A team of distinguished Hull graduates is set to compete in the semi-final of Christmas University Challenge.
Playwright and screenwriter James Graham; dog trainer, author and TV presenter Graeme Hall; author Katharine Norbury, and actor Sian Reese-Williams will be taking up the challenge in the twelfth series of the festive competition. The Hull team will face graduates from the University of York in the semi-final.
James, who studied drama at Hull in the class of 2003, is well-known for his recent crime drama series Sherwood for BBC1 which brought the miners’ strike of 1984 back into focus. His other celebrated work includes Quiz, the play and drama series centred around the true story of Charles Ingram and the coughing scandal that surrounded his 2001 win on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Katharine, author of The Fish Ladder, the deeply moving story of an adoptee's search for personal identity, studied English and History of Art at the University of Hull.
Sian was a regular on popular soap Emmerdale from 2008 to 2013 and more recent credits include Holby City and Silent Witness.
Graeme ‘The Dogfather’ has been described by The Telegraph as “Britain’s best dog trainer’ and travels the country helping dog and puppy owners with behaviour problems. He is the presenter of hit Channel 5 show Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly.
We wish our Hull team all the best for the contest ahead.
Chaired by Jeremy Paxman, this year’s Christmas University Challenge has featured 56 alumni from 14 universities competing for the coveted champions title.
Each team has competed in one of seven first round matches, after which the four teams with the highest winning scores face each other in two semi-finals. The winners of each of those ties will then face each other for the series crown on Friday 30 December at 8.30pm.
Contestants on this year’s series have included BBC News presenter Reeta Chakrabarti, stand-up comedian Ivo Graham, and gold medal-winning paracyclist Neil Fachie.
Peter Gwyn, Executive Producer, Lifted Entertainment, part of ITV Studios, said: “Christmas University Challenge is back, with an intriguing mix of alumni contestants including broadcasters, scientists, authors and comedians.
“Viewers can look forward to testing themselves alongside our teams on a challenging mix of questions in this year’s festive battle for the title of Christmas University Challenge champions.”