Britain's Brainiest

Britain's Brainiest is a British television quiz show produced by Celador and aired on ITV. The show originally aired as a one-off special ad Britain's Brainiest Kid on 9 August 2001, hosted by Carol Vorderman. An adult series ran from 2 January to 6 February 2002 and a subsequent kids series aired from 9 to 31 December 2002.

Format

2001 special

The original featured four different rounds:

A set of 12 multiple choice questions, whittling down the number of male contestants from 12 to 3.
A set of 12 multiple choice questions, whittling down the number of female contestants from 12 to 3.
A subject-based round, where contestants answered questions on two subjects, this halved the number of competitors to 3.
A final round, where the remaining 3 contestants were tested on their own specialist subject and that of their fellow finalists

The winner of the original special was Laura Hibbert of North Yorkshire, whose specialist subject was Charles Dickens.

Alex "Brains" Marshall was runner up. Marshall's specialist subject was the United Arab Emirates. Richard "Helium" Thomas came third. His specialist subject was the Plantagenets.

2002 adult series

Information needed

2002 kids series

The show was resurrected, with ten half-hour heats and qualification to a 90-minute grand final show. The heats were presented by Tess Daly, and the grand final by Carol Vorderman again. There was also a format change in 2002, with tie breakers being replaced by "Codexs" after the mammoth tie-break in the 2001 special.

The winner of the 2002 series was Christopher Guerin, from Birmingham (specialist subject: Thomas Becket). He went on to receive three masters degrees including one at the University of Cambridge, and as of 2023 is a maths teacher and assistant secondary school principal.

International versions

Legend: Currently airing   No longer airing   Upcoming or returning version  