Quiz Shows

[Just Some Guy]

With the passing of Henry Kelly & Egghead Chris this week there has been some quiz / game show chat about and I thought there might be enough interest for a thread.

Tell us your memories of watching Sale of the Century with your Granny.

Or the worst answer you ever saw on Family Fortunes.

Or even when you were on Only Connect / Supermarket Sweep.

I've always loved this type of show, playing along to see if I could win.

I used to rush home from school to watch 15-to-1 with my Grandma and in later years when her health wasn't so good I tried to cheer her up by getting on the show.

I had two appearances finishing 5th and just scrapping into round 2 on my return visit.

William G. Stewart was extremely charming and avuncular, but Just Some Girl got to see him away from the contestants and stated that she would not want to work for him.

 

[davertfnewman]

I'm a big Bob Mills fan and loved the period where he hosted Win, Lose or Draw. Used to tape the episodes just for his bits (Waistcoat Wednesday, "Let me dance to the other side of the board", "The answer is A, B or C (to a ridiculously obvious viewer competition) - now don't rush it! Call a friend, get some advice!").

One episode they had a "studenty type", to quote Paul Calf, with longish hair and a goatee. Millsy was taking the piss out of him pretty consistently ("This is called a pen! Your lecturers will teach you how to use it!") and the lad's celebrity teammates were Saracen and Joe Pasquale, so one stuck up for him...

Saracen: "Stop intimidating him!"

Millsy: "Hey! You can stand on one of those platforms with a big stick against some bank manager from Bristol who's all 'What do I have to do here, then?' and you tell me about intimidation?! If you didn't have your mate with you..."

Pasquale: "Yeah!"

[Scratch]

My favourite answer from any quiz show, ever.

 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

 

You can see the panic in her eyes, but this is a sensational answer. 

 

[Chili]

I've somehow never seen an episode of Mastermind. I've seen so many parodies though, that I feel I don't need to bother and maybe actually watching will ruin the mystique in my head.

I think they're shit game shows. The basic ones that some Bill Hicks sounding wanker would call the fall of our culture, and the smart arse ones that appeal to nutters who are too niche for a pub quiz. I'm looking at you 15 to 1.

It's shit aesthetics and stupid concepts I love most in them. Bullseye is genuinely great because the combination of an indoor league sport as silly as darts being hinged together with the game show format, hosted by someone not good in the role, with a audience that's genuinely haunted, all to win a speed boat, a tea set or a Ford Escort. Perfectly British glamour misery and it's perfect.

Any that have a memorable theme tune gets a pass. Strike it Lucky (Strike it Rich? Go away), Wheel of Fortune etc. They work, banger themes.

Anything on the cheap shitty side I'll watch over anything too loud. I don't like big mass studio things like anything Ant & Dec or Bruce Forsyth used to do. Just always felt extremely cold and removed from those. Never understood why, just an aesthetic I never liked.

Channel 5 (I think) used to do a wonderfully cheap show called '100%' which didn't have a host or anything, just a green screen set with some disembodied supermarket voice reading out the questions. Proper how people in the 70's thought the year 2000 was gonna be levels of shit futurism. Loved it.

[davertfnewman]

One thing I do hate about quiz or game shows is the building of anticipation through showing your working. You get posed a multiple choice question or scenario, the person takes three minutes to go threw process of elimination to find the answer. "Well, I know it's not that, and I remember something about this, but I've never heard of the other thing." Not quick enough, I need boom, boom, boom questions and answers. And I don't even intend for WWTBAM to be the focus of that, it's more Deal or No Deal or The Chase and shit like that. Especially when extended to an hour.

[FLips]

They're not something I actively watch but when they're on I do find myself sat answering the questions and shaking my head disapprovingly at people. For me I don't think Les Dennis' Family Fortunes was ever topped. Roy Walker's Catchphrase came close though. Just comfort watches, the pair of them.

If I had to go with more modern ones then I do enjoy Pointless and Tipping Point, and I enjoyed the bits of Tenable I saw. Minus points for anything hosted by or involving Stephen Mulhern though.

[Tommy!]

6 hours ago, Chili said:

Channel 5 (I think) used to do a wonderfully cheap show called '100%' which didn't have a host or anything, just a green screen set with some disembodied supermarket voice reading out the questions. Proper how people in the 70's thought the year 2000 was gonna be levels of shit futurism. Loved it.

100% was great. Used to watch repeats of it every lunch when I was at school. There was one guy who had a huge winnings streak, sure he did the rounds on a few quiz shows.

The themed specials were a bit meh though.

Was Whittle with Tim Vine Ch5 too? Loved that at the time, but like 100% was clearly made on the leanest of budgets.

I might have been the only person who enjoyed Vernon Kay's HeadJam. It was around the same time Wogan had a tea time quiz where you'd get a little wooden figurine which was also great, but fucked if I can recall the name.

Edit: Wogan's Perfect Recall. 

Edited March 1, 2025 by Tommy!

[Thunderplex]

Blankety Blank, the Dawson Years.  Wogan was great, but Les’s genuine affection for the contestants, wonderful piss taking of the celebs and his usual mastery of the English Language is still to be topped.

Strong affection as mentioned above watching “From Norwich, it’s the quiz of the week” with my Gran in the summer holidays, with her calling Nicholas Parsons a slimy sod several times per episode.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

There were so many great daytime quiz shows. Name That Tune, Tarby's Frame Game, Gambit, Chain Letters, Crosswits,  I could go on and on. 

[TheBurningRed]

I bloody love a quiz show. Omid Djalili had a really fun one a few years ago called Winning Combination. A great afternoon watch. I wish it didn’t get cancelled. I also believe I would’ve won that show if I could’ve got on there because they had some right divs win.

[JLM]

I do get a sick thrill out of those ones where the endgame is engineered for maximum human scumbaggery. Golden Balls had plenty of this, though also delivered some heart-warming moments where two people who had only met that day were still able to mutually agree to not be bastards to each other and follow through on that promise.

"Divided" though, good grief On that show the three players work together as a team to build up a cash total. Then at the end the prize is split into shares in the region of 70%, 20% and 10%. The team members then have to come to an agreement over who gets which share. They each make their case, then they discuss it amongst themselves. While they discuss this, a timer begins and the cash prize gradually depletes along with the timer. If they don't all agree who gets which share by the time it gets to zero, nobody gets anything.

So OF COURSE you get these games where the thickest motherfucker you've ever seen who was a burden to the team for the duration goes "I'M TAKING THE BIGGEST SHARE,  END OF. END OF M8." Absolutely excruciating but I couldn't look away. This one is pretty brutal:

That said, there was also Pete, who may actually be Jesus:

 

 

Edited March 2, 2025 by JLM

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

No fans of this then from Kilroy?

 

 

Countdown has never been the same without Richard Whitely and Carol. Only thing that keeps me watching is my guilty pleasure of having a long term crush on Suzy Dent...

 

 

[Jazzy G]

I've developed a Monday night tradition of watching Mastermind, University Challenge and Only Connect. 

I like a good game show, but it can be difficult to stop blurting the answers out loud because I've read the question on the screen before the host has asked it. 

So many people gave said "you should go on one of theses shows", but I know there's a difference between knowing the answer down the pub and being in a studio with all those lights etc. There was a pub in Guide Bridge the ex and I used to go to some Wednesdays for the quiz with her friends, and if they saw me walking in some people who would usually play the quiz if I wasn't about would leave. 

[Callum1993]

There’s been a couple of good new ones recently. Lee Mack’s The One Percent Club is excellent. Also really enjoying One Question with Claudia on Channel 4. Really simple format but it works.