See it, Saw it

Host

Mark Speight

Co-hosts

Court jesters: "See" (Natasha Collins, 1999; Kate Crossley, 2000-1) and "Saw" (Philip Fox)

Supporting cast included Sylvester McCoy and Julia Binsted

Broadcast

Brechin for BBC One, 6 January 1999 to 26 March 2001 (39 episodes in 3 series + 8 specials)

Synopsis

It's essentially a reworking of Jigsaw for the fin de siecle.

File:Seeitsawit natashacollins markspeight group.jpg

Natasha Collins, Mark Speight and Philip Fox

Mark "Scratchy" Speight plays a bungling king accompanied by two jesters, See and Saw. There follows a selection of sketches and miscellaneous messing-about with the king and jesters, interspersed with some other comedy sketches.

See her: Natasha Collins

Saw him: Philip Fox

Stand up: Mark Speight

After each comedy sketch the king asks an observation question, with two possible answers. You take the initial letter of the correct answer from each of the four sketches to build up a four-letter word. The main gimmick is that the audience, made up of probably about 100 kids - a year from a school? - are sitting on a giant see-saw contraption.

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A heavily made-up Sylvester McCoy as the Chamberlain

The kids get the chance to answer some of the questions as well - leaning or shuffling to their left if they think one of the answers is correct, leaning or shuffling to their right if they think the other answer is correct. The see-saw then either sees or saws according to the majority decision.

The incredibly convincing medieval set

It's quite clever, official, and that's about it. No real game in-studio, but viewers at home can write in with the correct word to win a T-shirt or something.

No change.

Catchphrases

Mark: Did you see it? Audience: Saw it!!

Inventor

A Clive Doig creation, although in the end credits, Julia Doig gets a credit for the idea (as a wild guess, she would have thought of the see-saw gimmick?)

Julia Doig

Trivia

Mark Speight met his fiancee, jester Natasha Collins, on the programme. However, she died of a drugs overdose in their London flat in January 2008, and tragically Mark took his own life the following April.