Telly Quiz
Contents |
Host
Aiden J. Harvey (non-broadcast pilot)
Jerry Stevens
Co-hosts
Announcer: David Stevens
Broadcast
BBC Pebble Mill for BBC2, 24 December 1984 to 2 January 1985 (8 episodes in 1 series)
Synopsis
This television quiz featured two teams of three at a time. Each team started with 28 points and had to get to zero, by answering questions about television past and present. The number of points "scored" depended on whether they chose and correctly answered an easy, medium or hard question (worth 4, 6, or 12 points).
The "Vox Pop Jury" (three bleary-eyed people dragged out of the audience) could be used on hard questions, for half points. The trouble was the panel was often more useless than the contestants! Incorrect answers would kill the question, it wouldn't be offered for bonuses - unless the Vox Pop Jury was used and got the question wrong, then six points automatically went to the other side.
Every time a question was answered correctly, a guitar jangle would play as the scoreboard changed; this repetition got quite irritating.
Games usually lasted a bit more than half an episode, so often strattled from one episode to the next. Champion teams retired after two wins, so an episode could have between three and five teams taking part.
A light mixture of television history, interspersed with clips, photos, and themes. The scoring gimmick was far too complex, but the basic idea of a quiz about television was sound - the Pebble Mill producers would turn it into Telly Addicts, which ran for absolutely years.
Trivia
Recorded at BBC Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham.
Winners received a television and a sweatshirt saying "I beat the Telly Quiz".
Jerry Stevens was the other half of The Lennie and Jerry Show with Lennie Bennett; he died in October 2022. The unrelated David Stevens was a BBC Midlands presenter, and he died in 1999.
Web links
The BBC Motion Graphics Archive has these opening titles - but they don't match the very simple titles in the sample episode.
