Blockbusters to Make a Return on ITV

[Rachel_Sandford]

In the 1980s, the teatime show hosted by Bob Holness and known as Blockbusters was a huge success. The game show saw three contestants, grouped in teams of two against one, answering a set of questions based on the letters of the alphabet. The goal was to reach the Gold Run round. Producers have attempted to revive the show twice in the past, once with Liza Tarbuck on Sky and another time with Michael Aspel as the host on BBC.

Now, another attempt is in the works. ITV has just announced that they are reviving the show for a 40-episode series, except this time instead of using teens, they will be featuring adults instead of teens. Talkback Thames, the production company involved in Blockbusters' revival, has already started advertising for over-18s to sign up to join the show. It will air on the game show channel, Challenge TV which has already started showing archived episodes from the 80s.

No new presenter has been announced for the upcoming show. Bob Holness, the original host, passed away just days ago on January 6 at the age of 83. After suffering from a series of strokes, he died peacefully in his sleep. Despite the sad news, it is no doubt that many are looking forward to the upcoming series and are wondering which name will be tagged at the end of the ever famous question: “Can I have a P please?”

 

[2cvbloke]

Now there's a coincidence, P put up a new avatar for this year on this forum, and they're bringing back Blockbusters....

Shame they're recreating it as per the original US version featuring adults, I always found the students' answers funny when they got it wrong (the most famous "What O" being "Orgasm" instead of "Organism" O-Ha), but we shall see what it's like, and I hope they bring back Ed Welch's theme, as close to the 2nd version as possible (the first version, which was used with the "Dictionary path" intro had a slower tempo and had less instruments than the later version which featured "Utopia City" and the flying blocks), cos that theme can't be beaten, even the BBC version failed with their theme which was nothing like it... O-Ha

[video=youtube;kKhnVvHWJ3A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKhnVvHWJ3A[/video]

 

[2cvbloke]

Forgot to say, I hope they pick Alexander Armstrong as host, cos he'd make a great replacement for Bob, he's intelligent, funny and as seen on Pointless has a great rapport with the contestants, so as a blockbusters host, he'd work perfectly...

I just hope they don't pick some moron from the usual ITV stock of hosts...

 

[Analoguesat]

Theres a terrible malaise in entertainment atm - far too few new ideas. Tv producers & music artists seem intent on raiding the archives for their inspiration instead of coming up with new ideas.

 

[sonnetpete]

Theres a terrible malaise in entertainment atm - far too few new ideas. Tv producers & music artists seem intent on raiding the archives for their inspiration instead of coming up with new ideas.

Better to raid the archives than come up with utter tripe such as 'Red or Black' or 'Deal or no Deal' where little or more probably no skill is required.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Better to raid the archives than come up with utter tripe such as 'Red or Black' or 'Deal or no Deal' where little or more probably no skill is required.

What do you mean 'skill' ?

_http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8052605.stm

From the comments

Whilst at university, I used to call this "Pick a Box" - many of my peers (usually sociology students) watched it religiously, and claimed it was a game of immense skill - they refused to accept my explanation involving probability. Fools.
PB, London

 

[2cvbloke]

I like old gameshows, back when you could play AND take something home with you, rather than spending a tense 45 minutes with dramatic music playing in the background, and playing for all or nothing, it's why I like Challenge TV, cos they play the classics that were actually entertaining and fun to watch...

Better to reause a tried and tested format than to come up with a brand new but short-lived attempt at popularity... O-Ha