Just a Minute#TV versions

{{Infobox radio show

| show_name = Just a Minute

| image = Just a Minute ident card NP.jpg

| image_size = 250

| alt = Image shows Nicholas Parsons smiling whilst holding a stopwatch in his left hand and pointing to the watch with his right hand

| caption = Nicholas Parsons hosted the show for almost 52 years

| format = Panel game

| runtime = 30 minutes

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| home_station = BBC Radio 4

| syndicates = {{ubl|BBC World Service|BBC Radio 4 Extra}}

| presenter = {{ubl|Nicholas Parsons (1967{{endash}}2019)|See list of guest presenters|Sue Perkins (2021–present){{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-57900638|title=Sue Perkins announced as new host of Just a Minute|website=BBC News|date=20 July 2021|access-date=20 July 2021}}}}

| starring = {{ubl|Clement Freud|Peter Jones|Derek Nimmo|Kenneth Williams|Paul Merton|See list of guest panellists}}

| creator = Ian Messiter

| producer = See list of producers

| rec_location = BBC Radio Theatre

| rem_location = Various, including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

| first_aired = {{start date|df=yes|1967|12|22}}

| last_aired = present

| num_series = 94 (as of February 2025)

| num_episodes = 1013

| opentheme = The Minute Waltz by Frédéric Chopin

| endtheme =

| website = {{URL|https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s5dp}}

}}

Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game. For more than 50 years, with a few exceptions, it was hosted by Nicholas Parsons. Following Parsons' death in 2020, Sue Perkins became the permanent host, starting with the 87th series. Just a Minute was first transmitted on Radio 4 on 22 December 1967, three months after the station's launch.BBC Radio 4 was launched on 30 September 1967, around three months before Just a Minute was created. The programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003.{{cite web |url=http://www.radioawards.org/winners03/win03_pfv.htm |title=2003 Winners |publisher=Sony Radio Academy |access-date=14 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041205211657/http://www.radioawards.org/winners03/win03_pfv.htm |archive-date= 5 December 2004 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3012217.stm |access-date=14 October 2010 |title=Sony Radio Awards 2003: Winners |publisher=BBC |work=BBC News |date=8 May 2003 |quote=The UK's main prizes for the airwaves, the Sony Radio Academy Awards, have been handed out in London. Comedy award: Just A Minute}}

The object of the game is for panellists to talk for sixty seconds on a given subject, "without hesitation, repetition or deviation".{{Cite news |title=Paul Merton on Just a Minute: 'Our worst contestant? Esther Rantzen' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/feb/16/paul-merton-manages-28-years-without-hesitation-repetition-or-deviation|last=Jeffries |first=Stuart |date=16 February 2016 |access-date=15 February 2020 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |eissn=1756-3224 |quote= The host gives one of four contestants a topic to talk about for 60 seconds and they have to do so without hesitation, repetition or deviation.}} The comedy comes from attempts to keep within these rules and the banter among the participants. In 2011, comedy writer David Quantick ascribed Just a Minute's success to its "insanely basic" format, stating, "It's so blank that it can be filled by people as diverse as Paul Merton and Graham Norton, who don't have to adapt their style of humour to the show at all."{{cite news |last=Dee |first=Johnny |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/may/17/just-a-minute-stephen-fry |title=Just a Minute: why it's never paused |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |eissn=1756-3224 |date=17 May 2011 |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=But what is the secret of its success? "I think it's because the format is insanely basic," says radio comedy writer David Quantick. "It's so blank that it can be filled by people as diverse as Paul Merton and Graham Norton, who don't have to adapt their style of humour to the show at all."}}

Throughout its half-century history, the show has, in addition to its popularity in the UK, developed an international following through its broadcast on the BBC World Service and, more recently, on the internet. The format has also occasionally been adapted for television.

History

The idea for the game came to Ian Messiter as he rode on the top of a number 13 bus. He recalled Percival Parry Jones, a history master from his days at Sherborne School who, upon seeing the young Messiter daydreaming in a class, instructed him to repeat everything he had said in the previous minute without hesitation or repetition.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/534931.stm |title=Messiter's game show magic |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=24 November 1999 |access-date=29 January 2020 |quote=Gazing out the window at Sherborne school during a class, Messiter was brought back to reality by a bellow from his master, Percival Parry Jones. "Messiter! Repeat what I have been saying for the last minute, without hesitation or repetition," said the fearsome teacher. [...] Away from Britain he refined the format of his quiz idea - adding a rule against deviating from a given subject to those of his old teacher's.}} To this, Messiter added a rule disallowing players from deviating from the subject, as well as a scoring system based on panellists' challenges.

The format was first used in One Minute, Please, chaired by Roy Plomley, two series of which were broadcast on the BBC Light Programme between 1951{{Cite magazine |title=One Minute, Please |date=1951-08-24 |magazine=Radio Times |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/light/1951-08-26#at-16.00 |page=15 |access-date=2020-02-15 |publisher=BBC Publications |issue=1450 |edition=Television |volume=112 |quote=Roy Plomley introduces the new radio game. Devised and produced by Ian C. Messiter.}} and 1957.{{Cite magazine |title=One Minute Please |date=1957-11-15 |magazine=Radio Times |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/light/1957-11-19#at-20.00 |page=41 |access-date=2020-02-15 |publisher=BBC Publications |issue=1775 |edition=Television |volume=137 }} Whilst the fundamental rules were the same, the game was played in two teams of three rather than with four individual contestants. Other early incarnations of the show, all created by Messiter, include a 1952 version on South African radio, and a television version on the DuMont network in the United States: One Minute Please.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/nov/25/guardianobituaries1 |title=Ian Messiter (obituary) |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |first=Dennis |last=Barker |author-link=Dennis Barker |eissn=1756-3224 |date=25 November 1999 |access-date=29 January 2020 |quote=Messiter left the BBC in 1952 to join a commercial station in Johannesburg, and it was there that Just a Minute was broadcast for the first time. When he returned to Britain two years later, the BBC did not want to buy the format or broadcast the show, so Messiter sold it to the Dumont television station in the US. It was the first British game show seen in America, was nationally networked and attracted many US celebrities.}}

The pilot for Just a Minute was recorded in 1967, featuring Clement Freud, Derek Nimmo, Beryl Reid and Willma Ewert as panellists. The chairman was originally intended to be Jimmy Edwards but he was unavailable on Sundays, the proposed recording dates, and was replaced by Nicholas Parsons, who was originally supposed to be a panel member. Parsons did not want the job and only reluctantly took it, just for the pilot episode. After the show settled in, again he found himself in the role of a straight man for the panellists. Although executives at the BBC disliked the pilot, its producer, David Hatch, insisted on having Parsons as the chairman.{{cite web |url=http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Just_a_Minute |title=Just a Minute |website=UKGameshows.com |publisher=Labyrinth Games |access-date=10 September 2007 |quote=However, BBC producer David Hatch was insistent that Parsons should have the job. The first series{{when|date=February 2020}} was not much of a success, and Hatch had to make a stand and threatened to resign unless it got another go.}} The first series was not very successful, but Hatch threatened to resign if the programme was not given another chance. Not wishing to lose Hatch, the BBC acquiesced.

The show's theme music is Frédéric Chopin's piano Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1, nicknamed the "Minute Waltz" (which, despite its name, lasts longer than 60 seconds; the nickname actually refers to "minute" as in "small" rather than the unit of time). The recording used for the theme is by David Haines.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6iRBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA351 |title=Welcome to Just a Minute!: A Celebration of Britain's Best-Loved Radio Comedy |first=Nicholas |last=Parsons |author-link=Nicholas Parsons |year=2014 |publisher=Canongate Books |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-1-78211-247-1 |access-date=29 January 2020 |via=Google Books}}

Just a Minute was included in a planned BBC Wartime Emergency Service to be broadcast following a nuclear attack. The show was later dropped from the plans in the 1980s, along with all other light programming, in order to conserve power.{{cite news |title=Who, What, Why: What would the radio broadcast in a nuclear war? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34711497 |work=BBC News |date=3 November 2015}}

In 2018, Nicholas Parsons was unable to attend the recording of two editions of the programme as he had the flu. This broke his uninterrupted run of fifty years as a performer on the programme. The episodes were recorded on 1 April 2018 with Gyles Brandreth standing in for Parsons and were broadcast on 4 and 11 June 2018.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44363674 |title=Just A Minute presenter Nicholas Parsons misses first show in 50 years |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=4 June 2018 |access-date=14 June 2018}} He was also not present for a recording session for two episodes in series 85; episodes 942 and 943 were broadcast on 9 and 26 August 2019. Brandreth again covered for Parsons. Just a Minute continued to be transmitted with Parsons as host until his last show on 23 September 2019.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51278023|title=BBC radio host Nicholas Parsons dies|date=28 January 2020|work=BBC News|access-date=28 January 2020}}

Repeats were then broadcast until Parsons' death on 28 January 2020, at the age of 96, and for a couple of weeks thereafter as a homage.{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51278023 |title=BBC radio host Nicholas Parsons dies |date=28 January 2020 |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=Broadcaster Nicholas Parsons has died at the age of 96 after a short illness, his agent has confirmed.}}

Series 86 began transmission in February 2021, with a number of guest panellists from the show's history being asked back to host an episode each.

Rules

The panellists are invited, in rotation, to speak for one minute on a given subject (which they are normally not informed of in advance), without "hesitation, repetition or deviation". Over the years, the application of these rules has been inconsistent, and their interpretation is the focus of much of the comic interplay between those appearing, who often challenge the chairman's rulings.

In the early years the rules were more complicated, as special rules were sometimes tried out in addition, on a one-off basis: a ban on the word "is" might apply in a round, for example, or "the". But the three basic rules have always applied:

"Hesitation" is watched very strictly: a momentary pause in speaking can give rise to a successful challenge, as can tripping over one's words. Even pausing during audience laughter or applause (known as "riding a laugh") can be challenged.
"Repetition" means the repetition of any word or phrase again and again, although challenges based upon very common words such as "and" are generally rejected except in extreme cases. Words contained in the given subject are now exempt unless repeated many times in quick succession, although this was a later addition to the rules. Skilful players use synonyms to avoid repeating themselves. Even letters may not be repeated; for example, the term "BBC" must be avoided, as it can be successfully challenged for repetition of "B".
"Deviation" originally meant deviating from the given subject, but gradually evolved to also include "deviating from the English language as we know it", "deviation from grammar as we understand it", deviating from the truth, discussions of social deviance, and deviating from logic. Nevertheless, leaps into the surreal are usually allowed.

A panellist scores one point for making a correct challenge against whoever is speaking, or the speaker gets a point if the challenge is deemed incorrect. If a witty interjection amuses the audience, but is not a correct challenge, at the chairperson's discretion the challenger can nevertheless be awarded an extra point (the "bonus point" rule). A player who makes a correct challenge takes over the subject for the remainder of the minute, or until he or she is successfully challenged. At the discretion of the chairperson also, a challenged player can be given a "benefit of the doubt" and keeps the subject if what he or she was saying appears to remain within the rules, even if verging on their very limits. The person speaking when the whistle blows after 60 seconds scores a point. An extra point is awarded if a panellist speaks for the entire minute without being challenged.

It is rare for a panellist to speak within the three cardinal rules for any substantial length of time, whilst both remaining coherent and being amusing. Therefore, to speak for the full minute without being challenged is a special achievement. However, if a panellist is speaking fluently on a subject, staying reasonably within the three rules, and seems likely to speak for the whole minute, the other panellists often refrain from challenging. On occasion a similar courtesy has been extended by the whistle-blower, who will refrain from indicating the end of the minute so as to not interrupt a panellist in full and entertaining flow (this once led to Paul Merton speaking for one minute and thirty seconds on the topic "Ram-raiding").

{{cite episode |title=Episode 455 |series=Just a Minute |network=BBC Radio 4 |date=6 January 1996 |series-number=29 |number=1 |transcript=Transcript from just-a-minute.info |transcript-url=http://just-a-minute.info/jam288.html |quote=So Paul Merton started with the subject and he kept going with a little connivance from the chairman who actually blew the whistle on that occasion after one minute, 30 seconds!}} There have also been occasions when players have chosen not to buzz because the speaker has been amusing the audience by performing badly.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

Here is an example of a speech which successfully lasted for a full minute without being challenged. {{blockquote|Well it varies according to the person that you are arguing with. Should it be a child that you are having a contretemps with, the ideal is deviation tactics. For instance Lola Lupin who I mentioned before won't eat her dinner. So what I do is say, "Yes it is rotten food, let us sing a song", making sure that that particular chanson has a few vowels in it that require her to open her mouth! During which I pop the spoon in and I have won the argument. However if it is an argument with a person that knows their subject what I do is nod sagely and smile superciliously, let them ramble on, and at the end I say "Well I'm sorry, I think you're completely wrong", turn on my heels and leave. I ...{{cite episode |title=Episode 633 |series=Just a Minute |network=BBC Radio 4 |date=2005-07-25 |series-number=47 |number=3 |transcript=Transcript from just-a-minute.info |transcript-url=http://just-a-minute.info/jam629.html}} |personquoted=Sheila Hancock |title=on the subject of 'How to win an argument'.}}

On rare occasions, panellists will challenge themselves, usually by mistake or for laughs.{{cite episode |title=Episode 441 |series=Just a Minute |network=BBC Radio 4 |date=19 February 1994 |series-number=27 |number=8 |transcript=Transcript from just-a-minute.info |transcript-url=http://just-a-minute.info/jam248.html |quote=Nicholas Parsons: 'Eddie you've challenged yourself!', Eddie Izzard: 'Yes I felt I was hesitating so I get one mark!' Nicholas Parsons: 'Well, well, well, well, well, well played Eddie! I mean you definitely were hesitating'}} If successful, last-second challenges can be especially rewarding, as they allow one to speak for a short time but earn two points—one for the challenge and one for being the last speaker.

The game is then scored and a winner declared, but the attraction of the show lies less in the contest than in the humour and banter among participants and the chairman.

Participants

File:Clement-freud-368-220.JPG was a panellist on the show from 1967 to 2009, making him the longest-serving contestant.]]

Each programme features four panellists, with the exception of six shows in 1968 and another at the end of the 1970–1971 season when there were only three.

Ian Messiter, the show's creator, set the subjects for every show until his death in 1999. Until 1989 he also sat on the stage with a stopwatch and blew a whistle when the sixty seconds were up. He has been replaced by a succession of different whistle-blowers, a role which now falls to the production assistant.

There have been five regular competitors in the show's history:

Clement Freud (1967–2009)
Derek Nimmo (1967–1999)
Kenneth Williams (1968–1988)
Peter Jones (1971–2000)
Paul Merton (1989–present)

Freud and Nimmo appeared from the first programme in 1967, while Williams joined in the show's second series in 1968. Jones made his début in 1971. After Williams' death in 1988, Merton (a long-time fan of the show) contacted the producer at Nicholas Parsons' suggestion and was invited to participate during the following year.{{cite episode |title=Clement Freud on Just a Minute: A Celebration |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kjhxb |series=Clement Freud on Just a Minute: A Celebration |network=BBC Radio 4 |date=26 May 2009}} Nimmo died in 1999, Jones in 2000 and Freud in 2009, leaving Merton as the only regular, although he is not in every episode.

File:Just a Minute.jpg during a recording at the Pleasance, Edinburgh in 2007.]]

Each of the regulars brought their individual style to playing the game. Clement Freud liked to make lists and to challenge with only a few seconds to go. He was among the show's more competitive players, regularly referring to the rules and deprecating any deviation from them. Derek Nimmo often improvised descriptions of his experiences abroad, many derived from his extensive theatrical tours. He too was highly competitive, and was known for berating the chairman frequently. Peter Jones once said that in all his years playing the game, he never quite got the hang of it; nonetheless, his self-deprecating, laconic style suited the essential silliness of the show. Kenneth Williams was often the star of the show: his flamboyant tantrums, arch put-downs, and mock sycophancy made him the audience's favourite. Williams often stretched out his speeches by extending every syllable to breaking point (some words lasting for up to three seconds), and his outbursts of mock-anger regularly included his catchphrase "I've come all the way from Great Portland Street", as though he had journeyed for miles, when in fact his home was just around the corner from the BBC studios where most recordings took place.{{cite web |url=https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A330797 |title=Just a Minute |website=H2G2 |publisher=Not Panicking Ltd |date=3 June 2009 |orig-year=2000 |access-date=1 February 2020}} Merton frequently launches into surreal flights of fancy and fantasy, such as claiming to have had unusual occupations or to have experienced significant historical events. He also often wins points by challenging just before the whistle or for humorous challenges, another technique being to say the same word in the singular and the plural, for inexperienced panellists to challenge incorrectly.

=Guest panellists=

Over the 50-year history of the show, there have been many other panellists. Those appearing more than 20 times include:

{{columns-list|colwidth=12em|

}}

Others appearing as panellists on the Radio and TV programme include:

=Guest presenters=

Nicholas Parsons chaired the show from its inception until 2019. On nine occasions he appeared on the panel, and others have acted as chairman including Clement Freud,{{cite magazine |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio4/fm/1968-10-07#at-19.00 |title=Just a Minute |magazine=Radio Times |publisher=BBC Publications |edition=London & South East |volume=181 |issue=2343 |page=21 |date=3 October 1968 |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=A panel game controlled (!) this week by Clement Freud.}}{{cite magazine |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio4/fm/1970-02-16#at-19.00 |title=Just a Minute |magazine=Radio Times |publisher=BBC Publications |edition=London & South East |volume=186 |issue=2414 |page=27 |date=12 February 1970 |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=A panel game controlled (!) this week by Clement Freud.}}{{cite episode|title=Episode 326 |network=BBC Radio 4 |series=Just a Minute|date=9 May 1983 |series-number=17 |number=9}}{{cite web |last=Bedford |first=Dean |url=http://just-a-minute.info/eps.html |title=Episode list |website=just-a-minute.info |date=22 November 2017 |access-date=30 January 2020}} Geraldine Jones,{{cite magazine |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio4/fm/1968-10-14#at-19.00 |title=Just a Minute |magazine=Radio Times |publisher=BBC Publications |edition=London & South East |volume=181 |issue=2344 |page=23 |date=10 October 1968 |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=A panel game controlled (!) this week by Geraldine Jones.}} Andrée Melly "as our contribution to the women's liberation movement",{{cite episode |title=Episode 115 |network=BBC Radio 4 |series=Just a Minute |date=4 April 1972 |series-number=6 |number=26}}{{cite magazine |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio4/fm/1972-04-04#at-12.25 |title=Just a Minute |magazine=Radio Times |publisher=BBC Publications |edition=National |volume=194 |issue=2525 |page=35 |date=30 March 1972 |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=A panel game controlled (!) by Andrei{{sic}} Melly.}} and Kenneth Williams.{{cite magazine |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio4/fm/1968-10-21#at-19.00 |title=Just a Minute |magazine=Radio Times |publisher=BBC Publications |edition=London & South East |volume=181 |issue=2345 |page=23 |date=17 October 1968 |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=A panel game controlled this week by Kenneth Williams.}}{{cite magazine |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio4/fm/1968-10-21#at-19.00 |title=Just a Minute |magazine=Radio Times |publisher=BBC Publications |edition=London & South East |volume=186 |issue=2415 |page=29 |date=19 February 1970 |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=A panel game controlled (!) this week by Kenneth Williams.}}{{cite episode |title=Episode 331 |network=BBC Radio 4 |series=Just a Minute |date=16 October 1983 |series-number=17 |number=14}} Ian Messiter was chairman on one occasion in 1977,{{cite episode |title=Episode 230 |network=BBC Radio 4 |series=Just a Minute |date=12 January 1977 |series-number=11 |number=11}} when Freud arrived late and Parsons took his place on the panel.

Parsons appeared on every show for 51 years, either as chairman or panellist, until he was absent through illness for two episodes recorded in April 2018 and broadcast the following June. Those shows were hosted by Gyles Brandreth,{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b5stvs |title=Just a Minute: Series 81, Episode 5 |website=BBC Sounds |publisher=BBC |department=BBC Radio 4 |date=11 June 2018 |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=Gyles Brandreth temporarily takes over from Nicholas Parsons as the chairman of the iconic panel game.}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b6hzj7 |title=Just a Minute: Series 81, Episode 6 |website=BBC Sounds |department=BBC Radio 4 |publisher=BBC |date=18 June 2018 |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=Presenter: Gyles Brandreth}} as were two episodes recorded and broadcast in August 2019, when Parsons was again unwell.

Following Parsons' death on 28 January 2020, the BBC started broadcasting new episodes in 2021 with guest hosts including Gyles Brandreth, Paul Merton, Stephen Fry, Jo Brand, Nish Kumar, Julian Clary, Lucy Porter, Sue Perkins, Tom Allen and Jenny Eclair,{{cite web|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/news/just-a-minute-to-return-to-bbc-radio-4-with-presenting-shake-up-39852302.html|title=Just A Minute to return to BBC Radio 4 with presenting shake-up|author=Alex Green|website=Belfast Telegraph|date=11 December 2020|access-date=18 December 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000sqsl|title=Just a Minute - Series 86, Episode 2|website=bbc.co.uk|access-date=4 April 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000t40p|title=Just a Minute - Series 86, Episode 4|website=bbc.co.uk|access-date=4 April 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v8b3|title=Just a Minute - Series 86, Episode 9|website=bbc.co.uk|access-date=4 April 2021}} before Perkins was announced as permanent host.

=Producers=

{{Expand section |with=information about the effect different producers have had on the show and vice versa |date=January 2020}}

Over the years, more than two dozen producers have worked on Just a Minute.

David Hatch {{small|(1967–1975 & 1979–1981)}}
Simon Brett {{small|(1969–1975)}}
John Cassells {{small|(1973)}}
Bob Oliver Rogers {{small|(1973–1974)}}
John Lloyd {{small|(1974–1976)}}
John Browell {{small|(1976–1978)}}
Pete Atkin {{small|(1982–1986)}}
Edward Taylor {{small|(1987–1991)}}
Sarah Smith {{small|(1992–1995)}}
Anne Jobson {{small|(1994–1998)}}
Chris Neill {{small|(1998–2000 & 2004)}}
Claire Jones {{small|(2001–2006 & 2008–2012)}}
Tilusha Ghelani {{small|(2007–2008 & 2010–2015)}}
Katie Tyrrell {{small|(2013–2015)}}
Victoria Lloyd {{small|(2015–2016 & 2017–2019)}}
Matt Stronge {{small|(2016–2019)}}
Richard Morris {{small|(2018–2019)}}
Alex Smith {{small|(2019)}}
Hayley Sterling {{small|(2021)}}

TV version

Helena Taylor {{small|(1995)}}
Mike Mansfield {{small|(1995)}}
Andrew Brereton {{small|(2012)}}
Tilusha Ghelani {{small|(2012)}}
Malcolm Messiter {{small|(2012)}}
Jamie Ormerod {{small|(2012)}}
Jo Street {{small|(2012)}}

Recording locations

The first show in 1967 was recorded in the Playhouse Theatre in central London,{{cite magazine |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio4/fm/1967-12-22#at-19.30 |title=Just a Minute |magazine=Radio Times |publisher=BBC Publications |edition=London & South East |volume=177 |issue=2301 |page=65 |date=14 December 1967 |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=Pre-recorded at The Piccadilly, 201 Piccadilly, London W1.}}{{Failed verification|date=January 2020}} and the 35th anniversary show was also recorded there, and broadcast on New Year's Day 2003.{{cite magazine |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio4/fm/2003-01-01#at-12.04 |title=Just a Minute's 35th Birthday Show |magazine=Radio Times |publisher=BBC Magazines |edition=London |volume=315 |issue=4111 |page=211 |date=19 December 2002 |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=Nicholas Parsons and panellists Clement Freud, Sheila Hancock, Paul Merton and Graham Norton return to the show's first venue, the Playhouse Theatre, London, to celebrate 35 years of hesitation, repetition and deviation.}}

For the first 30 years, most shows were recorded in the Paris Theatre in central London. In 1992, a new producer, Sarah Smith, took the show outside central London and recorded some shows in nearby Highgate.{{cite magazine |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio4/fm/1992-01-04#at-12.25 |title=Just a Minute! |magazine=Radio Times |publisher=BBC Magazines |edition=London |volume=272 |issue=3549 |page=87 |date=2 January 1992 |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=Special edition from Highgate marking the first programme in the 25th series}} A year later, the show left London for the first time; the first shows to be made outside London were recorded in Bury St Edmunds{{cite episode |title=Episode 424 |series=Just a Minute |network=BBC Radio 4 |date=1993-01-02 |series-number=26 |number=1 |transcript=Transcript from just-a-minute.info |transcript-url=http://just-a-minute.info/jam757.html |quote=This particular edition of Just A Minute comes from the beautiful and ancient Theatre Royal in the delightful and old city of Bury St Edmonds.}} and {{lang|cy|Llandudno|italic=no}}.{{cite episode |title=Episode 426 |series=Just a Minute |network=BBC Radio 4 |date=1993-01-16 |series-number=26 |number=3 |transcript=Transcript from just-a-minute.info |transcript-url=http://just-a-minute.info/jam230.html |quote=This particular recording of Just A Minute is coming from the beautiful seaside town of North Wales, {{lang|cy|Llandudno|italic=no}}.}} The show started going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1993 and has been there every year since.{{cite episode |title=Episode 445 |series=Just a Minute |network=BBC Radio 4 |date=1994-12-31 |series-number=28 |number=2 |transcript=Transcript from just-a-minute.info |transcript-url=http://just-a-minute.info/jam763.html |quote=This particular edition of Just A Minute is coming from the International Edinburgh Festival and we're playing here in the Pleasance Theatre before a very animated and excited fringe Edinburgh audience.}} In recent years most shows, though not all, have been recorded at the BBC Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House in central London.

In February 2012, two episodes of the show were recorded at the Comedy Store in Mumbai in India, the first time the show has recorded outside Britain. The programme played for many years on the BBC World Service and is said to have a large following in India.{{cite AV media |people=Parsons, Nicholas |date=2012 |title=Just a Minute's Indian Adventure |medium=Programme trailer |url =https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p01jhgwr |access-date =30 January 2020 |format=BBC Sounds | time = |location=Mumbai |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |quote=For much of the past 45 years, Just a Minute was broadcast on the BBC World Service; with the show becoming something of a hit, particularly in India.}}

TV versions

Several television versions have been attempted. Two pilot episodes were recorded for television in 1969 and 1981 but never broadcast, except in documentaries about Kenneth Williams.

In 1994, 14 shows were broadcast on Carlton Television, ITV in London. Two additional variations were added: a round in which the team were presented with a mystery object to talk about, rather than a subject, and another round where the audience suggested a topic. Nicholas Parsons chaired the show, and Tony Slattery featured in all programmes. Other panellists were Tony Banks, Tony Blackburn, Jo Brand, Ann Bryson, John Fortune, Clement Freud, Mariella Frostrup, Jeremy Hardy, Tony Hawks, Hattie Hayridge, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Helen Lederer, Pete McCarthy, Neil Mullarkey, Derek Nimmo, Graham Norton, Nick Revell, Ted Robbins, Lee Simpson, Arthur Smith, Jim Sweeney and Richard Vranch.

In 1995, fourteen more episodes were broadcast. Just a Minute became a team game, with the Midlands and London playing against each other, under team captains Tony Slattery and Dale Winton. Each player earned individual points, which were totalled for each team at the end of the show. Nicholas Parsons again chaired the shows. The gimmick of the audience choosing a subject was abandoned in this series. Other panellists were Tony Banks, Tony Blackburn, Craig Charles, Clement Freud, Mariella Frostrup, Liza Goddard, Jeremy Hardy, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Helen Lederer, Carolyn Marshall, Graham Norton, Su Pollard, Wendy Richard, Arthur Smith, Jim Sweeney and Richard Vranch. Both this series and the series before were produced by Mike Mansfield.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0543809/|title=Mike Mansfield |work=IMDb}}

In 1999, the BBC televised the show, with 20 episodes recorded during a single week in Birmingham. Nicholas Parsons was again the chairman. There were no regular panellists but those appearing were Pam Ayres, Clare Balding, Isla Blair, Jo Brand, Gyles Brandreth, Ken Bruce, Michael Cashman, Barry Cryer, Stephen Frost, Liza Goddard, Tony Hawks, Peter Jones, Maria McErlane, Richard Morton, Tom O'Connor, Su Pollard, Steve Punt, Wendy Richard, John Sergeant, Brian Sewell, Linda Smith, Richard Vranch and Gary Wilmot. The series was produced by Helena Taylor.

In March and April 2012, the BBC broadcast ten episodes, recorded over a week at the BBC Television Centre in London, to mark the 45th anniversary of the programme. For the first time, the shows were shown in prime time at 6 pm each night over two weeks on BBC Two. Nicholas Parsons again chaired the programme and Paul Merton appeared in all episodes. Other panellists were Gyles Brandreth, Hugh Bonneville, Marcus Brigstocke, Julian Clary, Stephen Fry, Tony Hawks, Ruth Jones, Phill Jupitus, Miles Jupp, Shaparak Khorsandi, Josie Lawrence, Jason Manford, Stephen Mangan, Graham Norton, Sue Perkins, John Sergeant, Liza Tarbuck and Russell Tovey. No changes were made to the format of the game. The shows were produced by Andy Brereton and Jamie Ormerod.{{cite web |last=Wolf |first=Ian |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/news/654/just_a_minute_tv_adaptation/ |title=Just A Minute to be adapted for TV for 45th anniversary |date=20 October 2011 |work=British Comedy Guide |access-date=21 October 2011 |quote=A ten-part series will be broadcast in BBC Two's daytime schedule, presented by long-serving host Nicholas Parsons and featuring semi-regular panellist Paul Merton.}}

Audiobook releases

For the show's 25th anniversary in 1992, a two-hour compilation album entitled Just A Minute: Silver Minutes was released on long-play vinyl and cassette. The following year, an eponymous album Just A Minute was released containing three then-recent episodes from 1991 and 1993. A further cassette with four recent episodes entitled Just A Minute 2 followed in 1996. Just A Minute 3 in 1999 saw the start of regular annual releases featuring 4 of the best episodes from the previous year. After Just A Minute 8 in 2004, the following year's release was titled Just A Minute: The Best Of 2005 and an end-of-year collection has been released every year since with Just A Minute: The Best Of 2017 due for release on 2 November.

In 2004, the BBC began a separate annual series of double CD releases collecting older episodes covering the shows first 30 years entitled Just A Classic Minute: Volume 1. Each episode had a newly-recorded introduction by Parsons (for later volumes, Parsons and Merton in discussion). The first four volumes were also released in a box set entitled Just A Classic Minute: 40th Anniversary Collection in 2007. The series finished in 2010 with the release of Just A Classic Minute: Volume 7.

In 2010, Just A Minute: Series 56 became the first series to be made available in its entirety for purchase via digital download. This continued up to Just A Minute: Series 67. The pattern resumed for Just A Minute: Series 71 onwards, with complete series also made available on Compact Disc.

In 2011, five double CDs were released with each volume focusing on a "Classic" selection of each of the main regular panellists (eg. Just A Minute: Classic Kenneth Williams, Just A Minute: Classic Paul Merton, etc.) The five volumes were also available as a box set entitled Just A Minute: The Classic Collection along with a bonus CD. The "Classic Clement Freud" CD and audio download was withdrawn from sites such as Amazon and iTunes following the posthumous revelations about him. A second box set was released in 2014 entitled Just A Minute: Another Classic Collection. It followed the same theme as its predecessor, this time focusing on five non-regulars who are frequent panellists, namely Sheila Hancock, Gyles Brandreth, Jenny Éclair, Stephen Fry and Graham Norton. Once again, there was a bonus disc with the box set which was not available with the separate volumes. In 2015, a third box set entitled Just A Minute: A Further Classic Collection focused on Tim Rice, Wendy Richard, Tony Hawks, Sue Perkins and Julian Clary.

In 2017, a box set entitled Just A Minute: Golden Collection was released to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary. Controversially,{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} more than half the selected episodes featured Freud despite the revelations about him in the previous year.

Other formats

In Sweden, a version of the show, called {{Language with name/for|sv|På Minuten|In the Minute}}, has been broadcast on Sveriges Radio P1 since 1969. In India, a Malayalam version, known as {{langx|ml|ഒരു നിമിഷം|translit=Oru Nimiṣaṁ|translation=(Just a Moment)|label=none}}, has been broadcast since 2017 on Flowers TV, hosted by Sreekandan Nair; the programme was previously broadcast on Asianet, Dooradarshan and Malayalam radio station Akashavani. In Belgium a Flemish version, called {{lang|nl|Zeg eens euh!}}, was broadcast from 1992 to 1997 on Één, and was revived in 2016 on Vier.

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, another BBC radio comedy panel show which occupies the same Monday-night slot in the Radio 4 schedule, occasionally parodies its rival show with a round entitled "Just a Minim".{{cite web |last=Williams |first=Mike |url=http://www.isihac.co.uk/games/gamesj.html |title=Games Compendium: J |website=The Officially Unofficial I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue web pages |access-date=30 January 2020 |quote=This is a musical variation on another Radio 4 comedy panel game, Just a Minute. In this game the panellists have to sing a song (such as One Man Went to Mow) without hesitation, repetition, deviation, or repetition.}} In this spoof version the contestants must sing songs — always chosen for their highly repetitive lyrics — without repetition, hesitation, or deviation (from the tune). The chairman, currently Jack Dee who has himself been a guest on Just a Minute, imitates Nicholas Parsons' style.