Connections (game show)

Hosts

The show was originally presented by Sue Robbie, with young adults as contestants, in a similar vein to another ITV quiz, Blockbusters, with which the show was alternated. The programme ran for several series, and another version with adult contestants was unveiled with Richard Madeley at the helm as part of ITV's new look daytime schedule in 1988. Simon Potter presented the final two series in 1989 and 1990. During the Richard Madeley period, a year after becoming the first female Krypton Factor champion, Marian Chanter co-hosted in a segment in which she would appear somewhere in the UK and viewers had to phone in and guess the person connected with that particular area based on clues given.

Gameplay

The game involved two contestants (three in the final series in 1990) trying to make connections by virtue of clues given by the host.

Connect the Clues

Contestants were asked general knowledge questions, which they could answer by buzzing in. Each correct answer would earn the contestant points and reveal a picture clue on a 3×3 gameboard (which in later series became a board of 10 screens). The contestant who gave a correct answer would then have an opportunity to guess the connection between the pictures. When the connection has been identified, the contestant who identified it wins bonus points (the fewer clues are revealed, the more points) and the round ends.

Find the Figure

Again, general knowledge questions are asked on the buzzer. But this time, a correct answer reveals either a number or a mathematical symbol; once eight questions have been answered a sum goes in a clockwise direction around the board, ending with an equals (=) sign. The contestants are then asked (again on the buzzer) for the answer to the sum, which is then revealed in the centre square.

Bonus games

Typically, three rounds were played between the two contestants - Connect the Clues, Find the Figure and then a second Connect the Clues round. After these rounds have been played, the winner would play a solo bonus game.

Link the Letters

This was the original bonus game. The contestant is given 50 seconds to answer eight questions. Each correct answer would reveal a letter (the first letter of the answer) behind one of the screens. After the eight questions, the winning player has the remaining time to identify the 8-letter word, arranged clockwise starting from a random position, in order to win the round. If not all questions were answered correctly, some letters would be missing, thereby making it harder to the contestant to identify the word. This changed in a later version of the show by having the eight letters arranged in circular form, but still without revealing where it actually started. Solving the 8-letter word won a grand prize. A contestant was allowed to compete in up to four "Link The Letters" rounds before they 'retired' undefeated, although very few contestants ever achieved this feat.

Note: When Richard Madeley and Simon Potter took over, this bonus became the final round of the main game.

The Final Connection

In later series, "Link the Letters" was dumped in favour of "The Final Connection" game. Now the winning player was given the first and last pictures on the board. The object was to connect the first picture to the last (with the help of three clues on each).

Consolation prizes

During the Sue Robbie era, the losing contestants went away with a Connections camera and the points that they scored were turned into cash and donated to a charity. When Richard Madeley took over as host, the consolation prize was changed to a goody bag; under Simon Potter, it was a pocket TV.

Transmissions

The show was broadcast by all the ITV companies, but was shown at different times:

Peak Time Transmissions

Peak time series was broadcast:

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

Presenters