A quiz show hosted by Steve Punt where a team of three university students take on a team of three of their professors.

The show is recorded on location at a different university each week, and it pits three undergraduates against three of their professors in a genuinely original and fresh take on an academic quiz.

The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the 'Highbrow & Lowbrow' round cunningly devised to test not only the students' knowledge of current affairs, history, languages and science, but also their professors' awareness of television, sport and quite possibly Justin Bieber.... In addition, the Head-to-Head rounds, in which students take on their professors in their own subjects, offer plenty of scope for mild embarrassment on both sides....

In this series, the universities are Southampton, Cumbria, Brasenose College (Oxford), Anglia Ruskin, Northampton and Nottingham Trent.

Production credits:

Devised and produced by David Tyler

Hosted by Steve Punt

Episode 1

This episode of The 3rd Degree is brought to you from the University of Southampton. The Specialist Subjects are biological sciences, fashion design and film studies, and the questions range from Harry Styles to dinosaur hips via Bullet Time and British Home Stores....

Episode 2

This episode of The 3rd Degree is brought to you from the University of Cumbria. The specialist subjects are marine and freshwater biology, education and forestry management and conservation, while the questions range from brothels and bats to Barnaby Bear - plus a chance to brush up on your fronted adverbials....

Episode 3

This episode of The 3rd Degree is brought to you from Brasenose College, Oxford. The Specialist Subjects are philosophy, law and chemistry, and the questions range from rocket fuel and robbing a bank to Plato and pole vault....

Episode 4

This is episode of The 3rd Degree is brought to you from Anglia Ruskin University. The Specialist Subjects are sociology, optometry and psychology, and it's your chance to find out about the Pole of Ignorance, the Tumbling E and a CGI lion....

Episode 5

This episode of The 3rd Degree is brought to you from the University of Northampton. The Specialist Subjects are international development, law and organized crime and nursing, and the questions range from piercings and postage to erythema and smokeballs....

Episode 6

This episode of The 3rd Degree is brought to you from Nottingham Trent University. The Specialist Subjects are English literature, broadcast journalism and law and the questions range from oblate spheroids to Grover Cleveland via Le Corbusier and BT Openreach....

First broadcast BBC Radio 4: 31st May-5th June 2021