Would I Lie To You? Why, Yes I Would

Would I Lie To You? is yet another brilliant British panel show, in the tradition of QI or The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. However, this program is not concerned with informing viewers about the news or trivia. Instead, it involves celebrity teams telling outrageous stories that could be either true or false and proving that sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction.

The team captains for every episode are Lee Mack and David Mitchell, two fantastic comedians with very different but equally hilarious comic sensibilities. Each week two celebrities join each team - they may be comedians, newsreaders or other famous folk, but they add a great deal of variety to the proceedings and bring some unbelievable stories with them. The host for the first two series was Angus Deayton, a TV presenter with a sarcastic and withering sense of humor, but the current host is Rob Brydon, who lends a cheerier tone to the whole affair and keeps launching into the celebrity impersonations that kept me so amused in The Trip.

The first round involves a celebrity picking up a card and reading off a statement. For example, "When I was younger, I has so many imaginary friends that we formed an imaginary gang." It is then the duty of the opposing team to relentlessly question and mock the celebrity and determine whether the story is a truth or a lie. Then they play "This is my," a round where a stranger comes up on stage and all three members of one team claim to know him/her. The other team has to figure out who's telling the truth. Finally they finish up with Quickfire Lies, which is similar to the first round but is supposedly more rapidfire. Usually it just devolves into giggles and mass hysteria.

It's hard to explain the magic of Would I Lie To You? just by describing it. So my advice is to go watch it - if you can't access it on the BBC iPlayer, there are plenty of clips on YouTube. And be forewarned: even though each episode is only half an hour long, you might want to set aside more viewing time for yourself. You won't be able to stop at just one.