Winner Takes All

Host

Jimmy Tarbuck (original host)

Geoffrey Wheeler

Bobby Davro (1997)

Co-hosts

Voiceover: Geoffrey Wheeler, Gaynor Barnes (1997)

Broadcast

ITV (Yorkshire), 1976 to 1988

Challenge TV, 1997

Synopsis

Contestants start with fifty points and answer a series of five questions, wagering between five and fifty of their accumulated total on their ability to select the correct answer from the five displayed.

Each answer was associated with a set of odds, between 2-1 and 5-1 and the outsider at 10-1. Correct answers paid off at the illustrated odds.

The set of winner takes all. The contestants indicated their "bet" via the lights in front of their desks.

This takes place twice before the break, and once afterwards, but for pounds instead of points. There was a returning-champion complication somewhere along the line, too.

"Ho-ho!" Tarbuck hosted in the early days, accompanied by the disembodied voice of Geoffrey Wheeler to read out the questions, answers and commentate upon the outcomes. Later shows dispensed with Tarbuck and Wheeler performed both jobs.

Jimmy Tarbuck and hostesses

A modern version starring Bobby Davro was made for cable station Challenge TV and two things strike you about the show. Firstly, Davro's actually a very quick witted host, and secondly how inconsequential the betting procedure is. If you'd just count how many questions each contestant got right, most of the time you'd reach exactly the same outcome.

For this reason, we can't praise this show to the heights, but nevertheless it's a quiz that was popular in its day.

Catchphrases

Classic early-'80s quiz show dialogue. Jim: "Press your buttons and gamble away!" Geoffrey: "Wide difference of opinion here, Jim!"

Theme music

Opening titles of Winner Takes All, with Tarby

The original theme was an instrumental piece of library music called Joy Ride by Jim Lawless.

Trivia

The grand prize was £1,000 in the form of one thousand one-pound notes (remember them?) in a display case - much like Who Wants to be a Millionaire?'s £1,000,000-worth of thick wads of fifties (albeit fake), but not nearly as impressive. We were all hard up in those days, y'see.

Inventor

The show was actually invented by Geoffrey Wheeler, who originally was the voiceover and later the host.

Host, Geoffrey Wheeler (he's the one on the left) with hostess.

Videos

Early version of the opening titles

Geoffrey Wheeler title sequence

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