Fictional Villains | Pointless

Every story has a villain we love to hate. Which stories to they appear in?
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Alexander Armstrong hosts this unique quiz show as contestants try to score as few points as possible by coming up with answers no-one else can think of.
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[@bluebear1985]

For Miss Trunchbull being in "Matilda", it's possible that one was a higher number due to some of them having seen the film version released in 1996. She was portrayed in that by Pam Ferris. There's your random fact of the day.🙂

[@jfdrac]

Only one she was confdent about is the one NOBODY KNEW LOL

[@elisabethbauman6190]

I KNOW, RIGHT?! Crazy!

[@52flyingbicycles]

She must have read Matilda 🤷‍♂️

[@jfdrac]

@@52flyingbicycles Heh and most did too one of the worst answers especially due to teh movies

[@pixelvapour1960]

Actually 3 people knew it

[@jfdrac]

@@pixelvapour1960 Ok Mr technical lol

[@SiqueScarface]

I would not have taken Milady de Winter in the first round, because I expected so many more people to know the Three Musketeers (only 6%?). And I've never read any Charles Dickens, hence I recognized neither Bill Sikes nor Uriah Heep.

[@jensraab2902]

I haven't read His Dark Materials yet so when I read Mrs. Coulter my first thought was, do they mean Ann Coulter? 😂😂

[@pockylovingranger]

The only two I didn’t know in the second half were Mr. Kurtz and Uriah Heip. As for Iago, did anyone else think they were talking about Iago from Aladdin???

[@jfdrac]

I can see that and yeah I was sure Kurtz had to be Marlon Brando's character since that name is so distinctive

[@mordicaiknode]

I literally went "could that mean Colonel?" without figuring it out.

[@turgies9397]

Brooklyn 99 has a scene where Jack calls Amy Iago, and her response is I didn't know you read Othello, and he's like I was talking about the Parrot from Aladdin.

[@loonytunescrazy]

@@turgies9397 They got the name iago from Othello

[@jamessmithson-br7rm]

You’ve blown my mind… Love Iago from Othello, proper Machiavellian character… and great lines, “I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at, I am not what I am” and all that.. I did not know the parrot in Aladdin was (presumably) named after him… didn’t even know the parrot had a name

[@inuyasha1014]

The way I confidently said Aladdin for Iago

[@DodderingOldMan]

Ha! I was honestly wondering if they'd accept Aladdin for Iago. Of course, the one from Othello came first, but that's not the same character, just one with the same name, so you could say that the character of Iago the parrot originated in Aladdin.

[@twrampage]

Was quite happy to remember Iago from covering Othello in high school.

[@smolboiproductions2984]

Sameeee!!!

[@danielyeshe]

Well this is embarrassing. I know Milady de winter not from the book but from Albert the Fifth Musketeer.

[@22espec]

I'm amazed that they didn't know about Mlady of Winters, her name is so peculiar that It's the first character I remember from The Three Musketeers

[@jfdrac]

My guess most people have never read it and movie adaptions they tend to use MALE villians since men traditionally dont fight women.

[@louquine]

​@@jfdracThe character was played by Faye Dunaway in the 1970s movie and sequel.

[@jfdrac]

@@louquine True not saying she isnt in any movies just with sheer amount of 3 Musketter movies she is in compartively few

[@billyhills9933]

She tends to be referred to just as Milady, which means her name sort of gets lost in the dialogue.

[@ellbo2]

tbh i only know cos of the recent French movies.

[@KevinSmithGeo]

Never seen this before but it's a really clever game in how it encourages the players to push their luck to pick the more difficult options. It does require having a good idea of what the general public are familiar with though: I thought Milady de Winter was the second most obvious after Big Brother.

[@NYChica23]

Nah...Miss Trunchbull was more obvious because of the 1996 movie adaptation of Matilda

[@Little1Cave]

I knew Miss Trunchbull, Bill Sikes, Shere Khan, Iago, and Long John Silver. 👍

[@Afterthoughtbtw]

Anyone else remember Milady de Winter from the 'Dogtanian' cartoon series, rather than Musketeers? 😁

[@B-MC]

I knew it from Albert The 5th Musketeer

[@lisahenry20]

I know know Milady de Winter from Persona 5

[@6022]

Yup! I would have been wondering if 'The Three Musketeers' would have been a really embarrassing answer if I had to admit I only knew it from the muskehounds!

[@VHO42]

I know! I would have said "Dogtanian, er I mean D'artanian and the three musketeers" and I'm not sure if they'd have accepted that! 🤣

[@reconbravo104]

I'm surprised more people didn't get Kurtz given how famous Apocalypse Now is

[@marksieving7925]

But Apocalypse Now would have been the wrong answer. I don't know how many people realize that Apocalypse Now was an adaptation of Heart of Darkness.

[@welcometogeektown]

I recognized Kurtz as the last name of the Colonel in Apocalypse Now, but didn't connect it to Heart of Darkness until Richard said it.

[@katiehough2499]

The ones I got: Rebecca, 1984, Matilda, Oliver Twist, Three Musketeers, Treasure Island, Othello, Jungle Book, David Copperfield, Heart of Darkness and His Dark Materials. Did not expect David Copperfield to be such a low scorer!

[@celinavivian1162]

I should have got Mr Kurtz. When I was in high school reading that book I had 2 teachers with the last name kurtz

[@SarahB1863]

That one was a bit of a trick because they called him Mr. Kurtz instead of Colonel Kurtz. Sounds like they're referring to someone else.

[@Illjwamh]

I would have scored 20. I knew Milady de Winter, and even though I knew Iago, I assumed fewer people would have known Mrs. Coulter so I picked that one

[@cigmorfil4101]

The recent(ish) TV series of His Dark Materials would have meant I would expect it to be quite high

[@Illjwamh]

@@cigmorfil4101 Oh yeah, I wasn't even thinking about that

[@matthewdivoll3453]

The ones I knew: Big Brother, Miss Trenchbull, Bill Sikes, Long John Silver, Iago, Shere Khan

[@mystikx2205]

Show of hands: Who knew Milady de Winter purely because of Persona 5?

[@prestonburnett5410]

I might be losing my mind, but couldn't you also refer to Rebecca (from the same novel "Rebecca" as Mrs. Danvers) as "Milady de Winter"? I'm not sure if there's something about English aristocracy that would make calling her "Milady" incorrect, but it seemed fitting to avoid naming the title.

[@Fyreflier]

"Milady" (sometimes also written as "m'lady") would be how someone might address her directly (eg. "Welcome home, milady." "Thank you, Mrs. Danvers.") but her title would be "Lady"; it's the typically-lower classes' way of saying "my lady". They actually made a point about it in Game of Thrones when Arya gives away her noble breeding when she addresses Tywin as "my lord" instead of "m'lord"

[@DodderingOldMan]

Possibly, but she's definitely not the villain of Rebecca.

[@TCHorwood-xq7mw]

Robert Newton played Bill Sikes and Long John Silver in movies, he was the first to use a West Country accent for LJS.

[@pleakhouse]

Would I have got it right if I’d said Mrs Coulter “Northern Lights”?

[@i-am-batman8538]

Did you even listen to the part where they explained the rules?

[@billyhills9933]

As long as you didn't say The Golden Compass.

[@pleakhouse]

@@billyhills9933 you wash your mouth out.

[@michaellee7313]

Since people seem incapable of just giving a straight answer, yes you would have. They explained the rules as you have to give the first book or the name of the series. The Golden Compass would have been incorrect as that was the name of the movie based on the book The Northern Lights.

[@rojavida]

@@michaellee7313they may well have got away with Golden Compass because that was the title of the book when published in the US market.

[@52flyingbicycles]

I knew Mr Kurtz and Shere Khan!

[@DodderingOldMan]

I would have gone with George Wickham and Iago. I knew Mrs Danvers, but I would have guessed she would have been better known than George Wickham.

[@teleriferchnyfain]

How MANY remakes of 3 Musketeers have there been??? & people didn’t know the villain?????

[@gregoryfolsom7882]

She's usually the secondary villain as a henchwoman of Cardinal Richilieu.

[@teleriferchnyfain]

@@gregoryfolsom7882 She's the major one - Richilieu is the historical puller of strings but she's the major villain, & is the one brought to justice. IN the films in fact! I have seen almost all the film adaptations (including a Korean one LOL)

[@ChrisInTheNorth]

This must be a very old one. Alexander still has hair and they go to lengths to explain the rules

[@martyklestadt6766]

I'm glad they did. I'm from the US and this is my first experience seeing any part of this show. Very interesting. It's kind of like "Family Feud" ("Family Fortunes" in the UK) in reverse--trying to get the least popular answer that's still correct.

[@legionaireb]

How did only SIX people know Milady De Winter?

[@SinCitysOnly]

I'm assuming because more people think the villain is Cardinal Richleau, especially from Tim Curry's portrayal of him in the mid-90's movie version.

[@elh7149]

I knew the first three only. Mrs. Danvers I knew from the musical Rebecca

[@Doc_Filth]

Would I sound particularly smug in saying I knew all of them?

[@jakepullman4914]

Yes

[@gnu_andrew]

Some shockingly low answers here. Only 36 for Big Brother?

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

To be fair, it's a bit questionable for that to be included because the whole point is that he's a metaphor for a police state. There's no actual person named Big Brother in that book. It's like claiming that the bonfire that they use to burn books in Fahrenheit 451 is the main character of the story, because the book is named in reference to the temperature of burning paper.

[@gnu_andrew]

@@casanovafunkenstein5090 it's been a long time since I read the book (actually just realised it's over 20 years!) but the Wikipedia entry does say that Big Brother is the name of the leader, but he never actually appears. Still, I would hope most people knew that the Big Brother cultural reference so frequently used relates to the book "1984" even if they haven't read it.

[@ThamiorSilberdrache]

Ok, I realize how different reading culture is between the USA and Europe. Milady De Winter was literally the only one I knew for sure. And I knew Big Brother was from a book by George Orwell which's title was a year in the 20th century, but I didn't recall the exact. number. Didn't know any of the others although I had seen the movie for Matilda.

[@Meandyoujustus]

This is not "Europe", this is Great Britain. Ask the french, and you'll get vastly different numbers.

[@ThamiorSilberdrache]

@@Meandyoujustus ​ @Meandyoujustus Oh, this is a british show? Then I mistook it for an american show. Sorry. Well, yes, of course you will get different numbers. I think the majority in France will know Milady De Winter as The Three Musketeers are very popular in their original country. But when this is a british show... I am realy surprised that they didn't know the classical british authors a lot more...

[@natenathan2654]

I got kurtz! Wasnt 100% because of the mr psrt but....

[@jfdrac]

Yeah but that name is so distinctive that chances are it was not recycled

[@matthewpaul526]

In America, we try to get the MOST points based on the OPINION of 100 people using "questions" like "Name a food you've used in your bedroom". It's what you get when a country prioritizes funding its military over education for multiple generations.

[@gnu_andrew]

The UK has Family Feud too, but it's called Family Fortunes here.

[@matthewpaul526]

@@gnu_andrew Sure, but the US doesn't have anything like Pointless, probably because it would be embarrassing. If you ask my fellow countrymen about books, it better be books for children.

[@AlainnCorcaigh]

calling a game pointless and having categories with no pointless answers is absolutely ludicrous

[@mkprocter882]

agreed there should be one every round.

[@Gmackematix]

Not really. In every show, you have to find pointless answers in the final round in order to win so the title is relevant.

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

You could argue that it's pointless

[@seekerytomfain194]

for a show called pointless, it feels really really lame to have rounds where nothing is pointless.

[@SarahB1863]

I wonder if "Aladdin" would have been acceptable for Iago? Iago was the parrot in the Disney animated film, and he was a villain...

[@Darapsa]

No, it was literature, not film.

[@GCW1978]

Am I the only one who feels like framing Kurtz as a "Mr" turns him in to a trick question? I mean, the idea that he is so obscure that only ONE person in a hundred could confidently answer that tells me that mistitling him from "Col." or even just "Kurtz" to "Mr. Kurtz" ptobably threw a lot of people (I know I was second guessing whether there was another Kurtz I wasn't aware of in fiction...) Also, am I the only one who was a little rankled at the disrespect of retitling -even a fictional character- from their high military rank to just mister?

[@peaceful7610]

I recognized it. Yes it downgraded his title but i wouldn't exactly say it's a book I've ever heard of before I read it

[@digitig]

But Kurtz *isn't* a colonel in Heart of Darkness.

[@MrJacobThrall]

Yeah, it's not a retitling or a downgrading or anything like that. The answers needed to be the *first* appearance of *literary* villains, so referencing the book (in which Kurtz was a civilian) that came out 80 years before the film it inspired is pretty emphatically on topic.

[@rafk2976]

If they don't say Mr it doesn't distinguish from Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, and yes I'm sure the score was so low from people saying "Apocalypse Now". But that's not at all an unfair question.

[@johnanderson9765]

I studied Joseph Conrad in high school, and even wore a fake beard to play him once, so I recognized the name Kurtz from Heart of Darkness.

[@balok63a40]

Maybe I'm too much of an intellectual snob, but I couldn't help thinking, what kind of 100 illiterates did they interview that only 10 could identify Iago, only 3 (!!) could identify Uriah Heep, and only 1 (!!!!) could identify Mr. Kurtz. I have to admit that I was kind of surprised that only 14 got Mrs. Coulter, considering that "His Dark Materials" was adapted into a hit TV series in which Mrs. Coulter was superbly played by Ruth Wilson.

[@Gmackematix]

This is clearly a very old episode of Pointless and would have been broadcast a few years before the BBC filmed His Dark Materials.

[@leeshdee9269]

My guess is a lot of people put "Aladdin" for Iago, which would be incorrect as the Disney version is a film based on a centuries old fairy tale where a talking parrot doesn't feature. As for Mr. Kurtz, I would also guess a lot put Apcolypse Now as the answer, which would still be incorrect as this round is based on literature, and the film Is an adaptation of a novel with a different title (which is the correct answer here, which only 1 person got).

[@HughShower]

How about Boris Johnson and his £350m extra a week for the NHS promise?

[@markd1516]

Yes; and the fiction is called 'uk democracy'.

[@mkprocter882]

you're thinking of the wrong definition of 'pointless' 😉