Blockbusters (UK game show)

Blockbusters

Title screen for original version of show (1986–93)
Also known as 'All New Blockbusters (2012)
Genre Quiz show
Created by Steve Ryan
Mark Goodson
Presented by Bob Holness (1983–95)
Michael Aspel (1997)
Liza Tarbuck (2000–01)
Simon Mayo (2012)
Theme music composer Ed Welch (1983–95, 2000–01)
Paul Boross (1997)
Rage Music (2012)
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 11 (Bob Holness)
1 (Michael Aspel)[1]
1 (Liza Tarbuck)[1]
1 (Simon Mayo)[1]
No. of episodes 1340 (Bob Holness)
60 (Michael Aspel)[1]
100 (Liza Tarbuck)[1]
41 (Simon Mayo)[1]
1541 (Total)
Production
Producer(s) Hector Stewart
Running time 30 minutes
Production company(s) Central in association with Talbot Television and Goodson-Todman Productions (1983–95)
Fremantle (UK) (1997)
Grundy (2000–01)
Thames (2012)
Distributor ITV Studios
FremantleMedia
Release
Original network ITV (29 August 1983 – 19 May 1993)
Sky One (18 April 1994 – 17 February 1995)
BBC Two (31 March[1] – 28 August 1997[1])
Sky One (30 October 2000[1] – 23 March 2001[1])
Challenge (14 May[1] – 3 August 2012[1])
Picture format 4:3 (1983–2001)
16:9 (2012)
Original release 29 August 1983 (1983-08-29) – 3 August 2012 (2012-08-03)[1]
Chronology
Related shows Blockbusters (US version)

Blockbusters is a British television game show based upon an American game show of the same name in which contestants answer trivia questions to complete a path across or down a game board of hexagons. The programme premiered on 29 August 1983 on ITV and ran for ten series, ending on the ITV network on 19 May 1993. Blockbusters was revived for four additional series, the most recent of which aired on Challenge in 2012.

Background

Blockbusters was created by Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions and originated as an American series in 1980. The UK version was created after Central Independent Television producer Graham C. Williams spotted the show in 1981 and produced a pilot in 1982. The difference was that instead of adults, who appeared on the American edition, the UK edition was produced for sixth formers.

Bob Holness was the original presenter, staying on for the first ten series of the first incarnation and a 1994 revival on Sky One. A 1997 edition featuring adults was produced for one series on BBC Two with Michael Aspel presenting. Sky One brought Blockbusters back under its original rules in 2001 with Liza Tarbuck at the helm, and the Challenge series was presented by Simon Mayo.

The show's first series, in 1983, was recorded at the ATV Elstree Centre (which was still owned by Central until 1984 when it was sold to the BBC). Subsequent series were produced at Central's Nottingham "Television House" studios; however, at least one season (1989–90) was taped at Central's Birmingham studios. The series was filmed in the summer months over a 6–8 week period, with five episodes being made each day.

In the final episode of each day, the contestants were allowed to do a "hand jive" during the end credits, therefore only appearing on each Friday's episode. The hand jive first appeared in 1986 after one of the contestants was bored while sitting through filming several shows a day waiting for his turn. It lasted for the rest of the original series' run. The hand-clapping sequence was referenced by Half Man Half Biscuit in their song "Hedley Verityesque".

The original game board was powered using 40 slide projectors, each with its own set of slides for the different Letters and Gold Run questions, and took up the entire height of the studio. Slides were preloaded onto carousels with enough slides for about 3 - 5 shows. Carousels took about 30 minutes to change over. There were 15 different board combinations (5 sets X 3 games per match) which meant the same letter combinations would reappear. The letter 'Q' was only on one board, the letter 'Y' on two boards. All 15 boards followed in the same sequence but if the third game in a set was not needed (as it was best of three) the carousel would skip onto the Gold Run (missing the third board) and then onto the first game of the next set of three.

In 1987 and 1988, readers of TVTimes voted the series the most popular quiz show on television.[2]

Theme music

The original theme music was written by Ed Welch, who also updated the music for the second Sky series in 2001. The first Sky series kept the same opening titles used from 1987 on the original ITV run (as it continued to be produced by Central). The original theme in C major was an upbeat pop track incorporating piano, strings, drum machine and various other 1980s synthesized sounds reminiscent of the day - the four-note opening motif of Beethoven's 5th Symphony is nicely mixed into the theme at the precise moment the composer's head appears on a flipping hexagon.

The BBC version in 1997 used a much different piece of music written by Henry Marsh and Paul Boross than previous, ditching the signature theme of the ITV and Sky series. It is said by some that the theme is similar to the original theme with notes swapped around but for unknown reasons, the BBC either couldn't or wouldn't use the original theme; therefore, they composed a theme as close to the original as possible but different enough to avoid possible allegations of copyright infringement.

Rage Music created the version used by Challenge, which is an updated version of the original theme, primarily using an electric guitar.[3]

Title sequences

The original 1983–86 title sequence featured flipping hexagons with various images on them running down an encyclopaedia page. The title sequence used from 1986 to 1994 is a city pays homage to other science-fiction films such as Metropolis (1927) and Blade Runner (1982). In the 1994 Sky series the opening titles were cut short, not featuring the hexagons flying over the studio like the 1986–93 titles.

The title sequence used in the 1997 series with a complete different theme tune (although as mentioned above, it might have been similar to the original theme but with several notes swapped around) featured a golden head with hexagons showing clips. The title sequence used in 2000–01 featured people throwing and catching the letters that spell "Blockbusters" using the Ed Welch theme again.

The 2012 title sequence features references to all previous title sequences, mainly hexagons - but also with more subtle features like the golden head (as seen in the 1997 BBC version), and the planet Earth and a city-like structure as seen in the popularised 1987–95 versions.

Main game

Screenshot from the 1986–94 titles showing the game board without letters

Like the 1980 U.S. version, a solo player competed against a pair of contestants, and hence setting out to prove or disprove the old adage that two heads really were better than one.

The game board consisted of 20 interlocking yellow hexagons, arranged in five columns of four. Each hexagon contained a letter of the alphabet (except X and Z). A contestant would choose one of the letters, and would be asked a general-knowledge trivia question whose correct answer began with the chosen letter. (A typical question might be, "What 'P' is a musical instrument with 88 keys?" The answer would be a piano.) The phrasing that contestants would use to ask for a letter has entered the language, and is frequently heard to this day. It is also the source of a pun - "Can I have a 'P' please, Bob?"; 'having a pee' being slang for urinating.

The game board is designed in such a way that a tied game was not a possible finishing result. Even if all 20 hexagons were filled (which did occur at least twice, once in the very first series, and once in the first Sky version) there would always be a winner.

The game began with a toss-up question to play for control of the board, starting with a letter that was chosen at random. The teams or players could buzz-in during the middle of reading of a question. If a player or team got the correct answer, they gained control of that hexagon and were given the chance to choose another one. If the contestant answered incorrectly, the opposing team or player was given a chance to answer it after the host re-read the question. If nobody answered it correctly, the host asked another question whose answer began with that same letter. Each correct answer won £5. In the case of the two-player team, each player won whatever money the team accumulated.

The solo player attempted to complete a vertical connection of white hexagons from the top of the board to the bottom; that required at least four correct answers. The pair attempted to connect a path from left to right with blue hexagons, (purple during the Aspel era) requiring at least five spaces. The first side to connect their path won the game. The first player or team to win two games won the match. When either party was one correct answer away from completing their path, the hexagons forming their path would flash to indicate this. If both were one correct answer away, all lit hexagons on the board would flash, indicating that the situation was effectively "Blockbusters either way" (later referred to as a "mutual space" on the board), and the next player to give a correct answer would win the game, unless the contestant chose a panel which did not give them win, which may sometimes be considered as a safety tactic, although this rarely happened when a victory was imminent.

All players received a "Blockbusters" Concise Oxford Dictionary and sweatshirt in the original ITV series. By 1986 the sweatshirt had been replaced by a "Blockbusters" branded cardigan in a choice of colours and a "Blockbusters" embossed filofax accompanied the dictionary. In the first Sky One series in 1994 it was a Blockbusters Encyclopedia and T-shirt. In the BBC Two 1997 series it was a fountain pen. In the second Sky One series it was a Blockbusters Dictionary and a CD ROM. In the Challenge series the players receive an Elonex E-book reader.

Gold Run

The winner of the match went on to play the Gold Run bonus round; if the pair won, only one player on the team could play, with the turns alternating at each Gold Run. The board consisted of a pattern of green hexagons similar to that of the main game, but the hexagons had 2 to 4 letters inside them; those letters were the initials of the correct answer. (For instance, if a contestant chose "BS" and the host said "Where people kiss in Ireland", the correct answer would be "Blarney Stone.") When the contestant guessed correctly, the hexagon turned gold. However, if the contestant passed, it turned black, blocking the player's path; it was then up to the contestant to work around it. The object was to horizontally connect the left and right sides of the board within 60 seconds (or before blocking off all possible horizontal connections).

If the players were successful they won a special prize. If the Gold Run was not won, each correct answer paid £10. Defending champions could keep going for up to five matches undefeated, in order to win an even bigger prize. From the seventh ITV series, it was reduced to three, so that more contestants could take part over the course of a series. In the first Sky One series this was changed back up to five matches and reduced to three again on BBC Two. In the second Sky One series, it increased to five again. For the Challenge series, the maximum amount remains at five matches.

A famous short piece of music (three sharp notes on a synth-like horn in a slapstick style) was played if a contestant ran out of time on a Gold Run, often producing amused reactions in the studio; the same three notes played on an electric guitar act as the time's-up buzzer on the current Challenge version.

Champion Blockbusters

4 series of Champion Blockbusters were made from 1987 to 1990, in which gold-run winners were invited to return to battle against other gold-run winners.

Other versions

Sky One

In 1994, Sky One created a new series with original host, Bob Holness. It was produced by Central, which had made the programme since 1983, and sponsored by Thomas Cook. This series featured a bonus question for any player who chose a particular letter and correctly answered that question, thereby earning the right to answer a £5 follow-up question. Sky One brought the series back again in 2000, this time produced by Grundy (which owned the format) and presented by Liza Tarbuck, but it failed to capture the same degree of popularity as the Holness incarnation. The format stayed the same in both versions.

BBC Two

BBC Two used adult contestants, instead of sixth formers. This version was broadcast in 1997 and presented by Michael Aspel; the show stayed with the same format. Famous contestants included Stephen Merchant.

This is the only version to use purple hexagons; all other versions still used blue to represent the pair of players. The solo player still played white hexagons. The Gold Run used a blue background in this version and the Liza Tarbuck version.

Gameshow Marathon

On 14 April 2007 at 20:40, Vernon Kay hosted a networked edition of Gameshow Marathon on ITV1 in which celebrity contestants revived the classic 1980s Holness version of the show. It also featured an edited version of the show's opening titles.

Challenge

Title screen for Challenge version of the show

It was announced on 10 November 2011 that game show channel Challenge would revive the show in 2012, under the name "All New Blockbusters", with adult contestants rather than students. Forty episodes were recorded from 9 to 19 February 2012[4] with Simon Mayo hosting the show.[5]

The series started airing on 14 May 2012[6][7] with the first episode dedicated to the memory of original host Bob Holness, who died on 6 January 2012. The series also featured contestant Claire Scott who made her third appearance on Blockbusters.[8]

The show aired at 20:00 every weekday with an omnibus showing split over Saturday and Sunday mornings, plus a repeat showing of the previous night's episode at 17:00. The series was put on hold for a few weeks and resumed transmission on 9 July 2012, starting with a celebrity special featuring Konnie Huq (who had previously been on Blockbusters) amongst others. During the break, the first 20 episodes were repeated (with the "All New" removed from the title).

Merchandise

Blockbusters spawned a number of items of merchandise. 12 quiz books were released from the show[9] which also led to a spin-off: "Blockbusters Gold Run Volumes 1–5" being produced.[10]

In 1986, Waddingtons created a board game version of the show, which was named Game of the Year in 1986 by The British Association of Toy Retailers.[11] This led to several successful spin offs; a "Gold Run" Card Game, a Junior Blockbusters board game (a children's edition) and a Super Blockbusters board game (essentially, a second edition standard game with its own set of "Gold Run" cards).[12] A computer game version of the show was also created for the Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum.

In 2006, a DVD Interactive Game version was released with Bob Holness reprising his position at the helm. The DVD is based on the same format as the TV show, with virtual set design and game graphics matching the original version of the programme.[13]

In 2012, FremantleMedia's gaming division launched an online slot game based on the UK game show. The game is featured at many of the UK's leading gaming sites including Sky Vegas and Bet365.

Transmissions

Regular series

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 29 August 1983[14] 4 November 1983[15] 50[15]
2* 27 August 1984[16] 22 January 1985[17] 120*[17][18]
3 26 August 1985[19] 24 January 1986[20] 120[20]
4 25 August 1986 23 January 1987 120[21]
5 4 September 1987[22] 12 February 1988 120[23]
6 2 September 1988[24] 10 February 1989 120[25]
7 2 January 1990 30 October 1990 120[26]
8 31 October 1990 26 August 1991 136[27]
9 29 August 1991[28] 26 August 1992[29] 150[29]
10 31 August 1992[30] 19 May 1993[31] 104[31]
11 18 April 1994[32] 17 February 1995[33] 180[33]
12 31 March 1997[1] 28 August 1997[1] 60[1]
13 30 October 2000[1] 23 March 2001[1] 100[1]
14 14 May 2012[1] 3 August 2012[1] 41[1]
  • Series 2 & 3 were actually merged into one with the first 71 episodes as Series 2 and the last 49 episodes as Series 3.[17][18]

Champion Blockbusters

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 18 July 1987 22 August 1987 6
2 23 July 1988 27 August 1988 6
3 15 July 1989 19 August 1989 6
4 21 July 1990 25 August 1990 6

Regional transmissions information

Blockbusters was one of the first UK game shows to run in a 'straddling' format, which allowed for games to last a different length of time, meaning that episodes would often begin and end mid-game, and matches often crossed over into two episodes. The show was generally screened at 5:15pm Monday to Friday, filling the half-hour timeslot between Children's ITV and the ITN News at 5:45, with a similar timeslot allocated on Saturdays for a while. The show was always aired on the ITV network, although the first series was repeated on Channel 4 during the summer of 1984, in the Countdown slot. Blockbusters was never networked across ITV's sixteen regions, this meant that it was occasionally possible to retune the television to a neighbouring region and watch a different episode. Blockbusters did share its time slot with other game shows such as Ask No Questions, Connections, and Winner Takes All.

1983

All regions aired Series 1, some stations moved Blockbusters to an earlier slot because the 5:15pm slot wasn't available as it was used up by soap operas.

1984–88
1988–89
1990–92

The show was delayed by all ITV regions until January 1990 as no slots were available to air the show. This was because Home and Away took over the 5:10pm slot and Emmerdale was now being aired at 6:30pm, before it was moved to 7:00pm in January 1990. Anglia, Central and TSW were airing repeats from September to December 1989.

Granada moved the time slots around during this period. It was moved to 5:10pm in 1991 before it was moved again to 6:00pm from Wednesdays to Fridays in 1992. UTV reduced its time slots to one episode a week from January to October 1992, then from 26 October 1992, it was aired at 3:20pm from Mondays to Fridays. TVS reduced its time slots to two episodes a week for most of 1990, but during 1991–92, it went back to three episodes plus an additional episode around Saturday lunchtimes. TSW also dropped its time slots to two episodes per week every so often; however, in a bid to catch back up the series, it was moved to 5:10pm from Mondays to Fridays in September 1992. For around 18 months in 1991–92, Tyne Tees started airing its more local output during its 6:30pm time slot, which resulted in fewer episodes per week. When Tyne Tees and Yorkshire decided to merge their scheduling from January 1993, Tyne Tees increased its output to catch up (In November 1992, it was airing four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays), but had to drop over 50 episodes.

1993

A number of new ITV companies come in to being, which resulted in regional news being extending to a full hour from 6:00pm in some areas, meaning a number of stations moved the series back before CITV and, in some areas, it petered out with only one edition being shown per week.

1994–97

After the tenth series, Blockbusters was no longer networked on ITV. But it continued for one more series on the satellite channel Sky One. Five ITV regional channels showed this series.

Re-runs

Challenge TV aired Blockbusters from 1997–98 showing re-runs from Series 9. In 2004, Saturday Night Takeaway showed clips from a 1992 episode with a contestant who was in the audience did not get very far on the show and only won £10. Following requests on the (now "defunct") Challenge forums to air the show, Challenge managed to acquire Blockbusters from 2004 to 2006, but they only showed the first 25 episodes from Series 10, which generated low ratings. Carlton Select also showed old shows while that channel was still operational. Challenge re-acquired Blockbusters but this time, they acquired 72 episodes from Series 10, and broadcast them during 2011. On 8 May 2014, they acquired the very first series,[36] which aired from 26 May.[37] On 4 January 2016, Challenge began showing Series 11 (the first Sky One series), acquiring 179 of the 180 episodes in the series.

Notable contestants

Other countries

The format has been remade in a number of countries during the 1980s and 1990s:

After a 14-year-long hiatus, the contest was revived in 2008 as part of the newspaper's 30th anniversary celebrations. It was also held in 2009 where the team "Anonymoys +3" whose members included Rahul Menon and Aayush Rajasekaran of The Indian High School, Dubai stood first place. This marked the second year that a team from the Indian High School defeated one from long-time rivals The Modern High School to claim the first place.[41]

Other foreign versions of Blockbusters have aired in  Portugal and  Singapore.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 "Fremantle Archive Sales - BLOCKBUSTERS". Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  2. Melaniphy, Mike. "Central". Television and Radio 1988: The IBA's Yearbook.
  3. Bingham, John (10 November 2011). "Blockbusters back for gold run". Telegraph. London.
  4. Robertson, Colin (6 February 2012). "Radio 2's Simon Mayo to host Blockbusters". The Sun. London.
  5. Simon Mayo to host new series of Blockbusters.
  6. Blockbusters returns to TV screens as Scots champions prepares for third Gold Run - Daily Record
  7. AquaBrowser Library ® - National Library of Scotland
  8. 80Sactual.com
  9. Archived 9 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. blockbusters4.jpg (image)
  11. Blockbusters Interactive DVD Game Interactive DVD 2006: Amazon.co.uk: Bob Holness, Adrian Smith, Jeremy Heath-Smith: DVD & Blu-ray
  12. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 1, Episode 1)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  13. 1 2 "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 1, Episode 50)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  14. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 2, Episode 1)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  15. 1 2 3 "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 3, Episode 49)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  16. 1 2 "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 2, Episode 71)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  17. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 3, Episode 1)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  18. 1 2 "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 3, Episode 120)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  19. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 4, Episode 120)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  20. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 6, Episode 1)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  21. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 5, Episode 120)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  22. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 6, Episode 1)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  23. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 6, Episode 120)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  24. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 7, Episode 120)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  25. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 8, Episode 136)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  26. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 9, Episode 1)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  27. 1 2 "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 9, Episode 150)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  28. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 10, Episode 1)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  29. 1 2 "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 10, Episode 104)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  30. "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 11, Episode 1)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  31. 1 2 "BLOCKBUSTERS (Series 11, Episode 180)". ITN Source. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  32. The Times Digital Archive
  33. Satellite. The Times (London, England), Monday, November 28, 1994; pg. 43; Issue 65123.
  34. Challenge TV on Twitter: "*FANFARE* Deal just signed... BLOCKBUSTERS Series 1 starts 12th May at 10:30am. Bob is back!"
  35. Challenge TV on Twitter: "Blockbusters Series 1 has sadly had to be pushed back another week due to issues with the tapes. again!! So it will NOT start this Monday"
  36. Radio Times 14 May 2012
  37. Blog of Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP
  38. "Blockbusters contest back for Ramadan", "Gulf News", 29 August 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2009
  39. "Blockbusters contest back for 2009", "Gulf News", 20 August 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2009

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.