University Challenge 2023 sees Amol Rajan take over from Jeremy Paxman as the new host of the much-loved quiz show.
Like Paxman, Amol is known for his tough-question interviewing style and the contestants can certainly expect the odd sarcastic response we imagine if they're not up to scratch!
"We’re back! I’m so excited to watch along with audiences and relive this wonderful series. And what a wonderful series it is, with thrilling finishes and standards as high as ever," says Amol.
The set has also had an update, with the BBC saying it's been "modernised" and replaces the one that's been there since 2013. And there's also a new title sequence!
Here's everything we know about the new series of University Challenge…
University Challenge 2023 release date
University Challenge returns on Monday, July 17 at 8.30 pm on BBC Two and iPlayer
Here’s your starter for… University Challenge 📚 Coming soon to @BBCTwo and @BBCiPlayer @amolrajan 📺 pic.twitter.com/BC4tOWhbUnJune 30, 2023
Who is the new host of University Challenge?
Journalist Amol Rajan is the new host and he's told fans that apart from a new set and a new presenter, everything will be much the same.
He says: "I have spent years re-arranging Monday nights around the need to be in front of my television at 20.30. University Challenge really is my favourite programme. And from their feedback and sheer numbers, our treasured audience has made very clear I am far from alone.
"Perhaps that's no surprise given this is Britain's longest-running TV quiz, in a nation of quiz lovers. While there is a new a set and presenter, everything else remains: the perfect title music; the peerless voice of Roger Tilling; the fiendish questions; and above all the remarkable students, some of whom come this year from universities competing for the first time.
"What we've seen so far includes moments of huge tension, flashes of genius, and brilliant starters and bonuses that will have viewers joining in and shouting at their screens."
Amol has conducted many big interviews for the BBC, perhaps most famously interviewing Phillip Schofield over the This Morning scandal.
He went to Cambridge and actually popped up in a celebrity edition of University Challenge back in 2020. But he lost out to a team captained by comedian Ed Gamble.
What’s the match line-up?
The BBC is yet to reveal how the games will line-up year. The BBC has said that taking part are "university colleges from Aberdeen to Southampton, including one of the UK's smallest and newest universities, making its competition debut".
