The 64,000 Dollar Question

Synopsis

Double Your Money...

Gagmeister-in-chief Monkhouse hosted this tensionless but otherwise well-produced imitation of the classic American game show.

Contestants would choose a specialist subject from which their questions were drawn. The first stage of the game offered £1 for the first question, leading up to questions worth £25, £50, £100, £200 and £400 (the last two of which were two-part questions). If they reached the £400 level, their money would be safe.

Video Wall & Isolator

The £800 and £1,600 questions were played at the video wall. The £800 question was in three parts, the £1,600 question was in four parts (and each of the four correct answers would reveal part of a picture via the video wall). The £1,600 milestone was the next safeguard point. In order to earn the "right and obligation" to go for the £3,200 and £6,400 questions, the contestant would have to answer a "key question" which would be related to the picture revealed during the £1,600 question.

For the final two questions, the contestants were placed in a way-over-the-top isolation booth known as "The Isolator" that wouldn't have looked out of place in Encounters of the Third Kind. As the booth entered the studio from above, huge jets of dry ice rained down on to the studio, causing an awful mess to clear up, no doubt.

The £3,200 question was a five-parter, but an extra sixth part would be made available if the contestant was in trouble. In the second Monkhouse-series, this sixth part was no longer offered, hence the fact that fewer contestants made it to £3,200). The £6,400 question was a six-parter (with a seventh part in reserve), but unlike the £3,200 question, Bob would read out all six questions in a row before letting the contestant decide whether to answer them straight away, or use ten seconds of thinking time and collect their thoughts. Contestants could also pass, in which case Bob would come back to the question at the end, but before the 'reserve' sixth or seventh part if the contestant had answered a question incorrectly.

Nearly, but not quite

The disappointment of this show was two-fold. Firstly, the top prize was only £6,400, but this is not the fault of the programme makers. At the time, the top prize allowed by the IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority) for off-peak television programmes was £6,000, and special permission had to be sought to break this slightly. Secondly, players were guaranteed £1,600 even if they failed on the £3,200 or big £6,400 question.

The show was later relegated to a Sunday tea-time slot, but was notable for its slick approach, rather like Monkhouse himself.

Key moments

The outtake where Bob couldn't open the briefcase of money.

The man who took "Geography" as his category and failed on the £1 question which was a 50-50 choice between spring or neap tides.

Bob asking a contestant if she wishes to 'PISS' instead of 'PASS'.

One contestant informed Bob that he (the contestant) had an interest in monasteries. Bob replied (predictably enough), "Well, you should be all right with an old Monkhouse, then!"

Catchphrases

On being asked why they didn't rename the show given that $64,000 dollars wasn't on offer, Bob Monkhouse replied "You don't fool around with successful catchphrases".

A brilliant Monkhouse segue into the commercials: "This is the show that likes to give everyone a break, and here's yours..."

At the beginning of the show: "With TV's biggest cash prize, it's The $64,000 Question - and now, here is the master of the quiz - Bob Monkhouse!"

"You've just won £6,400!"

Inventor

The original TV format was based on a radio show called Take It or Leave It, which had a top prize of $64. The phrase "sixty-four dollar question" was commonly used in the US during the 1940s to signify a particularly difficult or crucial question; it became the "sixty-four thousand dollar question" shortly after the US television series began in 1955.

Theme music

Composed by Ed Welch.

Merchandise

Trivia

On the original TV programme, the first person to win the grand prize on TV was Richard McCutchen on the subject of cooking. He had to answer the question "Name and describe five dishes and two wines from the menu of a royal banquet given in 1939 by King George VI of England for French President Albert Lebrun."

Actor Bruce Seton, who played the title role of the 1955 ITV drama Fabian of Scotland Yard, was the "Guardian of the Questions" for the original version.

During the first Monkhouse series, when winning the £6,400 top prize, a specialised printer was used to print out a personalised cheque which were signed by Bob Monkhouse himself, many years before Chris Tarrant could be seen signing cheques ten times the amount on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? During the second series, this changed to a briefcase of money.

The first two people to win the £6,400 prize were Brian Jones (on the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan) and Kate Vernon-Parry (the works of Beatrix Potter), the first two contestants on the programme. Ms Vernon-Parry had been a Mastermind finalist only a few years before. The last person to win the top amount on the British show was Anthony Holley answering questions on The Rolling Stones.

Bob read the questions from a neat piece of clear glass, which refracted the questions shown from a computer screen in the floor.

Excellent host though Bob undoubtedly was, his habit of both pointedly reminding the contestants how much money they were on the point of winning and keeping them on the hook after they had given their final answers could often prove highly irritating. It was therefore to the considerable credit of many of the contestants that they seemed able to stay cool as cucumbers, even when inside the Isolator - indeed, their friends and relatives in the audience usually looked far more tense!

Pictures

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