Christmas University Challenge

Christmas University Challenge is a British quiz programme which has aired on BBC Two since 2011. It is a spin-off from University Challenge that airs daily over the Christmas period, and features teams of noteworthy alumni from British universities competing in the same format as the parent show.

From December 2023 onwards, Amol Rajan took over from Jeremy Paxman as host of the Christmas version of the long-running student quiz. The current holders are Middlesex University.

2011 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The 2011 series was won by Trinity College, Cambridge whose team of Robin Bhattacharyya, Daisy Goodwin, John Lloyd, and Edward Stourton beat the University of Warwick's team of Vadim Jean, Daisy Christodoulou, Christian Wolmar and Carla Mendonça.

2012 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.
 * A score in italics indicates a match decided on a tie-breaker question.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The 2012 series was won by New College, Oxford whose team of Rachel Johnson, Patrick Gale, Kate Mosse and Yan Wong beat the University of East Anglia's team of John Boyne, Razia Iqbal, David Grossman and Charlie Higson.

2013 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The 2013 series was won by Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge whose team of Quentin Stafford-Fraser, Helen Castor, Mark Damazer and Lars Tharp beat Emmanuel College, Cambridge and their team of Hugo Rifkind, Mary-Ann Ochota, Simon Singh and Rory McGrath.

2014 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The 2014 series was won by Trinity Hall, Cambridge whose team of Tom James, Emma Pooley, Adam Mars-Jones and Dan Starkey beat the University of Hull and their team of Rosie Millard, Malcolm Sinclair, Jenni Murray and Stan Cullimore.

2015 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.
 * A score in italics indicates a match decided on a tie-breaker question.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The 2015 series was won by Magdalen College, Oxford whose team of Robin Lane Fox, Heather Berlin, Louis Theroux and Matt Ridley beat the University of Sheffield and their team of Sid Lowe, Nicci Gerrard, Adam Hart and Ruth Reed.

2016


2016 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.
 * A score in italics indicates a match decided on a tie-breaker question.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The 2016 series was won by St Hilda's College, Oxford whose team of Fiona Caldicott, Daisy Dunn, Val McDermid and Adèle Geras beat the University of Leeds and their team of Louise Doughty, Gus Unger-Hamilton, Kamal Ahmed and Steve Bell.

2017 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The 2017 series was won by Keble College, Oxford whose team of Paul Johnson, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Katy Brand and Anne-Marie Imafidon beat the University of Reading and their team of Anna Machin, Martin Hughes-Games, Sophie Walker and Pippa Greenwood.

2018 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The 2018 series was won by Peterhouse, Cambridge whose team of Dan Mazer, Mark Horton, Michael Howard and Michael Axworthy beat the University of Bristol and their team of Philip Ball, Laura Wade, Misha Glenny and Iain Stewart.

2019 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The 2019 series was won by the University of Leeds whose team of Jonathan Clements, Henry Gee, Richard Coles and Timothy Allen beat Wadham College, Oxford and their team of Jonathan Freedland, Tom Solomon, Anne McElvoy and Roger Mosey.

2020 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The 2020 series was won by The Courtauld Institute of Art whose team of Tim Marlow, Lavinia Greenlaw, Jacky Klein and Jeremy Deller beat the University of Manchester and their team of David Nott, Juliet Jacques, Adrian Edmondson and Justin Edwards.

2021 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The 2021 series was won by the University of Edinburgh whose team of Catherine Slessor, Thomasina Miers, Miles Jupp and Phil Swanson beat Hertford College, Oxford and their team of Soweto Kinch, Elizabeth Norton, Adam Fleming and Isabelle Westbury.

2022 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.
 * A score in italics indicates a match decided on a tie-break question.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The 2022 series was won by Balliol College, Oxford whose team of Elizabeth Kiss, Andrew Copson, Martin Edwards and Martin O’Neill beat the University of Hull and their team of Katharine Norbury, James Graham, Sian Reese-Williams and Graeme Hall. This was the last Christmas special to be hosted by Jeremy Paxman after 11 years.

2023
This year, there were only 6 first-round matches due to one episode being removed. This was after complaints were received from two contestants where they felt their accessibility requirements were not met during filming. The contestants have not been named nor their institution other than being colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. The rest of the series was broadcast as normal.

2023 results

 * Winning teams are highlighted in bold.
 * Teams with green scores (winners) returned in the next round, while those with red scores (losers) were eliminated.
 * Teams with orange scores won their match but did not achieve a high enough score to proceed to the next round.
 * A score in italics indicates a match decided on a tie-break question.

First Round

Semi-finals

Final

The winning Middlesex University team consisted of David Heathcote, Lola Young, Heather Phillipson and David Hepworth, who beat Corpus Christi College, Oxford and their team of Francesca Happé, Michael Cockerell, Alex Bellos and Steve Waters.