What Time Is Mastermind On? 7.30pm Mondays, the NI Slot, iPlayer and the 24 Heats

Week of 26 October 2026 — Heat 14 is listed at 7.30pm on BBC Two on Monday 26 October; the BBC names Creation Records, The X-Files, the Waterloo campaign and Gene Tierney among the specialist subjects. Heat 15 follows at 7.30pm on Monday 2 November, with Succession and Jean-Michel Basquiat among its subjects. Checked on Saturday 24 October against BBC Two's published schedule and the BBC's episode pages.

The gist: Mastermind is on BBC Two on Mondays at 7.30pm, everywhere in the UK except Northern Ireland, where it turns up a day or two later at 7pm. Each heat fills a half-hour slot, lands on BBC iPlayer the same evening, and Clive Myrie asks the questions.

It opens BBC Two's Monday quiz run, half an hour before Only Connect and an hour before University Challenge. Of the three it is the plainest: one chair, one spotlight, four contenders and a clock.

The 2026/27 series began on Monday 13 July and the BBC numbers it at 31 episodes. Thirteen of those are either shown or scheduled, which leaves a long road to the final.

What time is Mastermind on BBC Two?

7.30pm to 8pm on Mondays. BBC Two's schedule for Monday 5 October has Mastermind at 7.30pm, Only Connect at 8pm and University Challenge at 8.30pm, and the listing for Monday 12 October repeats that order.

The programme itself is shorter than the slot. The BBC gives heat 11 a running time of 28 minutes and the opening heat 29. Every first showing in the 2026/27 series so far has been a Monday at 7.30pm; none has moved to another night.

Is Mastermind on at a different time in Northern Ireland?

Yes, and the day isn't fixed. The BBC lists the Monday 7.30pm showing as "BBC Two except Northern Ireland". Heat 10 was shown on BBC Two Northern Ireland at 7pm on Wednesday 30 September, two days after the rest of the UK saw it. Heat 11 is listed there for 7pm on Tuesday 6 October, one day after.

So the hour has held at 7pm and the day has slid between Tuesday and Wednesday. Viewers in Northern Ireland who don't want to guess can use iPlayer, which carries each heat from Monday night wherever you are in the UK.

When does Mastermind go on iPlayer?

The same evening. Before a heat airs, its BBC page says it "will be available shortly after broadcast". All eleven heats shown so far were marked as available on the BBC's episode pages when we checked on Tuesday 6 October.

There's plenty behind it as well. The programme page was showing 166 available episodes when we looked on Tuesday 6 October, eleven of them from the 2026/27 series and the rest from earlier runs.

How many episodes are in the 2026/27 Mastermind series?

31. The BBC labels each episode "of 31" and describes the opener as "the first of 24 heats". That leaves seven episodes after the heats, and here is how we think they divide. The split of those last seven is our arithmetic, not a BBC statement.

24 + 6 + 1 comes to 31, which matches the BBC's count. Heat 12 on 12 October marks the halfway point of the first stage.

Which Mastermind heats have been shown so far?

We took the first-broadcast date and the subjects from the BBC's page for each episode. Where the BBC's summary names only some of the four subjects, the table does the same. Scores and winners are left out because we couldn't find them in two independent places, and we never reproduce questions.

Two things fall out of those dates. The series skipped two Mondays, 10 August and 31 August, so eleven heats took thirteen weeks. And with twelve heats still to come after 12 October, heat 24 can't arrive before Monday 4 January 2027 even if BBC Two never skips another week.

The semi-finals therefore belong to the new year. BBC Two's schedule, read on Sunday 11 October, puts heat 13 at 7.30pm on Monday 19 October, and the BBC's billing names Peep Show, Joni Mitchell and the Lake District among its specialist subjects.

How does a Mastermind heat work?

Each contender sits in the black chair twice. Round one is two minutes of questions on a specialist subject they chose. Round two is two and a half minutes of general knowledge. A correct answer scores a point, and a contender can pass as often as they like.

Passes matter at the end. If two contenders finish level, the one with fewer passes wins. If they're level on passes too, they each face the same five tie-break questions out of earshot of the other. Those timings come from the format's long-standing rules as documented on Wikipedia; semi-final rounds are shorter.

Is Mastermind repeated during the day?

Sometimes, on BBC Two in the morning. The BBC's listings showed repeats from the 2025/26 series at 8am and 8.30am on Tuesday 6 October. BBC Two England's listing for Tuesday 20 October, read on Sunday 11 October, has no Mastermind in that morning slot.

Those morning showings come and go, and they aren't new heats. The Monday 7.30pm slot is the only place a first showing has appeared in the 2026/27 run.

Questions readers ask

Who presents Mastermind now?
Clive Myrie. He took over from John Humphrys and presented his first episode on 23 August 2021. The BBC credits Hat Trick Productions as the programme's maker.

Is Mastermind on every Monday?
Most, not all. The 2026/27 series missed two Mondays in August, and BBC Two can clear the evening for other programmes. Our round-up for the week of 5 October records what the three Monday quizzes did, and the Monday night quiz guide covers the 90-minute run as a whole.

How do I apply to be a contender?
Through the BBC's own take-part page, which is linked from the Mastermind programme page under "Apply to be a Contender". The BBC is the only place to trust for closing dates.

What else is on for quiz fans?
Weekday afternoons run from Countdown on Channel 4 through The Chase on ITV1 to Pointless on BBC One. Our day-by-day quiz list has every slot, there are more explainers in the UK Quiz Guide, and our sister site keeps a night-by-night soap guide for the rest of the evening.

Sources

• BBC: Mastermind, 2026/27, Episode 11 (episode 11 of 31, 28 minutes, Monday 5 October 19:30 BBC Two except Northern Ireland, Tuesday 6 October 19:00 BBC Two Northern Ireland, Clive Myrie and Hat Trick Productions credited)
• BBC: Mastermind 2026/27 episode guide (episodes 1 to 13, subjects, "the first of 24 heats")
• BBC Two schedule (Mondays 5, 12 and 19 October: Mastermind 19:30, Only Connect 20:00, University Challenge 20:30)
• BBC: Mastermind programme page (166 available episodes on 6 October, "Apply to be a Contender")
• Wikipedia: Mastermind (British game show) (round lengths, passes and tie-break rule, Clive Myrie's first episode on 23 August 2021)
• TVmaze: Mastermind (cross-check of the eleven Monday air dates)
• BBC Two schedule, Monday 26 October to Monday 2 November 2026 (Mastermind 19:30, Heat 14 on Monday 26 October and Heat 15 on Monday 2 November; read on Saturday 24 October)

By the UK Quiz On Air desk · Updated 23 October, 11.19pm BST