Greg Davies on series 5 of Never Mind The Buzzcocks

As Never Mind the Buzzcocks returns for a fifth series, host Greg Davies talks 90s nostalgia, Taskmaster and his beef – or otherwise – with Jamali Maddix

How do you feel filming of this series of Buzzcocks went?

Really good, really fun series. The special themed episodes are back, and we wrapped on an ‘80s special that was so joyful I’m medically 30 years younger now.

Did you have anyone you really enjoyed having on?

We have great guests this series and they really delivered. I was saying to Debbie Gibson… now that’s a sentence. Who’d have thought our paths would cross? It's a first, really, that no one in this series, (none of our guests, at least), irritated me. Whether that makes for good TV or not, we’ll see.

Are you going to say who irritated you in past series?

Of course not. I would never be so vulgar. They know who they are.

There’s one occasion this series where all five members of 5ive are on one team. Do you want to talk through the logistics of this?

We did have all five members. They were so glorious. We classified them as one team member and props built us this stage extension. Poor Jamali was almost pushed out so the desk could accommodate all five. 

But those boys were absolutely delightful. They’ve had very public spats and their careers have waxed and waned, but now they're just a group of boys in their 40s who've just sold out 12 arenas in a week, have all kissed and made-up and are just having a great time.

 They were such great fun and one of the more musically talented guests we’ve had on. I was a bit blown away when we did the intros round, it was like we were in a recording studio, they sounded brilliant. 

Also on a personal note, Jay taught me his special hip thrust dance and I’m having to see a chiropractor.

A couple of the other themed episodes lean into 1990s nostalgia…

We do a Britpop vs Madchester episode, and of course I was around at the time and it’s not like they were competing cultural movements at all, so it’s a slightly manufactured idea that there was any competition between the two. 

But we had some great characters from that time and I consider the 1990s to be my glory years so it was pretty exciting – having Bez as a team captain was an interesting choice.

Yes, how was Bez?

As I fully expected, he delivered on everything I would want of him. He is a free spirit and is loving life. Whether his captaincy skills will lead to other positions and responsibilities is questionable.

But he was certainly good fun. We also had Clint Boon from the Inspiral Carpets, who I loved as a kid… Okay as a 30-year-old. The great Danny from Supergrass was on too as well as was Patsy Kensit – who as we all know was once married to Liam Gallagher. 

The thing we were taken aback by was the warmth in the room. As the host, I’m always trying to drive the laughs and silliness, but the warmth and wholesomeness was unavoidable. And I think that’s in the context of the Oasis reunion – there was a lot of love for the boys getting back together. 

Obviously, we spoke in depth about massive drug use and hedonism – it wasn’t all diary entries of glassy-eyed elderly people.

We asked Jamali to rank the Buzzcocks crew in terms of music trivia and he put you down the bottom. Would you say that’s justified?

No, it wasn't justified at all. I can tell you now, it's an act of spite by Jamali. And it’s because I’ve exposed the fact that he’s trying to pass himself off as a young man but he’s in early 40s and that he still lives at home with his mum. Of course, he’s going to be bitter and lash out.

The truth is, he probably bases his assertion on the fact that he thinks I don’t know as much about contemporary rap as him. But I do. And I don’t live with my mum.

Apparently, people are coming to Jamali’s gigs and heckling him about living with his mum. Are you proud of yourself?

I'm very proud, as is his mum. She tells him when she tucks him in at night.

Is there an ongoing beef between you two?

No. I'm very fond of the man. Would I tickle the tummy of someone I had beef with? Doubt it.

Buzzcocks regualars Jamali, Sophie Willan and Noel Fielding are all Taskmaster veterans…

And Jamali was one of the few people to come onto Taskmaster and very demonstrably show that he has no idea who I was. And I'm not joking about that - it took me about three episodes to work out that the baffled look on Jamali's face was him wondering why the tall man was telling him off.

Between the three, who would you say had the most memorable run?

It's a bit of a cop out, but they all had their moments. Finding out that giant crow [Noel] is really sporty did my head in, but Sophie's slut drop has lived in my memory. I think probably I lost part of my brain in that moment. She likes to express herself physically and she's also a terrifyingly intelligent woman. So, the juxtaposition of her intrinsic cleverness and her comic sensibilities, you contrast that with a sudden and unexpected slut drop, you've got quite the heady brew. 

Similar rush as when I found out I’m the screen saver of Jamali’s mum’s phone.

We’re five series into Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ revival period. Looking back, do you have any favourite moments you can pick out?

God, I have so many. I don't know why this is my go-to thing but the moment when Nile Rogers revealed that on a night out, he’d partied so hard he was found to have had, I think, five heart attacks. That’s a night out, eh?

But the number one moment for me so far is Holly Johnson from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, who, as a 16-year-old, I was obsessed with. I fully bought into the hype around Frankie Goes To Hollywood. 

But a 60-something-year-old Holly Johnson singing The Power Of Love on a Christmas episode a few feet from my desk will forever, I think, be my favourite moment.

The Buzzcocks format is almost 30 years old now. What do you think it is it about the show that’s given it such a long run?

It's a great format, eh? I'm amazed (and delighted) that there aren't more formats that centre on music. And you know that 1990s special is a pretty good example of why I think the show is special, because we messed around and the usual chaos ensued, but at the same time there was this almost overwhelming sense of positive nostalgia to it, because music triggers so many powerful memories in people.

So, I think the secret of the success is that the format was always good, the games are fun to play and Noel, Jamali and Sophie are always hilarious. But we're also talking about an art form that’s so important to people so there’s also a heart to it. I hope it comes across that we as a team have so much fun doing it.

 There's this amount of people that work behind the camera that make this show work too and I like to think that they’re also having a good time.

• The new series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks launches on October 7 on Sky Max and NOW

Published: 2 Oct 2025