TV Show History | Research ~ SP

Before going into the production stages of our show, I thought it was a good idea to do some research on the history of TV shows and they developed throughout time.

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The first game show to ever air on BBC was called 'Spelling Bee', it was broadcast in May 1938, and it was transmitted live from the BBC studios at Alexandra Palace. The concept of the show was the panel of guests were asked to spell a series of words, and it was hosted by Freddie Grisewood. There wasn't really much to this show, and when television service returned after closing down during the Second World War, this show, along with others, were largely forgettable.

The first game show that made quite an impact on television and still remains known now is called 'What's My Line' which ran on the BBC from 1951.
It was still a simple panel game show, however, it ran in numerous different versions on two different channels through to the mid 90s.

In 1955, it was decided that the government would release a new commercial station called ITV. Having this meant that some game shows would be shown in some parts of the country but not necessarily all of them, a situation which still happens in the present day. Along with the commercials came the advent of prize fund, meaning TV shows could incorporate contestants winning prizes within the show, leading to the game show 'Take Your Pick'. This show was the first show to offer more prizes, following with 'Double Your Money' which offered £1000 as a top prize.

In the mid to late 50s, Britain went a little bit quiz show mad, and the game show fever reached its height in 1958 during the autumn season. A few hit shows during that decade were 'Criss Cross Quiz', 'Dotto', 'The 64,000 Dollar Question', 'Concentration' and 'Twenty-One'. A lot of these shows were imported from the USA, a tend which slowed down in the 1970s. Celebrity panel games were also broadcasted such as 'I've Got a Secret' and 'Tell the Truth'. A key theme in the mid 1980s onwards were stunts and practical jokes which were first shown through the shows 'People are Funny' and 'Make Up Your Mind'.

The BBC decided to introduce a second BBC channel in 1964 which aired 'Call My Bluff' which was the channel's only game show.
In the 1970s, 'Ask the Family' and 'The Generation Game' aired on screen. While the US formats of games shows had been replicated and copied in Britain throughout the 50s and 60s, a European format was beginning to take shape and become successful in the the UK.
In the Early 1980s, the advances in technology allowed larger-scale projects to become feasible. Shows such as 'Top of the World', 'Treasure Hunt' (the first ever action game show, and the first to use helicopters) and 'Ultra Quiz' took their contestants to places a UK game show never had before.

When Channel 4 launched, the show 'Countdown' aired helping to launch the new channel. In this show, Carol Vorderman, was hired because she had "beauty and brains" and she was casted as the show's 'vital statistician' meaning that hostesses were still being used as objects rather than actual humans to an extent. And in 1983 the show 'Blockbusters' aired and was deemed popular due to the factor of students being contestants.

Shows such as 'Family Fortunes' and 'The Price is Right' in the mid 1980s, and relationships were put to the test for the first time in the game show 'Blind Date' hosted by Cilla Black. As the years went on more TV shows were experimenting with different genres such as sports, family competitions, while staying with money based and question based shows. In the late 1990s cooking shows started airing such as 'Masterchef' and 'Ready, Steady, Cook' drawing more attention to a bigger variety of target audience. This was followed by the well-known 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' which started to broadcast in 1998.
Different formats such as the 24/7 format formed in the 2000s. One of the shows that follows that format would be 'Big Brother' which added more of a reality TV style.
More recently, you still see the same formats that they used years ago, while also being introduced to new ones, and game shows usually use the same formats as each other.