Weaver's Week 2024-06-16

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A couple of years ago, Broken TV had a question. "Which shows have had the most broadcasts shown on the BBC?" It took over a year to find an answer, in a series of hugely entertaining and well-written blogposts.

Just after they'd finished, one of the UKGS editors asked, "So, which game shows have had the most episodes broadcast?" That is the question we're going to answer. And, with not very much in the way of new shows around, we're going to compile a top 100-ish, and spread it out across the summer and probably into the autumn.

Contents 1 What's an episode? What's a game show? What's broadcast? 2 100% 3 Fifteen-to-One 4 3-2-1 5 The $64,000 Question 6 8 Out of 10 Cats 7 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown 8 Animal, Vegetable, Mineral 9 Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway 10 Antiques Road Trip 11 The Apprentice 12 Artist of the Year 13 Ask Me Another 14 Ask the Family 15 Scores on the boards 15.1 Daytime 15.2 Primetime 16 In other news

What's an episode? What's a game show? What's broadcast?

Do we have to spell these out? Actually, yes, we do have to spell these out. An "episode" is anything with a separate end credit sequence, even if it's just "A Stiffco Production for KYTV". There are a handful of edge cases, which we'll deal with as they arise.

"Game show" is anything listed in this site's A-Z index. Telly, radio, streaming, whatever. It's also the definitive count of episodes. "Broadcast" is that the show has actually made it on air – ITV might think that their shelves are improved with dozens of episodes of Lingo sitting on them, but their schedules are not, and viewers haven't yet enjoyed them. (Lingo has had 131 episodes so far, and at least 50 still to air.)

We have to draw a line somewhere, and we've decided shows must be broadcast by the end of 2023. The new series of Jeopardy! from New Year's Day will not count.

While the UKGS editors try to keep the A-Z entries accurate, we occasionally find that episodes were shown at unusual times, or were dropped when we weren't looking. We might need to revise the figures on a programme's page, and if there's a discrepancy, the programme's page is correct.

Two lists will be made. The main list, most episodes anywhere in the schedule. For this, a show needs to have had at least 500 episodes, the equivalent of one show every weekday for 2 years. Expect it to be dominated by daytime shows.

We'll also keep a primetime list, for episodes commissioned to go out in primetime and with a primetime budget. Minimum requirement here is 100 episodes, the equivalent of one show each week for 2 years.

While we won't keep a proper list, children's shows with lots of episodes will get a mention. So will some much-loved programmes that didn't run as long as all that.

And we're going to present the list in alphabetical order by title. Which, rather awkwardly, means we must begin with one of the most underwhelming programmes we've ever watched.

100%

The one where a disembodied voice asks simple A, B, or C questions to three contenders. That's it, just three contestants standing at their podia for half an hour, while they listen to a single voice, and cobwebs form around their hands. The daily winner picks up £100 and comes back again tomorrow.

Channel 5's first daytime quiz, it ran almost non-stop for the first five years of the channel, and then stopped, and nobody's ever thought about bringing it back.

We credit 100% with 1030 episodes, plus 34 specials. It felt like there were a lot more specials, maybe those did get repeated.

But wait! There's more! 100% Gold, an early-afternoon spin-off for older viewers who found Countdown far too exciting. 444 episodes.

And there was 100% Sex, which made 38 episodes in its post-watershed position.

Grand total of 1546 episodes.

Fifteen-to-One

Fifteen contestants nominate each other to find the daily winner; best players over the series come back for the final where they might win something entirely ancient. The Rolls-Royce of daytime quizzes, William G Stewart made it look effortless. We didn't learn much about most contestants, but some big winners became minor stars.

Originally ran from 1988 to 2003, and then got revived in 2013. Dame Sandi Toksvig went at a slower pace, and inviting people to stay for three episodes made sure we did learn something about contestants. Fell off the schedules in 2019, and we await the next revival.

2260 episodes in the original series, except we know that two weren't shown. Plus the 40-episode schools series, two celebrity specials, two special themed editions, and one Millennium Quiz where 25 of the brightest and best spend Christmas afternoon round Bill's in a show so complex it must have been dreamed up over sherry.

The revival had 370 episodes plus 10 primetime specials, and kept Sandi Toksvig and good quizzers on our screens, both of which are very good achievements.

We make that 2683 episodes.

3-2-1

A sheet of aluminium foil, and the riddle "I am a bin, not a car."

Ted Rodgers and Dusty Bin and a cast of thousands introduce a combination quiz and variety show, with some of the most abstruse and twisted riddles ever devised. Everyone who was anyone in light entertainment passed through the Leeds studios, from Shane Richie to Frankie Howard, Dana to Janice Long.

Something for all the family here: a quiz to test the brain, a tv game to test tactile control, and those riddles nobody ever quite understood, not least the host. Ted held the show together, a natural comedian who would keep a complex format on the rails without ever threatening to overshadow the big stars.

Ran from 1978 to 1988, and came to a natural end. Some argue that The Masked Singer is a similar programme, but are the riddles hard enough? And could this be a format for Ant and Dec to have a go at?

154 primetime episodes.

A quick mention for 50/50, the children's quiz had 122 episodes in its eight years on air.

The $64,000 Question

Breathtaking deep knowledge of specialised subjects. As the weeks progress, and contestants keep coming back, we get to know them and we get to root for them. The contest might be simple at the beginning, but by the time a player's on their sixth appearance, and locked away in the Isolator to go for the jackpot, we're watching great drama to rival Brideshead Revisited.

Jerry Desmonde hosted 85 episodes from 1956-58, they ended because the ITA was getting antsy about corrupt American game shows. Bob Monkhouse hosted 52 eps in the 1990-92 revival, and it only ended because Bob moved on to Celebrity Squares (which we may cover in a later edition).

137 primetime episodes.

8 Out of 10 Cats

Jimmy Carr and "friends" try to be funnier than the real news, and often fail.

Began in 2005 as a topical panel game loosely based on statistics and opinion polls. By 2020, it was a bunch of friends sitting about and chatting about contemporary society. Fell out of production during the pandemic and nobody's really missed it.

Still, it introduced the world to Sean Lock, and gave us the runaway format Carrot in a Box, so it'll be remembered for something.

232 primetime episodes, including 4 Big Brother specials.

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown

Jimmy Carr and "friends" invade the Countdown studios, and prove to be a shot in the arm for both formats. It will not be a surprise to find that Countdown features in the list

157 primetime episodes + 4 compilation episodes

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral

Art historians and natural history experts are asked to identify interesting objects from museum and university collections by asking yes-no questions. Gave an early break to interesting items researcher David Attenborough, the original QI elf.

Ran from 1952-59, with a revival series in 1971 and a one-off special in 1983.

131 primetime episodes

Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway

"Here to make my best mate laugh."

We've not had much action in this week's column, have we? Everyone has been rooted to the spot, the only creature to trundle across the stage was Dusty Bin, powered as he was by four Duracell batteries. This show is different, being action-packed and fast-moving and a million miles away from the staid Animal, Vegetable, Mineral and 100%.

Television's youngest duo make the light entertainment programme of our time. From the initial premise – win the contents of an ad break! – Ant and Dec took the spontaneous fun of Noel's House Party, the horror of being Banged Up With Beadle, hidden camera stunts, disguises. Then they went off to do other things (Red or Black?, 14 episodes; Push the Button, 14 episodes; replay on ITV2 next Wednesday).

None of these other things worked, so they invented The End of the Show Show, and The Happiest Minute of the Week, Singalong Live, and kept Stephen Mulhern around like a modern-day Dusty Bin. (Stephen hosts the spin-off In for a Penny, 41 episodes + 1 compilation to the end of 2023.)

Began in 2002, took a break from 2009 to 2013, and we had a full retrospective when the show ended a couple of months back.

141 primetime episodes

Antiques Road Trip

Another show that gets off its sofa and out from behind the desk, Antiques Road Trip goes out and into the world. Each week two of the Bargain Hunt/Flog It experts travel around a given region and attempt to "trade up" (which is fancy talk for buying, selling and reinvesting the proceeds). They've since brought in celebrity editions, where Gyles Brandreth brought in an antique of his own.

Quietly running since 2010 at about 50 daytime episodes a year, and 20 celeb ones. Not this column's cup of tea, but clearly a lot of people love it.

905 episodes.

The Apprentice

Cosplay for the people you don't want around. Loads of wannabees in shiny suits pretend to know what they're doing. Alan Sugar pretends that the only important thing is profit. He knows the result he wants from about week two, and the whole enterprise props up one of the most vile people on the planet. Clogging up the schedules since 2005.

Main series: 230 episodes
Spin-off talk show You're Fired: 216 episodes
They also did a BBC3 version, Young Apprentice: 22 episodes

Total of 468 primetime episodes

Artist of the Year

Began in 2013 as Portrait Artist of the Year, then rotated itself to become Landscape Artist. Joan Bakewell, Stephen Mangan, and Frank Skinner host, and the whole competition is incredibly nice and pleasant.

There aren't many SKY TV shows on this list, because SKY TV doesn't make competition shows for very long. Let's be blunt, SKY TV doesn't make any show for very long, it prefers to splash the cash on football and imported guff. Ten years of this programme is a remarkable achievement.

Portrait: 101 episodes
Landscape: 74 episodes

Total of 175 primetime episodes

Ask Me Another

Back to the sit-down studio quiz. This was a TV spin-off from What Do You Know?. A rotating team of winners and distinguished contestants from the radio show's "Brain of Britain" quiz took on a new team of challengers each week. We'll meet the idea of Eggheads again in a later edition.

From October 1959 onward, the usual team was Olive Stephens, Ted Moult and Reginald Webster, though there were still occasional substitutions. The challengers were often, though not always, celebrity teams.

109 primetime episodes, with another 32 airing around 4pm on Sunday afternoons.

Ask the Family

We finish, as we start, with a staid quiz – though there was some animation on Ask the Family.

Terribly middle-class quiz for families with serious-looking glasses and qualifications in chartered accountancy from Guildford, and that's just the kids. Robert Robinson, assisted by producer Eric's graphics, posed taxing logic questions. A bit like The 1% Club, except the whole hour was somewhere around the 15% level, and there was no audience and not much atmosphere.

Ran from 1969 to 1984. Commissioned for the "family viewing" slot they used to have on BBC1 at about 6.45pm, which we deem to be prime time. The 1984 series went out at 5.35 because they moved the news, we still count it.

221 primetime episodes, plus revivals with Alan Titchmarsh (1999, 31 episodes) and Dick and Dom on BBC2 (2005, 23 episodes).

Scores on the boards

Daytime

Show	Episodes
Fifteen-to-One	2683
100%	1546
Antiques Road Trip	905

Primetime

Show	Episodes
The Apprentice	468
8 Out of 10 Cats	232
Ask the Family	221
Artist of the Year	175
8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown	157
3-2-1	154
Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway	141
The $64,000 Question	137
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral	131
Ask Me Another	109

Next week, what B has been hosted by telly legends?

In other news

The ever-reliable Dirty Feed has an affectionate tribute to Give Us a Clue. You know, Give Us a Clue, Lional Blair and Dame Una Stubbs and Michael Aspel and telling the decline and fall of the Roman Empire in 80 seconds flat. "They generally take the game exactly as seriously as it deserves. Too little, and you'd wonder why you're bothering to watch; too much, and you'd lose all the fun. Time after time, virtually every contestant gets this right."

We're interested to hear about the London Soundtrack Festival, a programme of film and television concerts happening in March next year. Highlights include a gala concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra making a fantasia on quiz show themes, a masterclass with Paul Farrer on how to compose music for television, and similar events for video game music. Tickets go on sale in September.

Lots of sport this week – ITV network has Euro 2024 With Mark Pougatch and/or My Lovely Horse Roadshow from Ascot. BBC1 goes with Euro 2024 Without Mark Pougatch and/or Tennis From The End of the Number 45 Bus Route. None of this interests us.

Knock-on changes include Sewing Bee moving to BBC2 on Tuesday. New series of The Masked Singer Us (ITV2, from Monday). Bake Off The Professionals (C4, Mon, Tue) and Popmaster TV (More4, Mon, Tue) continue, as does The Traitors NBC (BBC3, Mon-Thu). And Countdown begins its finals week (C4, from Thu).

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