Take Your Pick
Encyclopedia
Take Your Pick was a UK
game show
originally broadcast by Radio Luxembourg
in the early 1950s. The show transferred to television in 1955 with the launch of ITV
, where it continued until 1968. As it was the first game show broadcast on commercial television in the UK (and the BBC did not at that point offer monetary prizes on its game shows), it was also by default the first British game show to offer cash prizes.
The programme was later revived from 24 February 1992 to 28 August 1998.
The first television version was produced by Associated-Rediffusion
(later Rediffusion London), while the revival was made by Thames Television
(whose arrival as the new London weekday ITV company had led to the original show's demise).
If they got through the "Yes-No Interlude" (in which they were required to answer a series of questions without using the words "yes" or "no" or be gong
ed off the stage), contestants would answer questions to win modest monetary prizes and at the climax of the show had to decide whether to "take the money" or "open the box". The box could contain good prizes (for the time) such as holiday
s or a washing machine
but could also contain booby prize
s such as a mousetrap
or a bag of sweets
.
The first version was hosted by Michael Miles
(after its demise, Miles hosted a similar show for Southern Television
called Wheel of Fortune, not to be confused with the later Wheel of Fortune
of the same title). Bob Danvers-Walker
, the voice of Pathé
News from 1940 until its demise in 1970, was the show's announcer, and Alec Dane was on hand to bang the gong. At the electronic organ was Harold Smart.
Des O'Connor
became the host for the second version in the 1990s. His future wife Jodie Wilson was one of the hostesses; she would later be replaced by Neighbours
twins Gayle and Gillian Blakeney
.
It was revived again for one night only as part of Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon
in 2005, a series of the Geordie duo presenting classic ITV gameshows as part of the channel's 50th anniversary in their own style.
A similar formula was used for Pot of Gold, another game show, hosted by O'Connor.
The Des O'Connor series is currently being repeated on Challenge.
(called "Spot the Brain Cell" in a later audio version) has John Cleese
playing an "evil" game show host, hitting contestants over the head with a giant hammer, which is clearly a wildly exaggerated version of Michael Miles (the game he is hosting is a parody of the "Yes-No Interlude" from Take Your Pick). An early version of this sketch appeared in At Last the 1948 Show
. For a time after Miles' death the sketch was not shown by the BBC
, but it has since been reinstated.
Also, in the Hungarian Tourist sketch in Monty Python's Flying Circus
, a prosecutor (played by Eric Idle
) plays the game with Alexander Yalt (played by Michael Palin
). The prosecutor manages to gong Yalt "out" (although Yalt was probably unaware of playing the game in the first place).
A sketch in the BBC Radio
comedy series The Burkiss Way
featured a "Dinosaur-Cheese Interlude", in which contestants were required to answer questions without mentioning any species of dinosaur
or any variety of cheese
(besides Edam, which was "made" backwards). Naturally, all the contestants did accidentally mention them.
A fifth season episode of the radio show Hancock's Half Hour
(broadcast May 1958) had Tony Hancock
appear on the (unnamed) show and win £4,000.
The British progressive rock
band Hatfield and the North
named one of their songs "The Yes No Interlude". It is included in their second LP, The Rotters' Club
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
originally broadcast by Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
in the early 1950s. The show transferred to television in 1955 with the launch of ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, where it continued until 1968. As it was the first game show broadcast on commercial television in the UK (and the BBC did not at that point offer monetary prizes on its game shows), it was also by default the first British game show to offer cash prizes.
The programme was later revived from 24 February 1992 to 28 August 1998.
The first television version was produced by Associated-Rediffusion
Associated-Rediffusion
Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion, London, was the British ITV contractor for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 1954 and 29 July 1968. Transmissions started on 22 September 1955.-Formation:...
(later Rediffusion London), while the revival was made by Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
(whose arrival as the new London weekday ITV company had led to the original show's demise).
If they got through the "Yes-No Interlude" (in which they were required to answer a series of questions without using the words "yes" or "no" or be gong
Gong
A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
ed off the stage), contestants would answer questions to win modest monetary prizes and at the climax of the show had to decide whether to "take the money" or "open the box". The box could contain good prizes (for the time) such as holiday
Holiday
A Holiday is a day designated as having special significance for which individuals, a government, or a religious group have deemed that observance is warranted. It is generally an official or unofficial observance of religious, national, or cultural significance, often accompanied by celebrations...
s or a washing machine
Washing machine
A washing machine is a machine designed to wash laundry, such as clothing, towels and sheets...
but could also contain booby prize
Booby prize
A booby prize is a joke prize usually given in recognition of a terrible performance or last-place finish. A person who finishes last, for example, may get a booby prize such as a worthless coin. Booby prizes are sometimes humorously and jokingly coveted as an object of pride.Booby prizes, however,...
s such as a mousetrap
Mousetrap
A mousetrap is a specialized type of animal trap designed primarily to catch mice; however, it may also trap other small animals. Mousetraps are usually set in an indoor location where there is a suspected infestation of rodents. There are various types of mousetrap, each with its own advantages...
or a bag of sweets
SweetS
was a Japanese idol group. Put together through auditions, the group debuted in 2003 on the avex trax label. Although the group met minor success, they disbanded after three years with the release of a final single in June 2006....
.
The first version was hosted by Michael Miles
Michael Miles
Michael John Miles was a TV presenter in Britain, best known for the game show Take Your Pick from 1955 to 1968, produced by Associated Rediffusion and later by Rediffusion London....
(after its demise, Miles hosted a similar show for Southern Television
Southern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
called Wheel of Fortune, not to be confused with the later Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (UK game show)
Wheel of Fortune is a British television game show created by Merv Griffin. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes...
of the same title). Bob Danvers-Walker
Bob Danvers-Walker
Cyril Frederick 'Bob' Danvers-Walker was an English radio and newsreel announcer best known for his broadcasts on Pathé News cinema newsreels during World War II....
, the voice of Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
News from 1940 until its demise in 1970, was the show's announcer, and Alec Dane was on hand to bang the gong. At the electronic organ was Harold Smart.
Des O'Connor
Des O'Connor
Des O'Connor, CBE is an English comedian and singer. A former talkshow host, he was the presenter of the long-running Channel 4 gameshow Countdown for two years...
became the host for the second version in the 1990s. His future wife Jodie Wilson was one of the hostesses; she would later be replaced by Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
twins Gayle and Gillian Blakeney
Gayle & Gillian Blakeney
Gayle and Gillian Blakeney are Australian identical twins who performed together as actresses and as a dance/pop duo in the 1990s. Born in Brisbane on 9 July 1966. Gayle is older by nine minutes. They are most widely known for their stint in the soap opera Neighbours.-Early career:The girls knew...
.
It was revived again for one night only as part of Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon
Gameshow Marathon (UK game show)
Gameshow Marathon is a British game show, broadcast from 17 September 2005 to 26 May 2007 on ITV .After a quick retrospective look at the history of the particular show, the show itself is recreated. This involved recreating the original set and using original opening programme titles, including...
in 2005, a series of the Geordie duo presenting classic ITV gameshows as part of the channel's 50th anniversary in their own style.
A similar formula was used for Pot of Gold, another game show, hosted by O'Connor.
The Des O'Connor series is currently being repeated on Challenge.
Cultural references
A sketch in Monty Python's Flying CircusMonty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
(called "Spot the Brain Cell" in a later audio version) has John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
playing an "evil" game show host, hitting contestants over the head with a giant hammer, which is clearly a wildly exaggerated version of Michael Miles (the game he is hosting is a parody of the "Yes-No Interlude" from Take Your Pick). An early version of this sketch appeared in At Last the 1948 Show
At Last the 1948 Show
At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions , in association with Rediffusion London...
. For a time after Miles' death the sketch was not shown by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, but it has since been reinstated.
Also, in the Hungarian Tourist sketch in Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
, a prosecutor (played by Eric Idle
Eric Idle
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....
) plays the game with Alexander Yalt (played by Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
). The prosecutor manages to gong Yalt "out" (although Yalt was probably unaware of playing the game in the first place).
A sketch in the BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
comedy series The Burkiss Way
The Burkiss Way
The Burkiss Way was a BBC Radio 4 sketch comedy series broadcast from August 1976 to November 1980. It was written by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick, with additional material in early episodes by John Mason, Colin Bostock-Smith, Douglas Adams, John Lloyd and others. The show starred Denise...
featured a "Dinosaur-Cheese Interlude", in which contestants were required to answer questions without mentioning any species of dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
or any variety of cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
(besides Edam, which was "made" backwards). Naturally, all the contestants did accidentally mention them.
A fifth season episode of the radio show Hancock's Half Hour
Hancock's Half Hour
Hancock's Half Hour was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy, series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James; the radio version also co-starred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr...
(broadcast May 1958) had Tony Hancock
Tony Hancock
Anthony John "Tony" Hancock was an English actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, England, but from the age of three was brought up in Bournemouth, where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in...
appear on the (unnamed) show and win £4,000.
The British progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band Hatfield and the North
Hatfield and the North
Hatfield and the North were an experimental Canterbury scene rock band that lasted from October 1972 to June 1975, with some reunions thereafter.-Career:...
named one of their songs "The Yes No Interlude". It is included in their second LP, The Rotters' Club
The Rotters' Club
The Rotters' Club may refer to:* The Rotters' Club , a 1975 album by the Canterbury scene band Hatfield and the North* The Rotters' Club , a 2001 novel by Jonathan Coe...
.
Des O'Connor era
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External links
- Take Your Pick (1955-1968) at BFI
- Take Your Pick (1992-1998) at BFI