Turnabout (1)
Contents |
Host
Co-host
Adjudicator ("People's Champion"): Pamela Russell (1957), Muriel Young (1958)
Hostess (1958): Pauline Shepherd
Wally Reyburn
Broadcast
Associated Rediffusion for ITV, 14 June 1956 - 12 September 1958 (34 episodes)
Synopsis
Roy Ward Dickson asked a contestant six questions, worth (in order) £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 and £10, making the possible jackpot £25. The player was then awarded a dictionary and came back on the next show a fortnight later, armed with three words selected from the dictionary. Roy was challenged to spell these words, and if he couldn't, then the prize money was doubled and the contestant could come back on the next show with another three words with which to challenge him.
Contestants who failed to answer any of the questions were allowed to dip their hands into a pot and take however much they could grab in one handful - which wasn't very much, because if you made a fist, your hand would catch in the neck of the jar. This was later re-used in another Roy Ward Dickson show, Abracadabra. The biggest prize possible in the whole show was £350.
Inventor
Trivia
Cantankerous 1950s TV critic Bernard Levin (who didn't like game shows at the best of times) said of this show, "its sole distinction is that it is the dullest of its tribe... idiotic in conception and pointless in execution".
