Britain's Brainiest

2001 special

The original featured four different rounds:

A set of 12 multiple choice questions, whittling down the number of male contestants from 12 to 3.
A set of 12 multiple choice questions, whittling down the number of female contestants from 12 to 3.
A subject-based round, where contestants answered questions on two subjects, this halved the number of competitors to 3.
A final round, where the remaining 3 contestants were tested on their own specialist subject and that of their fellow finalists
The winner of the original special was Laura Hibbert of North Yorkshire, whose specialist subject was Charles Dickens.
Alex "Brains" Marshall was runner up. Marshall's specialist subject was the United Arab Emirates. Richard "Helium" Thomas came third. His specialist subject was the Plantagenets.

2002 adult series

Following the success of the one-off special, a full adult series was commissioned and aired at the beginning of 2002. 12 contestants that shared the same occupation (e.g. taxi drivers, estate agents) competed in each episode.
The format was largely the same from the 2001 special, with some changes. Only a single set of 12 multiple choice questions were played in the first round, with the best six contestants advancing to the subject-based round. Also, after the mammoth tie-breaker in the 2001 special, any ties for qualifying positions after the first two rounds were broken by a tie-breaker game called 'Missing Link', where the contestants were given two words and had to work out which word in between would connect them. The contestant(s) who solved it in the fastest time remained in the game.
Another game that was also introduced in this series was 'Codebreaker', which was used to determine the order of play in the second and final rounds. Contestants had to crack a numbered code that spelt out a word with a clue to help them, those who cracked it in the fastest time got to play first in the round that followed.

2002 kids series

The show was resurrected at the end of 2002 for a full kids series, with ten half-hour heats and qualification to a 90-minute grand final show. The heats were shown across a two-week period in a weekday teatime slot, presented by Tess Daly, and the grand final was shown on New Year's Eve 2002 and hosted by Carol Vorderman again.
The winner of the 2002 series was Christopher Guerin, from Birmingham (specialist subject: Thomas Becket). He went on to receive three master's degrees including one at the University of Cambridge, and as of 2023 is a maths teacher and assistant secondary school principal.