Would I Lie to You? (abbreviated as WILTY) is a British comedy panel show aired on BBC One, made by Zeppotron for the BBC. It was first broadcast on 16 June 2007, starring David Mitchell and Lee Mack as team captains. The show was originally presented by Angus Deayton, and since 2009 has been hosted by Rob Brydon.

Background

The show was presented by Angus Deayton in 2007 and 2008, with Rob Brydon (who had appeared as a guest panellist in the second series) taking over as host in 2009. The team captains are comedians David Mitchell and Lee Mack. As revealed by Lee Mack on Alan Carr: Chatty Man on 19 September 2014, Alan Carr was a team captain in the pilot but subsequently turned down an offer to appear on later shows. For each show, two celebrity guests join each of the team captains. The teams compete as each player reveals unusual facts and embarrassing personal tales for the evaluation of the opposing team. Some of these are true, some are not, and it is the panellists' task to decide which is which. The first series was recorded at Fountain Studios in Wembley during March and April 2007 and aired at 21:55 between 16 June and 28 July 2007 on BBC One (missing a week for coverage of the Concert for Diana memorial event). Filming for the second series took place between 15 November and 18 December 2007. The second series was filmed at BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, because Fountain Studios were being used for The X Factor. The second series aired at 21:00 between 11 July 2008 and 29 August 2008 on BBC One, and contained eight shows, an increase of two from series one. A compilation episode featuring some previously unaired material was aired on 19 September 2008 at 21:30 on BBC One. Filming of a third series of eight episodes took place at Pinewood Studios during March and April 2009, and was broadcast between 10 August 2009 and 29 September 2009 on BBC One at 22:35. A compilation episode was also recorded. The airdate was 17 December 2009, due to the addition of Match of the Day to the BBC One schedule. Filming of a fourth series of eight episodes took place at Pinewood Studios again during April and May 2010, and was broadcast between 23 July 2010 and 10 September 2010 on BBC One at 22:35. The compilation episode aired on 17 September 2010. The fifth series was filmed during March 2011 and started airing from 9 September at 21:30. The sixth series of the show was recorded in March 2012 and began its broadcast on 13 April 2012. This series was aired in a pre-watershed slot, at 20:30, for the first time. Series 16 aired on Fridays at 20:00.

Format

Rounds

In all rounds, the scoring system is the same: teams gain a point for correctly guessing whether a statement is true or not, but if they guess incorrectly the opposing team gets a point. Each episode running time is 30 minutes, so some questions are edited out prior to airing. In addition, the comic format allows each team member to question and joke with the opposing team. Hence, each episode has differing total scoring points reflecting the varying number of questions asked and answered. During series one through series five, it was impossible for viewers to follow the scores until they were read out at the end of each round, as some questions were edited out, and the final scores reflected the total questions played while filming each episode (not reflecting the final edits for the 30 minute running time). However, starting with series six on, the scores were re-recorded to reflect what had made the aired edits and not the whole filmed recording.

Current rounds

Former rounds

Special episodes

Most series have included some special episodes:

Cast

Guest appearances

The following have all appeared multiple times as one of the guest panelists on the show, including any as-yet unbroadcast episodes of Series 18. This does not include the 2011 Comic Relief special. 12 appearances 10 appearances 9 appearances 8 appearances 7 appearances 6 appearances 5 appearances 4 appearances 3 appearances a. Including an appearance where he substituted for Lee Mack as captain

Ratings

The first show of Series 1 had 3.8 million viewers, a 19% audience share at the time it was broadcast. The first show of Series 2 had 3 million viewers and a 14% audience share. Later episodes indicated ratings of 2.7 - 3.2 million, with the final show of the series getting 3.3 million viewers and a 15% audience share. The first show of Series 3 had 2.8 million viewers, the lowest number for a series opener so far; however, this equated to a 17% audience share. The final show attracted only 2.5 million viewers, but with a 19% audience share overall. The first show of series 4 had 3.12 million viewers and a 19.7% audience share, the best performance for a series opener since series 1. The series 5 premiere had the show's highest ratings to date, with 4 million viewers and a 17.2% audience share. Series 6 began with an audience share of 14.9% and peak viewing figures of 3.53 million. These figures were above the seventh series figures of 2.83 million / 12.8% audience share, although these rose to 3.17 million by the end of the series with a 14.7% share.

Awards and nominations

International broadcasts

The show airs on ABC TV in Australia and TVNZ 2 in New Zealand and began screening on BBC UKTV in Australia and New Zealand from November 2014. It is available to stream on BritBox in the US and Canada.

Merchandise

Episodes

Series

Specials

Appearances in other media

An additional 10-minute feature, entitled "Mam, Would I Lie To You?" was broadcast on the ITV show Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on 13 March 2021. This edition was hosted by Ant and Dec and featured a team of Lee Mack, Stephen Mulhern and Michelle Visage playing two rounds of a slightly altered "This is My..." where the panellists had to guess which of the three children was the child of an audience member by the story given. Zeppotron and the BBC were thanked in the programme's credits for use of the WILTY brand and format.

International versions