yeah, the Chase UK is my bread and butter and I’m not going anywhere.
That’s a relief! The Chase airs on ITV at 5pm every weekday. Tune in if you haven’t before – you don’t know what you’re missing!