Think the Unthinkable Trivia Quiz

Answer: James Cary

'Think the Unthinkable' ran for four series between 2001 and 2006 and received considerable praise from critics and audiences alike. In 2002 the show's first episode won a silver Sony Radio Comedy Award.

James Cary has written for a number of television and radio shows. His Radio 4 work includes colaborations on two shows with Milton Jones, the WWII code-breaking sitcom 'Hut 33' and the sketch show 'Concrete Cow'.

Answer: Marcus Brigstocke

Ryan is very well-meaning and genuinely believes that management consultancy is a highly worthwhile industry which can truly transform failing businesses. Unfortunately for the firms unlucky enough to hire Unthinkable Solutions, it is obvious that Ryan has absolutely no idea of how business works. Ryan has a particular penchant for utterly meaningless corporate jargon and is cheerfully oblivious to the insults and criticism that are aimed at him by disgruntled customers.

Marcus Brigstocke has been a Radio 4 stalwart since the late 1990s. He has made numerous appearances on 'The Now Show', has hosted the shows 'I've Never Seen Star Wars' and 'The Brig Society' and starred in the sitcom 'Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off' as the eponymous globe-trotter. In my opinion, Marcus has consistently been one of the funniest voices in radio and a new show from him is invariably a treat.

Answer: Catherine Shepherd

Daisy is very sweet and idealistic and cares deeply about social issues, unfortunately, she is also extremely naive and has very little understanding of pretty much every subject. Her complete lack of knowledge about how business functions does not stop her from dispensing advice to clients and attempting to foster workplace harmony using a series of extrutiatingly embarrassing, often incomprehensible and completely ineffective team-building games and activities. Daisy has some of the funniest lines in this excellent series and is probably my favourite character.

Catherine Shepherd is a regular voice on Radio 4, appearing in numerous popular shows including 'The Simon Day Show', 'Ring Around the Bath' and 'Kevin Eldon Will see You Now' and her name on a show's cast list is always a sign of quality. Catherine Shepherd has frequently worked with Marcus Brigstocke including playing the eponymous character's sister, Charlotte' in 'Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off'.

Answer: Emma Kennedy

Sophie has a MA in Business Studies, which appears to be the most relevant qualification or experience any of the team have, none of them ever appear to have actually worked in a real business. Sophie has a stern and no-nonsense approach and tends to take an aggressive forthright approach to her work. This means that she usually ends up sorting out the actual issues in their clients' companies while Ryan and Daisy are busy playing silly games, staging experimental theatre shows and spouting meaningless cliches.

Emma Kennedy is a very funny comedy actor who has appeared on a number of Radio 4 shows including 'Richard Herring's Objective', 'The Change' and 'The Mark Steel Lecture'.

Answer: Beth Chalmers

Despite her conspicuous efficiency, Sophie is by no means perfect. She displays potentially sociopathic tendencies including angry outbursts and a propensity for violence, traits which are particularly exacerbated by the cluelessness of her colleagues. Sophie also demonstrates obsessive compulsive habits, having a tendency to over-spend and an acute desire for order and routine.

Answer: David Mitchell

When Owen first appears in the show he is a freelance IT consultant who is employed to fix the team's computer systems, but, by the beginning of the second series, he has become a full-time employee of the company. Owen is an IT expert and claims to be able to hack into any secure network. Owen is rude, obnoxious, sleazy and displays nothing but contempt for most people. He has a serious and unrequited crush on Sophie who is understandably repulsed by him and who frequently and forcefully rebuffs his advances, but he refuses to get the message. Despite being thoroughly unpleasant, Owen does seem to have more insight into life and human nature than Ryan and Daisy, and warns the team on several occasion when he thinks that the firms they are working for are involved in something nefarious which his more oblivious colleagues have completely failed to pick up on due to their uniformly positive view of the world and everyone in it.

David Mitchell is a popular comedy actor, best known for his collaborations with comedy partner Robert Webb. David Mitchell is the host of the long-running Radio 4 panel show 'The Unbelievable Truth' and has also appeared in the sitcom 'Bleak Expectations'.

Answer: Robin Ince

Jed joined the firm briefly while Owen had been forced to go into hiding, having been caught trying to smuggle some highly illegal hi-tech security equipment into the UK. The real reason for Owen's temporary absense was that David Mitchell was filming episodes of his hit Channel 4 sitcom 'Peep Show' and was unavailable for recordings. Jed was a member of Owen's online 'Fraternity of the Sacred Goat' and shared Owen's technical expertise as well as his social ineptitude and, unfortunately for Sophie, his creepy stalker tendencies.

Robin Ince is perhaps best known for co-hosting the long-running Radio 4 comedy science programme 'The Infinite Monkey Cage' with Professor Brian Cox.

Answer: Greg Proops

Ryan is delighted to be reunited with his old mentor, Chip, who Ryan damns with feint praise by claiming that Chip taught him everything he knows. Demonstrating Ryan's utter lack of judgment, Chip turns out to be a crook and he is using his energy firm, Genforce, to launder money. Owen and Sophie become suspicious of the firm and of Chip and attempt to find evidence of wrong-doing before Chip fleas the country or convinces Ryan to do something even more stupid than usual, like buy shares in the dodgy company.

Greg Proops has had a long career in radio and television and is perhaps best known for his appearances on the panel show 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?'. Greg Proops has an impressive BBC radio resume including appearances in the sitcoms 'Flight of the Conchords' and 'Seymour the Fractal Cat'.

Answer: Nambitrea

For some inexplicable reason, the International Bank is paying Unthinkable Solutions to travel to the economically deprived African country of Nambitrea to help decide how best to administer an international development loan. Unfortunately, their trip goes disastrously wrong as Ryan's attempts to travel economically somehow leads to him being locked up in a Thai prison on eronious drug-smuggling charges while Sophie and Daisy have to make it to the meeting on their own.

Answer: Jack and the Beanstalk

This episode is entitled 'The Christmas Party' and is probably my favourite episode of this truly terrific show. Daisy is responsible for organising the office Christmas party and so takes the team to see a performance of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' by an affirmative theatre company. Owen complains bitterly about the show, opining that the traditional panto cow had been replaced by a non-meat based alternative, but Ryan finds it inspiring and uses it as the basis for his management book which he, characteristically obliviously, intends on calling 'I Know Jack'.

The second half of the Christmas party sees the team going to a night club where copious amounts of tequila slammers may lead to Owen's dreams and Sophie's worst nightmares coming true simultaneously.