University Challenge 2025–26

The 55th series of University Challenge began on 14 July 2025 on BBC Two.^[1]

Twenty-eight teams were selected for the televised episodes, of which the University of Lincoln, Harper Adams University and Green Templeton College, Oxford made their University Challenge debuts.

• 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 had to win one more match to return in the next round.
• Teams with yellow scores indicate that two further matches had to be played and won (teams that lost their first quarter-final match).
• A score in italics indicates a match decided on a tie-breaker question.

A spin-off Christmas series has been aired since 2011, featuring distinguished alumni. For the 2025 series, to mark the fifteenth edition of the Christmas version of the show, one team from each prior series was invited back to have another go, in break of the tradition of inviting new famous graduates.

Out of seven first-round winners, only the top four highest-scoring teams progress to the semi-finals.

• 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 grey 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.

Taking the honours for the second year in a row, the winning Durham University team consisted of Liz James, Tracey MacLeod, Carla Denyer, and Sophia Smith Galer, who beat the Keble College, Oxford team of Paul Johnson, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Anne-Marie Imafidon and Caroline Criado Perez.

• University Challenge homepage
• Blanchflower Results Table