Gameshows

The People Versus was a very shortlived show made by Celador, the same production company behind the much more successful Who Wants to be a Mllionaire and made a big play of it's 'unique' angle of having the viewers set the questions. The first series went out in Summer 2000, during primetime, and worked with huge prizes (£5000/question). When a contestant got a question wrong, the question-setter took his seat in the game. The show unfortunately didn't take off, with the second series being moved to ITV's traditional 'kill it off' slot. It was placed daily at teatime, with much smaller prizes, and changed rules.

Produced by Broadsword, for Anglia Television, Knightmare was a hugely successful show on Childrens ITV. It started in the late 1987, before finally being cancelled in 1994, as the CITV of the 90s decided to cater to a younger audience instead. The premise was simple enough - A contestent, unable to see what was going on, was guided through a maze of dungeons, corridors and outdoor areas in an attempt to solve a quest. All the scenes were created using Chroma-Key overlaying (ie - standing in front of a coloured screen) and although the graphics look somewhat dated today, they were considered groundbreaking for the time.

The 1988 intro to teatime quiz Countdown, and although the music remains the same as that from the launch, computer rendered titles had arrived to the show in 1987. Main presenting at this point was with original host Richard Whiteley, with Carol Vorderman still only appearing at the numbers round - however it wasn't much longer before Carol would take over both letter and number rounds. The show has remained on Channel 4 in an afternoon since the station's launch in 1982, being noteworthy as the first programme ever broadcast by the fledgling station, and up until 2009 was produced by Yorkshire Television at their Leeds studios.

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The 2001 Countdown titles. Some standards have moved on over the near 20 years since it started, with production by now in widescreen, and with a remixed version of the music. However some things remain unchanged, with it still being produced by Yorkshire Television in Leeds, and with Richard Whiteley hosting, and Carol performing letters and number duties. This famous onscreen pairing continued until Summer 2005, when tragically and somewhat unexpectedly Richard passed away after a short illness. After a hiatus, the show finally returned with Des Lynam at the helm. From that point on, the hosts changed on a more frequent basis, with Carol finally leaving too, and with production of the show eventually moved to Granada's studios in Manchester.

On September 24th 2001, Countdown was extended from 30 minutes to 45, for the first time ever. To accompany the change was a new set of opening titles, and a brand new studio.

With Countdown being the very first show to air on the channel back in 1982, no celebration of 25 years of Channel 4 would be complete without a special edition the programme that started it all of course. The opening titles to a very special 25th anniversary edition of Countdown, mixing together every set of titles since the programme launch. Carol hasn't aged a bit!

Family Fortunes is a show which has been around for many years on ITV and was the UK equivalent of Family Feud from the US. Basically, the idea behind the show is 2 families battle it out to try and guess what '100 people surveyed' answered to some strange questions. Although that basic principle of the idea has remained over the years, many things have changed such as presenters, prizes and filming location. Originally produced by Central Television from their midlands home, it went through a series of presenters before being axed in 2002. The show was later to return made in London with celebrities in 2006, and subsequently even with civilian families once more. Here a clip from 1983, with the show hosted by Max Bygraves.

The titles from the first series made in 1987. A series of several firsts, it was the first to experiment with the use a coloured scoreboard/screen, and the first to feature a young Les Dennis as host. The Scoreboard didn't remain past this series, but Les certainly did going on to present the show for the next decade!

This was his second series fronting the show, now back to the old scoreboard.

The 1990 titles for Family Fortunes.

Identical graphic-wise to the 1990 version, this set of titles from 1993, featured a remixed audio track.

This set of FF titles date from 1999, still under Les Dennis.

And the FF credits from 2001 - See how much Les has changed! Little did he know then, he wouldnt be on FF much longer!

2002, and Family Fortunes was moved to the infamous 'kill off' teatime slot, meaning prizes were reduced and the host was replaced with Andy Collins for a single series (who subsequently went on to big things with shopping channels). After this series, the show was axed for several years, giving ITV the chance to close down the remaining studios of Central in Birmingham.

In 2001, a celebrity series of Family Fortunes was screened known as 'All Star Family Fortunes', featuring the same principle, but with celebrity teams battling to win money for(You guessed it!!) charity. When the show was revived in 2006 under Vernon Kay, All-Star Family Fortunes would become the normal format for the show.

A Question of TV was another spinoff from the venerable Question of Sport. It aired in 2001... and only ever lasted for the one series. Not a big show by any stretch of the imagination, but the titles show clips from old BBC idents to keep the enthusiasts happy. There are also three clips from independent television... LWT, ATV and Tyne Tees Television.

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Produced by Grundy Television, Going For Gold was a Europe wide quiz show in the early 90s which aimed to find a winner from across Europe. Cheesy music abound, but it's all in good humour!

Wheel of Fortune ran for many years, based off the American Format of the same name, and produced by Scottish Television. After having a variety of presenters over the years, and glitzy prizes, it finally finished around 2001, finishing its days like so many other shows in the 'daytime cut down' slot.

The Weakest Link ran in the UK from 2000 to 2012, and was a massive hit for the BBC. It has been exported to numerous countries, and marked a complete change of pace for host Anne Robinson who had previously been associated with consumer programmes and Points of View.

The original Krypton Factor ran from 1977 until 1995, with the venerable Gordon Burns at the helm for many years. Designed to challenge all aspects of the contestants, without big glitzy prizes at the end, it soon became known as Television's Toughest Quiz. In 2008 ITV announced the programme was set for a return to screens, updated with 21st Century technology and a new host...

On New Years Day 2009 The Krypton Factor returned to UK screens, complete with new host, and newly updated sequences. An unusual funding stream for the programme whereby it was almost entirely funded by a sponsorship deal with Sage rather than via the usual advertising break meant it could retain much of the feel and 'toughness' for the first series. This weakened a little with a second series the following year (as well as a move down South from their Granada Manchester home), before the sponsorship was dropped and ITV axed the show once more.