Call My Bluff

Revision as of 13:11, 13 November 2009

Synopsis

DING! And the word is 'Call My Bluff'. Vic?

"Well, in prehistoric times, fish used to be able to talk. In English! They also used to keep pets, one of which was called a 'Bluff'. Now, when a friend fish says 'Hello fish! can you call my bluff for me?' he wants you to call his pet. Sadly, fishes have lost the ability to talk nowadays."

Coren, Holness and Toksvig. Not pictured: Harold the Hedgehog.

Very good Vic. Sandi?

"'Ha ha ha! I'm Danish! Anyway, one day, a synonym for someone's agent was a 'Bluff', thereby, ha ha! when you got someone to call your agent you quite literally got them to 'Call My Bluff'. Ha!"

And finally Phillippa?

"Actually it's none of those, in fact it isn't a word, merely a phrase. It is a saying, originating from Sweden, for your best friend's wife-in-law."

A modern incarnation of the team, no doubt photographed in a sunny corner of BBC TV Centre

So is it a way of calling fish pets over, a synonym for an agent or a word game on the BBC? Nick?

"Well actually I wouldn't have written this if I didn't know what it was, and I'm quite sure it's Vic's."

Pictures

Picture 1 - From left to right - Robert Morley, Robin Ray, Frank Muir

Picture 2 - Box cover from a vintage board game, featuring Marshall, Robinson and Muir

Inventor

Based on an American Goodson-Todman show of the same title. According to Frank Muir in his memoir A Kentish Lad, the American show "was a bit of a shambles, mainly because the bluffs... were so obviously false that it was painfully easy to spot the trues. The show proved not to be to the taste of American viewers and only lasted one season."

Theme music

Ciccolino by Norrie Paramor

Trivia

Call My Bluff was the second UK game show to be broadcast in colour, on 1 October 1967. The comparatively obscure Crossword on 2 beat it by two days.

The 1994 special was part of a theme night called "An Evening In with David Attenborough", marking BBC2's 30th birthday.

The Bob Holness/Alan Coren/Sandi Toksvig version of the show worked brilliantly, since the two captains had an excellent rapport and were always able to score points over one another (usually in Sandi's favour!). The show was officially axed in 2003, only to be revived just a few months later with a new host and a new captain. While Fiona Bruce was very good as hostess, sadly, Rod Liddle did not have the same rapport with Alan that Sandi had had. As with so many other shows, they should have adopted the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' rule! The last run went out on Sunday mornings, between the god slot and Countryfile. The final version may have been a disappointment, but it deserved better than that.

Among the best guests in the Coren/Toksvig version were John Sergeant, Bill Paterson, Barry Cryer and Bernard Cribbins. No wonder they all appeared on more than one occasion! Indeed, Sergeant would arguably be the best choice as a new team captain opposite Sandi, should they choose to revive the show again. Either Bob Holness or Fiona Bruce could return to host it - or a good choice as a new host would seem to be Adrian Chiles.

In 2007, Rod Liddle admitted that he once cheated on a show by texting his girlfriend who was standing by with a copy of the OED. He claimed that he did so to get back at Alan Coren, whom he believed was also cheating. Coren, however, denied the charge, telling the Daily Mail "I haven't ever cheated at anything. And unlike Rod I haven't cheated on my wife". As Linda Papadopoulos would charge a packet for saying, it looks like there's a bit of tension between these two.

Actress Phyllida Law seemed to struggle with her true and bluff cards, especially on one occasion when she had the true definition and could not find the right card. She ended up throwing most of the cards all over the studio, before eventually finding the right one (with a bit of help from Alan Coren!)

Web links

Wikipedia entry

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