Game shows through decades

First game showsThe very first television game show, Spelling Bee, was broadcast in

1938. Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on commercially licensed television. Its first episode aired in 1941 as an

experimental broadcast.

1950’s game showsIn the mid to late 50s, Britain went quiz show mad, reflecting the

similar fever in the USA. Game show fever reached its height in the autumn of 1958, when the ITV network was putting a quiz out in prime

time six nights a week (from Sunday to Friday: Dotto, Keep It in the Family, Twenty-One, Spot the Tune, Double Your Money and Take Your Pick). The big money shows didn't all have their way - celebrity panel games such as I've Got a Secret and Tell the Truth also

added to the mix. But none of these matched the success of Take Your Pick and Double Your Money, which both ran until 1968.

1960’s game showsWith Take Your Pick and Double Your Money maintaining their remarkable headlock on the audience figures until their unfortunate demise, very few other shows were able to get a look-in. The introduction of a second BBC channel in 1964 did little to

alter the outlook, since it had been created to provide alternative higher-brow programming than mere quiz shows, and for several years Call My Bluff was the

channel's only game show of any note. It wasn't until near the end of the decade that the BBC finally came up with a hit game show in the somewhat low-brow form

of Jeux Sans Frontiéres. Meanwhile back on ITV, the unashamedly highbrow University Challenge was perhaps the most surprising hit of the decade.

1970’s game showsA further illustration of the strike culture is provided by an all-out strike

at the BBC on 22nd December 1978. With no BBC to watch, everyone turned over to Sale of the Century, giving it 21.2 million viewers - the highest ever rating for an ITV game show.Beyond Gen Game and Sale, the other shows of the 70s were very much a mixed bag. The betting

game Winner Takes All started in 1976, and the futuristic The Krypton Factor in 1977 (more of which in a moment). 1979 saw the light-hearted celeb fest Give Us a Clue while possibly the darkest show

yet, Mastermind, went from strength to strength.

Early 80’s game showsGames like Finders Keepers, Beat the Teacher and First Class all made

extensive use of microcomputers, and adult shows like Bob's Full House and Every Second Counts at least tried to look digital. Later in the

decade, Knightmare - inspired by the computer game Atic Atac - broke through all kinds of technical barriers to bring a convincing dungeon to life. Long-range communications played their role in Top of the World

and Treasure Hunt, and Ultra Quiz took contestants to places a UK game show had never been to before. Treasure Hunt - based on a French show - was probably the first ever action game show, and certainly the first to use helicopters. Possibly in reaction to all the electronic gimmickry, the stubbornly manual Countdown launched the new Channel 4 into being.

Mid 80’s game showsMrs Thatcher's enterprise-led policies were bringing wealth to the middle classes and, despite high unemployment, money and goods

were the aspiration of the time. This was reflected on television by the continued success of Family Fortunes and the introduction of an unabashedly consumerist version of The Price is Right. American

influences inspired a whole raft of shows where "the people were the stars". Practical jokes abounded in Game for a Laugh, while we saw

relationships put to the test for the first time in the form of Blind Date.

Late 80’s game showsThe success of Trivial Pursuit and its ilk brought about a minor spate of puzzle games and board game conversions from the mid 80s to early 90s, including

Television Scrabble, Cluedo and Trivial Pursuit itself. They drew the line at Operation. Similarly, the increase in pub quizzes led to the phenomenon of the woolly-jumpered know-alls with wacky team names that have populated a constant stream of shows such as Masterteam, the Great British Quiz. Political correctness was beginning to bite, not least in the title of one ITV game show

called Everybody's Equal. Michael Barrymore's startling style of presenting brought a new dimension to the small screen, and the contestants on his

Strike it Lucky show came from a wider range of backgrounds than the typical white, middle-class husband-and-wife teams seen in the 70s.