A Question of Sport Live hits the back of the net with Nottingham show

But just how would the much-loved format transfer to the stage as part of a 16-date national tour?

Well, if the evening performance at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall is anything to go by, the answer is…… seamlessly.

The BBC1 show might be in different hands now with Paddy McGuinness and new captains at the helm.

But the current live tour reunites former presenter Sue Barker and captains Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell.

The trio were replaced on the show this year with Barker having been at the helm since 1997, Dawson a fixture since 2004 – a year after winning the rugby union World Cup with England – and ex-cricketer Tufnell having taken over from Ally McCoist in 2008.

And on stage their chemistry was in full flow as they opened by welcoming the crowd and taking a few tongue-in-cheek jibes at the BBC over their departure.

On the night, Dawson was joined by former Notts and England cricketer James Taylor and former Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Mark Crossley.

While ‘Tuffers’ had Nottingham’s former world champion boxer Carl ‘The Cobra’ Froch and ex-Olympic heptathlete Kelly Sotherton by his side.

The latter duo’s arrival didn’t get off to the best of starts as they took the wrong seats!

Then Tufnell managed to refer to Sotherton as Sal!

Classic rounds followed such as the picture board, one-minute round and trivia on the buzzer.

The whole show was a laugh-a-minute – with the odd expletive. And crowd participation simply enhanced the atmosphere.

In the second half of the show there was time set aside to hear stories from the guests, captains and Sue.

These included Taylor’s impression of Kevin Pietersen as the Notts player strode out to the centre on his Test debut (it’s well documented KP didn’t rate Taylor), to Sotherton referring to an up-and-coming Jessica Ennis as a tadpole in a misconstrued metaphor.

Froch spoke on his glittering career and interviewing the great Floyd Mayweather, while Tufnell spoke of an infamous Test Match Special commentary stint with the legendary Henry Blofeld that sailed close to turning the airwaves blue thanks to the name of a Pakistan opening batsman Fakhar Zaman (you can do the math).

But the most hilarious tale came from Crossley and focused on the legendary Brian Clough and his nicknames for players.

I can’t reveal full details on this forum but the punchline of ‘Cloughie’ tagging his keeper Jigsaw because every time a ball comes into the box ‘he goes to pieces’ was a classic.

The show was absolutely outstanding and ended with a deserved standing ovation with the crowd still laughing away after a couple of hours of outstanding entertainment.

If you would like to get along to another venue to see any remaining dates on the tour visit https://www.livenation.co.uk/artist-a-question-of-sport-live-98650