Voices of Charles Foster Original language(s) English No. of episodes 103 | Country of origin United Kingdom No. of series 8 | |
Presented by Julian Pettifer (1985–8)
Sarah Kennedy (1989–91)
Elton Welsby (1993) | ||
Busman's Holiday is a British television game show produced by Granada for the ITV network from 26 February 1985 to 28 June 1993. Its hosts over the years were Julian Pettifer (1985-8), Sarah Kennedy (1989–91) and Elton Welsby (1993). Charles Foster was the announcer.
Contents
Title
The phrase "busman's holiday" is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as a period of holiday or leisure time spent doing something similar to one's normal occupation, first shown to be used in 1893.
Format
Contestants were divided into competing teams of three based upon career, at first three teams and later in the series just two teams. They were dressed in their regular work clothes. The winning team went on an exotic holiday where they had to work, to learn how their jobs were performed in other locations.
The format of the programme consisted of multiple rounds of quizzing: world geography, questions of the other's profession or brain teasers, questions of their own profession—sometimes quite embarrassing, and questions on a final destination— revealing which team had conducted the best research prior to the match. There was also a review of the prior week's winning contestants' holiday.