When I told my friends I was in the audience for Pointless the first thing they asked was – how much did the tickets cost? A lot of people don’t realise that TV audience tickets are actually FREE! TV audience tickets make the ideal gift idea for anyone on a budget, all you have to do is pay the travel costs to the studio. Going behind the scenes of your favourite TV show is a unique experience and certainly one that you don’t get to do everyday!
What’s the idea: TV audience tickets
Who for: Mainly adults, but does depend on the programme!
Cost: Free (apart from the travel to and from the studio)
Where can I find out more: I got my Pointless tickets from SRO Audiences. There is also the Applause Store that do some of the bigger shows.
TIGs review
I receive the SRO Audience email newsletters every month and they usually just end up in my deleted folder. A couple of months ago however, the subject line caught my eye. ‘Pointless tickets now available’ – I couldn’t open the email fast enough! The dates were perfect for Father’s Day, the ideal gift idea for a Pointless addict! I filled out the registration form and selected my three preferred dates. Then I completely forgot all about it, never thinking that I would actually get tickets. A month or two later an email appears in my inbox ‘Pointless priority tickets’ – well it was in black and white, I had 3 Pointless audience tickets to my name!
Despite Elstree Studios being 3 hours drive away I couldn’t let this opportunity pass us by. I told TIG’s dad what was in store for him and he couldn’t believe it, he was so excited, as we all were! After a very early start we arrived at the studios 45 minutes early. We thought we would easily be the first ones in the queue, how wrong could we be, some had already been there for over an hour!
Whilst waiting to go in we met a wide range of people who were clearly huge fans of the show, coming from Ireland, California and the Netherlands. And we thought we’d travelled far!
We were then ushered around the outside of the studios to stage 8, where they opened the stage door and I was so excited to see the set, the podiums, Richard’s desk, all the cameras – wow! There were about 40 seats set out for the audience, and I’m not sure how, but we managed to end up in the centre of the front row!
We were then greeted by a compere whose sole responsibility was to keep us in line and entertained. For the next 15 minutes we had to practice our clapping techniques, our cheering, our groans for when the contestant guessed an incorrect answer…who would have thought there was so much training involved!
After the contestants emerged and took up their positions on the podiums, Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman walked onto the set – a moment to remember for all Pointless fans! Right from the start you could tell this was a slick procedure, no time is wasted and they got straight into the filming. It was great to watch, although it did take Alexander a few takes to get warmed up! There were some 5 minute breaks whilst they changed the set around, when we just sat and observed (or stood due to the very uncomfortable plastic chairs!). The compere did ask if anyone had a Pointless book they wanted signing, which was a nice touch.
The audience isn’t generally shown during the televised show, so I was quite dismayed when the cameras were pointed at us during one of the breaks! They then proceeded to do numerous takes of every plausible situation and recorded our reactions – this was slightly uncomfortable as acting is certainly not one of my finer skills!
Overall, despite the very uncomfortable seats, this was a fabulous day out, we were fully immersed into the whole Pointless experience, and loved every second. When we were leaving we noticed they were filming The Chase next door – timing it perfectly to bump into Bradley Walsh on the way out, which made the day even better! TV audience tickets certainly make a great low-budget gift idea that any TV fan would love to receive.
Top tips
- Take a cushion – the chairs were so uncomfortable, not great when you are sitting down for 4 hours!
- The email instructions stated ‘Refreshments – please be aware that food and drinks other than screw-top drinks in plastic bottles cannot be consumed in the studio itself.’ I read that as in no food at all, and I assumed there would be at least a catering van within the vicinity. As soon as we sat down, the compere said that there were no catering facilities, so I hope you’ve brought lots of snacks! The email instructions should have been a lot clearer – 4 hours is a long time to go without any food!
Spoiler Alert!
- For all the Pointless fans out there, the trophy is a lot smaller than it looks on the TV – about 15cm high and approximately £7.50 to produce!
- In the head-to-head round on Pointless it appears the contestants answer almost immediately after a couple of seconds thinking time. In reality they get at least a minute or two to come up with their answers!
- The laptop that appears on Richard’s desk is FAKE – it’s just a prop!
Any bad points?
- We were sitting next to a couple who were clearly Pointless’ biggest fans and should have really had a podium to themselves. Despite being told not to shout or discuss the answers in the audience, they proceeded to loudly give answers to everything – unfortunately you can’t choose who you sit next to – we were just very unlucky!
- We felt that there could have been more personal interaction with the presenters. There were only 40 of us in the audience and it would have been great if they could have taken time out at the end, or during a break, to have a mini meet and greet, to sign autographs and allow selfies.
- We don’t know when the episode will be aired – they said anytime between October – March which means my Sky+ box is going to be very full!
- No photos allowed in the studio – I’m not entirely sure why this is. It certainly would have made the day extra special to have a photo taken behind one of the podiums.
Would I go again?
I wouldn’t get tickets to be in the Pointless audience again, however, I might be tempted to go to a different show. Strictly Come Dancing is filmed in the same studio and I can imagine that would be a great live experience – but tickets may be slightly harder to get!
Have you been in a TV audience?
Share your experiences below…
