Letterbox
Contents |
Host
Broadcast
Hindsight Productions for BBC Two, 17 July 2017 to 8 November 2018 (45 episodes in 2 series)
Synopsis
Anyone for a game of competitive hangman?
Mel's always up for a game.Blanks appears on screen, denoting each letter in a password. One player guesses a letter of the alphabet. If it's in the word, the letter appears, and they can guess again. Should the letter not be in the word, play passes to the opponent. Whoever completes the password wins the round.
The hand shake of...a hand shake.Four pairs take part in the show, head-to-head matches reduce them to one winner. It's solo play in the first round, they can confer in the final and the cash round.
Hmm, a country with an "O" and an "A". What could it possibly be?The cash round? A box of letters is in front of Mel Giedroyc. There's a password hidden in the "letterbox" - it's eight letters, none of them repeated. The rest of the alphabet is also in the box, and whoever solves a word gets to pick two letters from the box. These tokens are handed over, and finalists will know eight letters that aren't in the mystery password.
There is no P.There's a top prize of £2500, but the money drops by £500 for each letter that isn't in the final password. Most daily winners take £1500 or so.
There is an E.Letterbox is a slight programme, quiet and unassuming. The entertainment comes from playing along - the password isn't said until it's solved. Fun also comes from reaction shots from the non-playing partner. It goes well with Eggheads in the teatime slot, but is perhaps too laid-back for its own good.
Cash galore!Key moments
A nine letter word for a fictional character. Our contestants are stumped with only two letters left to reveal.
Surely they must be Disney fans.
Inventor
David Young, who described the show thus: "It's a word game designed to appeal to a family audience because it doesn't contain any general knowledge questions. On Letterbox you don’t need to be an Egghead to walk away a winner!"
Trivia
The first series went out at 6.30, immediately after Eggheads. The second series went out at 6pm displacing Eggheads to 4.45, before Pointless; at the time, this was the earliest Eggheads had aired since 2005.
Hindsight Productions was established by David Young. This was the company's first BBC commission.
Theme music
Marc Sylvan
