4.6 /10 1 Votes
4.6/10 TV Narrated by Jonathan Pearce Country of origin United Kingdom First episode date 20 September 2008 Distributor FremantleMedia Genre Game show | 4.4/10 IMDb Voices of Peter Dickson (2008) Theme music composer Simon Darlow Original language(s) English Final episode date 12 December 2009 Number of episodes 21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Starring Anton du Beke (2008)
Darren Gough (2008)
Austin Healey (2009)
Joe Swash (2009) Presented by Dale Winton (2008), Anton du Beke (2009) Similar Total Wipeout, Masterchef (UK), The Weakest Link, All Star Family Fortunes, The National Lottery: In | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hole in the Wall is a game show that aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom. This game was an adaptation of the Japanese game Brain Wall (also known as "Human Tetris") in which players must contort themselves to fit through cutout holes of varying shapes in a large polystyrene wall moving towards them as they stand in front of a swimming pool. Each week, two teams of television personalities competed for £10,000 in prize money to be donated to their chosen charity.
Contents
Dale Winton served as the original host while Strictly Come Dancing ballroom dancer Anton du Beke and former international cricketer Darren Gough were the team captains for the first series. Additionally, Jonathan Pearce commented on the replays and Peter Dickson provided the opening voice-over. The wall was activated by the presenter shouting Bring on the wall!.
On 3 July 2008, the BBC announced that the show had been commissioned for BBC One. A second series was confirmed, with Anton du Beke giving up his captain role to take over from Dale Winton as host, and new team captains in the shape of former rugby player Austin Healey and actor Joe Swash. Anton du Beke announced that he might be a guest as well as hosting on the last show of the series.
Format
The game was split into four rounds as well as the final "Great Wall".
The first round was "Solo Wall" which saw each team's guest players take a turn to face a wall just on their own. For each wall, 10 points were given to the player for a pass while a fail could be given up to 5 points depending on the host's whim.
Next was the "Captain's Challenge" or "Captain's Mate" which could be one of a number of games:
The third round was "Mystery Guest or Killer Question", the team leading being offered the choice of which game they wished to play and the currently losing team playing the other challenge. A maximum of 20 points was on offer.
The fourth round was the "Team Wall". All three players face the wall with a maximum of 30 points on offer.
The programme's finale was the "Mega Wall". The leading team got to choose to attempt the wall or nominate the opposition. All three players on the team attempt the wall, which travels at double speed - if they clear the wall, they win the show (and the £10,000 to donate to a charity of their choice), while if they fail, the opposing team wins.
Hole in the Wall used a specialised crane made by Street Crane Company of Chapel-en-le-Frith to move the wall.
Series 2 changes
Series 2, which started on 26 September 2009, contains all new challenges. Solo Wall returned with the Captain's Challenge changing its name to Captain's Mate, as now the captains had to be blindfolded. The Mystery Guest section was eliminated (although, it made appearances in Anton's Twist). Killer Question was now named Wonder Wall, and a new challenge named Anton's Twist débuted. Team Wall also returned, while the Mega Wall was renamed the Great Wall.
Anton's Twist, according to Anton, involved walls he'd invented with a twist. Variations could be any number players with various twists (such as placing leg braces around the legs of team members commonly used in three-legged races).
Production
Series 1 was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London, with series 2 seeing the show relocating to BBC Pacific Quay in Glasgow as part of an out-of-London production plan. For series 2, the show was also shot in high-definition.
Episode guide
-- Won by red team (Anton du Beke/Joe Swash) -- Won by blue team (Darren Gough/Austin Healey)Series 1
* In episode 5, Michelle Heaton managed to remain dry by not failing a task but this resulted in teammates Darren Gough and Bobby Davro pushing her into the water.
× In episode 10, Anton's team were docked two points for cheating (shouting an incorrect call) during Darren's Captains Challenge (Darren being blind folded).
Series 2
This series started on 26 September 2009, presented by Anton du Beke.
* In episode 4, Joe's team were docked ten points because Joe attempted to push Ricky Groves into the water as Ricky was struggling to stay on his feet after going through Team Wall.
** In episode 7, Austin bounced a ball on Anton's head, and then, he admitted it was meant to bounce on Joe's head, which because of that, 1 point was deducted.
*** In episode 8, Austin's team were docked 10 points because Austin pushed Jonathan into the pool when he was helping Kate and Joe go through Wonder Wall.
× Due to an emergency political broadcast, Episode 6 was not broadcast. It is not known if this episode was ever shown. It was to involve Danielle Lloyd and Mark Foster playing for Joe and Debbie McGee and Ben James-Ellis playing for Austin.