6 /10 2 Votes
4.7/10 TV Original language(s) English Picture format 4:3 Final episode date 19 December 1997 Language English | 7.1/10 IMDb Country of origin United Kingdom Running time 30 minutes First episode date 2 January 1979 Distributor FremantleMedia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Game show, Sale of the Century, Name That Tune, Blankety Blank, Bob's Full House | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Give us a clue 1981 pertwee davison
Give Us a Clue is a British televised game show version of charades which was broadcast on ITV from 1979 to 1992. The original host was Michael Aspel from 1979 to 1984, followed by Michael Parkinson from 1984 to 1992. The show featured two teams, one captained by Lionel Blair and the other by Una Stubbs. Later versions of the programme had Liza Goddard as captain of the women's team.
Contents
- Give us a clue 1981 pertwee davison
- Give us a clue early 1990 s
- Format
- Transmissions
- Theme music
- Trivia
- Other versions
- References
A revived version was broadcast by BBC One in 1997 over 30 episodes, hosted by Tim Clark. Teams were captained by Christopher Blake and Julie Peasgood and the show introduced a lateral thinking puzzle (which the host could "give clues to"). Give us a Clue returned for a special Comic Relief episode in March 2011 with Sara Cox, Christopher Biggins, Lionel Blair, Una Stubbs, Holly Walsh, Jenni Falconer and David Walliams.
Give us a clue early 1990 s
Format
The game was based on charades, a party game where players used mime rather than speaking to demonstrate a name, phrase, book, play, film or TV programme. Each player was given roughly two minutes to act out their given subject in front of his/her team, and if the others were unsuccessful in guessing correctly, the opposing team would have a chance to answer for a bonus point.
Transmissions
Series 1 was not networked, Thames and a few other broadcast the series, around 19:00 while most others station moved it to an early time slot including 15:50. By 1980 all station were broadcasting the series in peaktime slot until 1986. No series was made in 1987 but repeats were broadcast on certain ITV station usually around 17:15, during the summer of 1988 repeats appeared around 17:15.
In 1988 the show moved to an early morning slot, left vacant when ITV Schools relocated to Channel 4, before being moved once again to around 15:00 slot in 1989 onwards. The original run ended in 1991, but a one-off special was broadcast on 4 May 1992.
Theme music
The original theme tune was called "Chicken Man", which was also the theme tune of Grange Hill. However, while Grange Hill used the original recording, Give us a Clue used a less dynamic custom arrangement more in keeping with the style of light entertainment programming. In 1981, David Clark took over as producer/director and commissioned an entirely new theme tune, then in 1987, a new vocalised theme tune was used up until the show ended in 1991.
Trivia
The programme has been repeated on satellite TV and is also still parodied in British comedy. It was frequently referred to by Humphrey Lyttelton, chairman of BBC radio's long-running "antidote to panel games", I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, during a round of Sound Charades — usually with a gay innuendo-laden gag at the expense of Lionel Blair.
Other versions
A licensed version of it aired in New Zealand in the 1990s, after the British original had screened there for several seasons. SVT in Sweden broadcast their own version with the title Gäster med gester.