
    Monkman. Goldman. Paxman: The University Challenge Final was something special
   - BBC Three
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So there it is. Another year of plummy accents, eccentric knitwear and quick-fire trivia, over.

The final gong has sounded, the teams have clapped magnanimously at each other and the sheet of corrugated metal with twiddly lines on it has been handed over. But for many of us, this run of University Challenge did not end as we'd expected.

Paxman began with a slightly extended intro, outlining some of the numbers behind the show: hundreds of entrants, dozens of teams, thousands of questions. What his eyes normally communicate silently, his voice this time confirmed: It's been a long series.

After a couple of body-blows to Balliol, in which Paxman reminded them they'd already lost once to Wolfson in the quarters, it was on to the intros.

Yang. Chaudhri. The camera panned right and there he was, Eric Monkman, from Oakville, Canada - the wingtips of his baby blue collar poking out from beneath a striped blue/black crewneck. And like that, he was gone, turning to his left to introduce the wry, kind-eyed Paul Cosgrove, who you can tell enjoys his fleeting role in the major historical event that is #Monkmania.

On to Balliol. Potts. Lloyd. "And this is their captain..." Goldman. For many, tonight's pantomime villain. It's a thankless task, squaring off against Monkman. If you lose, you're the poor sap who ran up against Monkman in the 2016/17 final ("What was his name again? Nice young man, wore glasses?"). If you win, you dash the hopes of a nation.

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Then the quiz began. And for the first half or so it was a tussle for dominance. Balliol were first out of the blocks, answering the starter and all three bonuses for a perfect 25. But Monkman knows his operatic characters...

#UniversityChallenge 



Question: What is it about #Monkman that makes him so irresistibly charming?



Answer: pic.twitter.com/YxB9GVFlyH — JOE (@JOE_co_uk) April 10, 2017

So Wolfson were soon back on track.

It carried on like this in a blistering display for much of the first half. James Joyce, chloroform, historical accords from map boundaries, famous duels. The teams tore through the Qs, with the two captains picking up most of the points - often before Paxman had finished reading from his card.

Around 10 minutes in, Wolfson were 20 ahead. But then something strange happened. Paxman got a few words into a question on the Iron Crown of Lombardy, and Monkman buzzed. But when the crash zoom had finished and his name had been called, you could tell he'd buzzed expecting the question to focus on something else, and he had to put his hands in the air and offer "It's housed... in Italy somewhere?"

Paxman was not impressed. "Yes, I'm afraid that is a completely useless answer," he scolded, and offered it up to Balliol, docking Wolfson five points.

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A little later, a fiendish question left the entire studio silent. What is the total atomic number of the four elements that spell the word SNOB?

And then Monkman could be seen forbidding his players from buzzing.

Eventually Yang had a guess, and Monkman didn't look impressed.

From then, the contest felt somehow out of reach for Wolfson. They rallied a couple of times, edging ahead here and there, but in the latter third Balliol powered ahead, often answering correctly after Wolfson had buzzed in early and been wrong.

When the final final gong sounded, Balliol were a good 50 points ahead. Monkman's Wolfson team had lost.

But there was a twist in the tale, and a lovely coda to the series, when Paxman's disembodied voice explained that the final we'd just been watching had been filmed some time earlier. After establishing shots of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, we were suddenly in an oak-panelled interior, port glasses on the sideboard and the eight finalists mingling around none other than Professor Stephen Hawking.

After Professor Hawking congratulated the teams, and made a quip about bacteria, we were treated to perhaps the most touching moment of this series - our man Eric Monkman's broad, beaming smile as he took in the fact that he was in the presence of such a great mind.

We will miss you, Eric Monkman.

And finally, one more thank you: Thanks to these guys! What a great experience we shared. pic.twitter.com/RFucsRTSKV — Eric Monkman (@e_monkman) April 10, 2017