Lee Mack presides over three teams of comedians, scientists and studio guests who road-test pub facts in Pinewood Studios. Each edition opens with ‘Fact Off’, where the panellists unveil their favourite piece of trivia—dog-urine arcs, duck-quack acoustics, the colour of hippo sweat—and a trio of resident scientists, led from series three by space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, design experiments to confirm or demolish the claim. The second round, ‘Fact Finder’, drafts audience members to supply their own nuggets, which are then interrogated by the white-coat panel. The final round, ‘Mack’s Facts’, awards points to whoever can decode the cryptic clues that Mack fires off about three further truths.
Sky1 kept the show on the road for six runs between February 2014 and October 2017, producing 46 hour-long episodes (an advertised 47th compilation remains unaired). Regular comic passengers included Jimmy Carr, Bob Mortimer, Dara Ó Briain, Jason Byrne and Katherine Ryan, all competing to have their fact crowned most astonishing. Critics were less wowed: Matthew Wright in The Arts Desk dismissed the premiere as “lightweight popular psychology” stretched past endurance, despite the enthusiastic explosions and slow-motion replays that padded each investigation. The title refers to the long-debunked belief that a duck’s quack does not echo, the perfect emblem for a programme that turned pub-talk into Saturday-night spectacle.
Production Details
Sky One / 6 Seasons / 47 Episodes / 2014
Main Cast
Lee Mack as Himself - Host
Jimmy Carr as
Bob Mortimer as
Jason Byrne as Self
Rhod Gilbert as
Sara Cox as
Gabby Logan as
Aisling Bea as
Emma Bunton as Self
