The document provides a history of game shows from the 1930s to the 2000s. It discusses the first game shows on BBC in the late 1930s and 1950s, the rise of commercial station ITV in the 1950s bringing advertising and prize money. Popular game shows of each decade are summarized, such as What's My Line? in the 1950s, Jeux Sans Frontières and University Challenge in the 1960s, 3-2-1 and The Generation Game in the 1970s, and Noel Edmonds' live shows in the 1980s and 1990s which brought an element of danger. The document also profiles some famous game show hosts like Anne Robinson and her catchphrase from The Weakest Link.

1. HISTORY OF
GAMESHOWSBY SOPHIA CHARALAMBOUS

2. THE BBC BEGAN THE WORLD'S FIRST HIGH-DEFINITION,
REGULAR TV SERVICE FROM LONDON IN 1936. IT WASN'T
UNTIL TWO YEARS LATER THAT ANY FORM OF GAME SHOW
APPEARED. IN FACT, THE VERY FIRST GAME SHOW EVER SHOWN
WAS VERY POSSIBLY THE WORST EVER.
Spelling Bee was broadcast on 31st May 1938,
transmitted live from the BBC studios at Alexandra
Palace. Hosted by Freddie Grisewood, the panel of
guests were asked to spell a series of words. And that
was it. The host was bedecked in schoolmaster garb as
a way of adding kudos to what was otherwise a light-
hearted quiz - a technique that countless other shows
would use throughout the century. It was not until the
late 80s that children were treated as young people
rather than schoolkids.
Television closed down during the Second World War,
and even when the service returned most of the
programmes shown throughout the rest of the 1940s
were largely forgettable.
EARLY
GAMESHOWS

3. The first game show whose name still means anything to anyone is What's My
Line?, which ran on the BBC from 1951. It was another simple panel game,
nevertheless it ran in numerous different versions on two different channels
through to the mid 90s. The programme was the first US import of a Goodson
and Todman show - many more were to follow. The BBC's monopoly was broken
in 1955 when the government decided that a commercial station (ITV) should
come into being. Its two defining characteristics were that it would carry
commercials and be formed from a number of local companies. This localised
nature led to some game shows being shown in some parts of the country but
not others, a situation which still exists today. With commercials came the advent
of prize funds. Associated Rediffusion, one of the ITV franchise companies, hit
the big time with Take Your Pick, the first show to offer money prizes.
Companion show Double Your Money offered a top prize of £1000. Thereafter,
the money ramped up quickly - one contestant won over £2,000 in 1956 and
another won over £5,000 in 1957. It would not be until 1993 that it was possible
to give away unlimited prizes - until then, the top limit was around £6,000 per
show. Twenty One In the mid to late 50s, Britain went quiz show mad, reflecting
the similar fever in the USA. Game show fever reached its height in the autumn of
1958, when the ITV network was putting a quiz out in prime time six nights a
week (from Sunday to Friday: Dotto, Keep It in the Family, Twenty-One, Spot the
1950’s

4. 1960’s
With Take Your Pick and Double Your Money maintaining their remarkable headlock on the audience figures until
their unfortunate demise, very few other shows were able to get a look-in. The introduction of a second BBC
channel in 1964 did little to alter the outlook, since it had been created to provide alternative higher-brow
programming than mere quiz shows, and for several years Call My Bluff was the channel's only game show of any
note. It wasn't until near the end of the decade that the BBC finally came up with a hit game show in the
somewhat low-brow form of Jeux Sans Frontiéres. Meanwhile back on ITV, the unashamedly highbrow University
Challenge was perhaps the most surprising hit of the decade.
Early attempts were made at high-tech gimmicks, such as the Telebow in The Golden Shot - a show that reached
popularity when it was moved into the traditional graveyard slot of Sunday afternoons. From the late 60s to early
70s.

5. 1970’s
Probably the tone of this era is best described by two words - Benny Hill. The politically
incorrect comedian and countless other suburban sitcoms were having the fun over on ITV. In
response, the BBC provided a stern alternative for proper, upstanding middle-class families
in the form of Ask the Family. Families were also featured heavily in 1971's the Generation
Game, which was to have its heyday in the mid 70s.
The turbulent political situation in the late 1970s, with strikes rife and the economy in
freefall, gave Ted Rogers plenty of ammunition for his routines on 3-2-1. Here, amongst the
very weak puns, you could see occasional glimpse of the kind of satirical humour that would
eventually surface in the late 80s onwards.
A further illustration of the strike culture is provided by an all-out strike at the BBC on 22nd
December 1978. With no BBC to watch, everyone turned over to Sale of the Century, giving it
21.2 million viewers - the highest ever rating for an ITV game show.
Programmes such as 3-2-1 (of Spanish origin) and the Generation Game (Dutch) marked a
change in fortunes for the formats market. While scores of US formats had been replicated in
Britain throughout the 50s and 60s, new European formats were beginning to score some
successes here. Even the British had managed to make a trip across the Pond with The
Krypton Factor - the first modern-style UK game show to be sold to the Americans. The
economic conditions of the 1980s would see something of a recovery for go-for-the-throat
American shows, but thereafter US formats would never find the UK market quite as easy to
sell into.

6. MID1980’s
Let the good times roll. Mrs Thatcher's enterprise-led policies were bringing wealth
to the middle classes and, despite high unemployment, money and goods were the
aspiration of the time. This was reflected on television by the continued success of
Family Fortunes and the introduction of an unabashedly consumerist version of The
Price is Right. A series of privatisations brought about wider share ownership
amongst the public, a theme capitalised on by The Stocks and Shares Show. The
desperation that set in when the golden eggs began to dry up in the early 90s was
reflected in the ruthlessness of Takeover Bid. Although money was everything in the
80s, in a sense money was merely a way of having a good time. The restrained
nature of enjoyment that pervaded game shows to date was slowly disappearing,
and emotions were becoming more exposed. While we saw relationships put to the
test for the first time in the form of Blind Date, you know the UK had been bashful
to pick up on the dating genre compared to other countries, which had had them
years before. The mid 80s also saw the re-birth of 'event' television. A trio of
different Noel Edmonds-led formats (1, 2, 3) would steer BBC 1's Saturday night
schedule until 1999. They were largely broadcast live, which was unusual in the era
of videotape, giving them an "anything can happen" air of danger. They proved to be
both ratings winners and the critics' embodiment of everything that was wrong with
light entertainment.
Sports shows generally had a timeless popularity. The Indoor League in the late 70s

7. MID1990’s
Hey! The UK may be in the middle of a recession, but that doesn't stop funsters such as Noel Edmonds,
Chris Evans and - er - Gaby Roslin offering punters a range of life-changing experiences and "money
can't buy"-type prizes on Noel's House Party, Don't Forget Your Toothbrush and Whatever You Want
respectively.
The regulators saw sense and removed the extremely artificial limits that restricted the value of prizes
that could be given away on game shows. From 1 January 1993, producers were no longer restrained by
the £6000 prize cap imposed by the 1981 Broadcasting Act and could really start to splash the cash.
With house prices at a post-80s low and negative equity rife throughout Middle England, Raise the Roof
offered the golden dream of a free £100,000 house. Shame the game wasn't any good.
The bar for what contestants were expected to put their bodies through was significantly raised.
Previously, the most a contestant could expect to sweat through was the assault course round on the
otherwise largely cerebral The Krypton Factor. Interceptor saw contestants being chased around the
British countryside and, from the same producers, The Crystal Maze in 1990 got contestants running
around the studio, and from 1992 an impressively executed version of Gladiators (from a much lower-
budget US show American Gladiators) got the nation on tenterhooks as contestants bounced on bungee
ropes and hit each other with oversized cotton buds. Now Body Heat - a game show dedicated to the
topic of physical fitness - arrived on the scene to ensure those sweat bands didn't dry up.

8. 2000’s
By 2005 or so, gameshows seemed to be in a bit of a slump. The last few years had seen ITV practically
axe every gameshow they had, even ones that had been running for over 20 years, and in their place came
a whole string of high-profile flops: Public Property, Shafted and I'm the Answer were axed in mid-run,
while the likes of The People Versus and 24 Hour Quiz played out to dismally low ratings. Even recent hits
such as Millionaire? and Link weren't pulling in anywhere near the amount of viewers they used to, and
while there were some bright sparks among the dirge of phone-in quiz channels, things were undeniably
not as good as they were at the start of the decade. Saturday night shows continued to pull in the punters,
with Strictly Come Dancing, The X Factor, the ubiquitous Millionaire and even In It to Win It doing brisk
trade, but elsewhere the hits were few and far between, with I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! being
the exception that proved the rule.
So it was somewhat of a relief for Deal or No Deal to arrive and become the first new gameshow in years to
actually get everyone talking. It had a £250,000 top prize, something that would have been inconcievable
10 years earlier in primetime, let alone daytime, and the welcome comeback for gameshow god Noel
Edmonds. This coupled with the success of Ant and Dec's Gameshow Marathon seemed to revitalise
interest in the genre, and subsequently many old favourites (Bullseye, The Price is Right, Family Fortunes)
re-appeared on our screens.

9. GAMESHOW
HOSTS AND
THEIR
CATCHPHRASES

10. “You are the weakest link,
goodbye” ~ Anne
Robinson
WEAKEST LINK
“Deal, Or No Deal” ~ Noel
Edmonds
DEAL OR NO DEAL
“Is that your final
answer?” ~ Chris Tarrant
WHO WANTS TO BE A
MILLIONAIRE?
 Sums up her sassy and
insulting attitude.
 Alerts the end of the
show.
 It’s literally the name
of the game, you get
the most questions
wrong – you’re the
weakest brain (link).
 Short and snappy.
 The name of the game.
 The deal breaker in the
gameshow leading to a win or
loss.
 The answer to the question
could be unpredictable thus
making the gameshow more
appealing and interesting to
the audience.
 Confuses the person
answering because it
could be a misleading
question.
 Misleading.
 Shows the presenters
control over the game.

11. ANNE
ROBINSON
Famous because: Hosted the show “Weakest Link (2000-12)” She was
chosen for presenter because she fits the role – female, very
authoritised – she has an insulting attitude and can be quite rude
which fits the part perfectly.
What she wears: In every episode, she wears a
black suit or black blouse, demonstrating how
high a place she has on the show, possibly how
respected? She comes across as quite frightening
too maybe the use of dark clothing could help
bring that across to the audience in appearance.
She opens the show standing in
the middle of the circle of 9
contestants with panels(with
buttons to answer the
questions, this is a quiz show)
she opens it saying “This is not
a game for slackers. There are
no gimmes, no do-overs, no
lifelines, no hints you play as a
team but be ready to betray to
win the prize… and if you fail, I
will tell the whole world that you
are the weakest link, goodbye”
As you can tell, she is very
important to the gameshow
because she lists some of the
basic rules at the start and runs
From the dark coloured clothes, to the very
intimidating intro to the gameshow, we can tell
that Anne Robinsons persona comes across as
very tough and quite rude!
Her role in the
show is to list
the rules, read
the questions
and banish
people from
the game.