Episode 1
Rory McGrath and Paddy McGuinness begin a riotous tour of Britain’s eccentric sports. As an antidote to the Olympics, the comic pair take each other on at the most extraordinary sporting events the nation has to offer, revealing the competitive spirit that flourishes not in giant stadiums but in fields and pub gardens.First of a brand new four part series, this episode sees Rory and Paddy throw caution to the wind at Gloucestershire’s notoriously dangerous Cheese Rolling race. Plus they also compete at Snail Racing, Shin Kicking and a bizarre game unique to East Anglia called Dwile Flonking.
Episode 2
Rory McGrath and Paddy McGuinness continue their hilarious tour of Britain’s maddest sports, this week venturing into eccentric corners of Northern England and Scotland. This episode sees the comedians take each other on at axe throwing and caber tossing. In Wigan they attempt to beat the pie eating world record, and at the incredibly picturesque Loch Eck they have a shot at stone skimming.Unearthing the inane competitive zeal that lurks in every small town and village, Rory and Paddy also discover how to play dirty at Swamp Soccer. Plus most peculiar this week: racing beds through Knaresborough.
Episode 3
Rory McGrath and Paddy McGuinness continue their irreverent tour of Britain’s most eccentric sports, this week driving through some of England’s Shires and a little bit of Wales.In this 3rd episode of the new series, the comedians begin in Derbyshire, signing up for the World Toe Wrestling Championship – possibly the most disgusting sport in the country! They’re trained up by top local talent – Paddy by a previous champion who goes by the name Toeminator, and Rory by another monster who calls himself Nasty, though he has an ultra cute lap dog for a pet and hypnotises chickens for a hobby.
The championships take place in a boisterous pub with the raucous fans and groupies baying for blood. It’s a messy, but hilarious business that illustrates the fact that though many pubs are closing down these days – all they need to do to revive their fortunes is be creative and hold an outrageous sporting tournament.
Paddy and Rory then go their separate ways for the week’s individual challenge. Paddy sneaks into Wales and enters the World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Championship, which really is riding a bike at speed through a murky Welsh bog – that’s infested with water scorpions. Rory has an easier ride: cruising through the sophisticated suburbs of an Oxfordshire town on a vintage tricycle with a group of posh young ladies and then racing toffs on Penny Farthings.
In East Anglia, home to many a chicken farm, the pair enter the World Egg Throwing Championship – which pretty much does what it says on the box – except that Rory and Paddy couldn’t resist ending the event by playing Russian Roulette, Deer Hunter style, with some of the leftovers.
The most bizarre sport this week though is a Cheshire speciality: Worm Charming. Joining hundreds of enthusiastic locals all trying to beat the astonishing record of 511 worms charmed from a 3 meter patch of turf, the lads try a variety of strange methods to persuade worms to wriggle out of the ground by themselves.
The final contest this week is a relatively new sport: a Caravan Destruction Derby in Skegness. One thing Rory and Paddy agree on is that they both loathe the horrible white road blockers. Driving customised cars and each towing a caravan, they join other petrolheads and speed round the circuit smashing up everything in sight. By the end it’s carnage, but the guys realise that just as Britain has a proud heritage of sports with truly ancient roots, there are plenty of younger events that show just as much promise – so much so that the lads conclude by encouraging the whole country to get out there and invent a mental sport!
Episode 4
Rory McGrath and Paddy McGuinness conclude their irreverent tour of Britain’s most eccentric sports, this week visiting the South and South West of England.In this 4th and final episode of the new series, the comedians begin in Ringwood, Hampshire for a Grand Prix race – only there isn’t an engine in sight because it’s the Pedal Car Grand Prix. Using just human power, Paddy and Rory race against each other and dozens of locals in the gruelling endurance event - but before the finish, Paddy pinches Rory’s car. It’s mayhem!
In Eton, possibly Britain’s poshest public school the lads take each other on at Eton Fives, a game that was invented at the school and which is a bit like squash but played with hands instead of racquets.
Each week Rory and Paddy try out one sport on their own. For this week’s individual event Rory goes to Dorset and attempts to break the Stinging Nettle Eating world record. Frightened he might suffer an allergic reaction, he painfully munches through piles of the leaves blackening his tongue like the enthusiastic local devotees.
Paddy heads to Canterbury to check out a bizarre pub game called Bat and Trap. Thought to be related to Cricket, the game is taken very seriously by two local teams, one of which Paddy joins after being schooled by a Friar.
Reunited in Cornwall, the pair train up for a bout of Cornish Wrestling. An ancient sport that’s said to be related to Far Eastern Martial Arts, this is more like Karate than the theatrical wrestling we all know and love. In a hilarious moment of comic genius, Rory manages to wriggle out of the actual fight, leaving Paddy, a black belt in Karate, to fight a replacement – a huge beefcake who recently came second in a regional championship.
The final challenge is a Pilot Gig race at Newquay. This sport is one of the fast growing in the West Country and involves racing traditional gig boats. Derived from the practise of rowing as fast as possible to win pilot contracts from cargo ships, it’s a team event with several rowers in each boat. There’s everything to play for as this final battle decides who’s name will be recorded in Paddy and Rory’s little black score book as the overall winner of the series.
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