Treasure Hunt (UK game show)
Encyclopedia
Treasure Hunt was a popular UK 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...

, based on the format of the French show La Chasse au Trésor, created by Jacques Antoine
Jacques Antoine
Jacques Antoine is a French writer of game shows. He had successes in the 1980s with Treasure Hunt and Interceptor, and in the 1990s with Fort Boyard and The Crystal Maze.-Credits:...

. It appeared on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 between 28 December 1982 and 18 May 1989 and was revived by BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

 between 16 December 2002 and 2 August 2003.

The game

A team of two contestants, always in the studio, had to use a library of (deliberately relevant) maps and reference materials to solve up to five clues, and communicate instructions via a radio link to a skyrunner who had the use of a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

. The contestants were given the first clue for free, the solving of which would lead to the location of the second clue and so on until a trinket or other significant object was found by solving the final clue. The contestants won a higher cash prize each time they solved a clue correctly. This was all done "against the clock". Even once the contestants had solved the final clue, the skyrunner still had to confirm they were correct, by reaching the final target. On a few occasions, the contestants solved all five clues with time to spare, in which case a bonus clue was given to the contestants. This typically resulted in their winning a bottle of champagne. One such occasion was the North Yorkshire episode (4.10), in which the bonus clue instructed them to go to "Great British Hospital X-ray Unit". This was actually code for "return to the helicopter, registration G-BHXU", but Anneka alarmed the passers-by outside Skipton Castle by frantically asking "which way to the hospital?"

Understandably, the skyrunner and helicopter did not have freedom to fly and land anywhere they wished. Although the pilot could to an extent request permission from airspace authorities to fly off-course, as happened on occasions, landings needed to be agreed in advance with landowners of a suitable location near the clue. On occasions the helicopter would land in a clearly marked out area, especially at public places. It is open to interpretation how much detail of the route was known in advance by either of the studio presenters or even the skyrunner herself, and hence to what extent the contestants were helped to correctly direct the skyrunner to the approximate location. Kenneth Kendall has always stressed that he did not know the clues and locations in advance, and any help that he gave the contestants was from his own knowledge. According to a "making of Treasure Hunt" programme, Anneka Rice was confined to the hotel on the day that the cameraman, video recordist and helicopter pilot undertook a rehearsal (typically the day before the programme was recorded), so she had no advance knowledge of the locations. This did not stop her carrying out research about the general area in order to have a stock of interesting facts to fill in any awkward silences that might arise while the contestants were thinking.

Presenters and crew

In the original version, the presenter was former 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...

 newsreader Kenneth Kendall
Kenneth Kendall
Kenneth Kendall is a retired British broadcaster. He was a contemporary of Richard Baker and Robert Dougall...

 and the skyrunner was broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...

 Anneka Rice. In the first series, Kenneth was joined briefly in the studio for the handover of the first clue by the original clue-setter, Ann Meo. She would later rejoin the contestants if they had been successful in finding the treasure to offer her congratulations. If they had been unsuccessful, she would be heard as a voiceover explaining where they had gone wrong. From the second series onwards this role was expanded, another studio-based person acted as adjudicator, giving the contestants tips on
how they were doing against the scheduled time, and providing additional information about the locations visited. In series 2 this was Annette Lynton ("Nettie") and from series 3 onwards, TV-am weather girl
Weather forecasting
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since the nineteenth century...

 Wincey Willis
Wincey Willis
Wincey Willis is a British broadcaster who found television success in the 1980s....

. In 1988, Rice left to have a baby, and her place was taken by tennis player Annabel Croft
Annabel Croft
Annabel Croft is a former professional tennis player and current radio and television presenter. As a tennis player she won the WTA Tour event Virginia Slims of San Diego and represented Great Britain in the Fed Cup and the Wightman Cup.After retiring from tennis, she turned to television...

. In this series, the set was revamped due to a move to Thames Television's facilities (the original studios were at Limehouse
Limehouse
Limehouse is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is on the northern bank of the River Thames opposite Rotherhithe and between Ratcliff to the west and Millwall to the east....

 in East London which was by this point earmarked for demolition to make way for Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is a major business district located in London, United Kingdom. It is one of London's two main financial centres, alongside the traditional City of London, and contains many of the UK's tallest buildings, including the second-tallest , One Canada Square...

), and Willis was promoted to sharing main billing with Kendall. Croft was billed as 'Special guest Skyrunner' for the first episode of the series, and it was stated at the time that Rice would return after giving birth, but it turned out to be the show's final series and the "Special Guest Skyrunner" credit was dropped.

In 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...

's 2002–03 version, newsreader Dermot Murnaghan
Dermot Murnaghan
Dermot Murnaghan is a British journalist and television presenter.He is well known for his work as a presenter of ITV and BBC News as well as the shows Eggheads and Treasure Hunt . He co-presented BBC Breakfast from Monday to Thursday as well as regularly fronting national BBC news bulletins...

 presented, the skyrunner was Suzi Perry
Suzi Perry
Suzi Perry is an English television presenter, best known for covering MotoGP for the BBC for 13 years and The Gadget Show.-Early life:...

, and there was no adjudicator. Advances in broadcasting technology meant that this new version could come from a much greater range of locations; however, the new version was quite short-lived. It is thought that the BBC felt the moderate ratings (maybe due in part to lack of promotion) did not justify the budget required for the show.

Keith Thompson of Castle Air Charters
Castle Air
Castle Air is a British helicopter charter and sales company which specialises in the use of helicopters in TV and film. It is based in Trebrown, near the town of Liskeard, Cornwall....

 was the usual helicopter pilot in both versions, though for overseas editions a local pilot was often used. There was always a "chase" helicopter which relayed radio signals back to London and, although this could never be used "tactically" by the contestants, it was not hidden from the viewers. This communications helicopter had dark brown with gold stripe livery, registration G-SPEY. The two crews would sometimes fly in formation to generate exciting footage. Both helicopters were usually Bell 206
Bell 206
The Bell 206 is a family of two-bladed, single- or twin-engine helicopters, manufactured by Bell Helicopter at its Mirabel, Quebec plant. Originally developed as the Bell YOH-4 for the United States Army's Light Observation Helicopter program, the 206 failed to be selected...

 JetRangers; the helicopter usually used by the skyrunner was registration G-BHXU. This aircraft was forced to ditch north of Alderney
Alderney
Alderney is the most northerly of the Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The area is , making it the third-largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick...

 in June 1995 where it sank; the crew were rescued.

A feature was made of the camaraderie between the female presenter and the male recording and flight crews. This extended to many infamous shots of the presenter's rear as she ran from clue to clue in a jump-suit, which became the main focus of the programme's portrayal in the satirical TV series, Spitting Image
Spitting Image
Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....

. Cameraman Graham reaching in front of the camera to wipe away rain, sea spray, etc. with a cloth also became a well-known image from the series.

Broadcasts

When first shown on Channel 4 in December 1982, Treasure Hunt was one of the earliest major series on the then-new channel. The unusual format earned extra publicity for both the programme and the channel, which was striving to justify itself with new and different programming.

The 1982–89 series were repeated
Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...

 on terrestrial television
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...

 several times, and during the 1990s appeared on the Challenge satellite and cable channel, as well as Sky Travel. The first episode was repeated on 30 October 2007 on the digital channel More4 as part of Channel 4's 25th anniversary celebrations. This was an one-off and there are no current plans to repeat the TV show.

The original run of the first series was watched by up to 900,000 viewers; however, by the mid-1980s, ratings were some of the highest for Channel 4 at around seven million.

Two charity editions of the show were produced, one locally in the London area for the Thames Television telethon in 1985 and another broadcast across the UK as part of the ITV network's Telethon '88. The show was also featured in an edition of the BBC children's aspiration show Jim'll Fix It
Jim'll Fix It
Jim'll Fix It was a long-running British television show, broadcast by the BBC between 1975 and 1994. It was presented by Jimmy Savile. It was produced by Roger Ordish, who also worked on other BBC shows, including A Bit of Fry & Laurie...

(in which a young viewer joined Anneka Rice in the famous helicopter over the county of Surrey for a scaled down version of the show), in the Paul Daniels Magic Show
Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels, born Newton Edward Daniels on 6 April 1938, is a British magician and television performer. He achieved international fame through his television series The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994.-Early life:...

(BBC) and in The Krypton Factor
The Krypton Factor
The Krypton Factor was a British game show produced by Granada Television for broadcast on ITV. The show originally ran from 7 September 1977 to 20 November 1995, and was hosted by Gordon Burns and usually broadcast on the ITV network on Mondays at 19:00....

(Granada for ITV).

For all the UK series, the programme was a Chatsworth Television
Chatsworth Television
Chatsworth Television was a British television production company. The most renowned examples of their programmes are Treasure Hunt , Interceptor and The Crystal Maze...

 independent production in association with Tele Union Paris.

Spin-offs

An eponymous board game based on the show was published in the UK. It involved moving pieces around a map of England and Wales.

There was also a computer game released for some home computer formats in 1986, including for the BBC Micro
BBC Micro
The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...

, published by Macsen Software. This game featured very basic graphic layout and was text-driven, and had the options of four different locations to find clues in.

A one-off Welsh language
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

 version, (Welsh for "Treasure Hunt"), was produced for S4C
S4C
S4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fifth oldest British television channel .The channel - initially broadcast on...

 in 1985.

In 1989, Rice began her own 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...

 series, Challenge Anneka
Challenge Anneka
Challenge Anneka is a British television programme, produced by the independent production company Mentorn for the BBC, which aired on Friday, later Saturday evenings on BBC One between 8 September 1989 and 15 October 1995. It was announced in 2006 that the series is returning, but this time on...

, in which she was set a different task to complete each week. Although essentially unrelated to the original concept of Treasure Hunt, there were some similarities between the shows, primarily the principles of Rice being up against a time limit, racing from location to location and having a real chance of success or failure to complete a task with the aid of others.

BBC Three Counties Radio
BBC Three Counties Radio
BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire...

 airs Treasure Quest each Sunday from 9 am to 12 noon. Andy Gelder in the studio and varying assistants in the radio car help two contestants to solve six clues over the three-hour period. BBC Radio Norfolk
BBC Radio Norfolk
BBC Radio Norfolk is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Norfolk, broadcasting since 11 September 1980. It broadcasts from the studios of BBC East in The Forum, Norwich on 95.1 FM , 104.4 FM , 95.6 FM , 855 kHz AM/MW , 873 kHz AM/MW BBC Radio Norfolk is the BBC Local...

 began their own version of Treasure Quest in 2008, on Sunday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon, with David Clayton presenting and Becky Betts in the radio car. On 6 September 2009, Wincey Willis stood in for Betts, and on 14 February 2010 Anneka Rice took part in the programme, appearing at the fifth clue location, Norwich Castle
Norwich Castle
Norwich Castle is a medieval royal fortification in the city of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. It was founded in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of England when William the Conqueror ordered its construction because he wished to have a fortified place in the important city of...

, and then teaming up with Betts to find the treasure.

On London talk station LBC
LBC
LBC Radio operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio...

, presenter James O'Brien
James O'Brien (LBC)
James Edward O'Brien is a radio presenter and journalist who is currently one of the presenters on London talk station LBC 97.3, presenting on weekdays between 10am and 1pm, hosting a phone-in discussion of current affairs and news, views and real-life experiences.-Journalism:Prior to his...

hosts The Treasure Hunt on Wednesday lunchtimes as part of his weekday show. In this format, callers ring in and request things they have been trying to get hold of, hoping that other listeners have the required items. Although otherwise unrelated to the original concept, the programme opens with the Treasure Hunt television series theme tune, and in August 2007, Anneka Rice recorded a voice-over lead-in for it.

Original series

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 6 January 1983 10 March 1983 11
Ep1 Bali, Indonesia
Ep2 Speyside, UK
Ep3 Suffolk, UK
Ep4 Powys, UK
Ep5 Lothian, UK
Ep6 Wiltshire, UK
Ep7 London, UK
Ep8 Isle of Mull, UK
Ep9 Gloucestershire, UK
Ep10 Lake District, UK
Ep11 Singapore, Asia
2 12 January 1984 22 March 1984 12
Ep1 Burgundy, France
Ep2 Kent, UK
Ep3 Guernsey, UK
Ep4 North Yorkshire, UK
Ep5 Birmingham, UK
Ep6 Majorca, Europe
Ep7 Northern Ireland, UK
Ep8 Cambridgeshire, UK
Ep9 Cornwall, UK
Ep10 Malta, Europe
Ep11 Gwynedd, UK
Ep12 Merseyside, UK
3 3 January 1985 14 March 1985 12
Ep1 Israel, Europe
Ep2 Warwickshire, UK
Ep3 South Glamorgan, UK
Ep4 Norfolk, UK
Ep5 South of France, Europe
Ep6 West Sussex, UK
Ep7 Somerset, UK
Ep8 Shropshire, UK
Ep9 Corfu, Greece
Ep10 Ayrshire, UK
Ep11 Isle of Wight, UK
Ep12 Derbyshire, UK
4 2 January 1986 20 March 1986 13
Ep1 Florida, USA
Ep2 Clwyd, UK
Ep3 Oxfordshire, UK
Ep4 Surrey, UK
Ep5 Lake District, UK
Ep6 Bedfordshire, UK
Ep7 Devon, UK
Ep8 Stirlingshire, UK
Ep9 Dorset, UK
Ep10 North Yorkshire, UK
Ep11 Nottinghamshire, UK
Ep12 Pembrokeshire, UK
Ep13 Cheshire, UK
5 12 February 1987 14 May 1987 14
Ep1 Switzerland, Europe
Ep2 Jersey, UK
Ep3 Cornwall, UK
Ep4 Hampshire, UK
Ep5 Wiltshire, UK
Ep6 Hertfordshire, UK
Ep7 Isle of Man, UK
Ep8 Buckinghamshire, UK
Ep9 Lancashire, UK
Ep10 Gwynedd, UK
Ep11 Northumberland, UK
Ep12 Kent, UK
Ep13 West Highlands, UK
Ep14 North Yorkshire, UK
6 18 February 1988 19 May 1988 14
Ep1 Sydney, Australia
Ep2 Suffolk, UK
Ep3 Lincolnshire, UK
Ep4 West Sussex, UK
Ep5 West Yorkshire, UK
Ep6 Buckinghamshire, UK
Ep7 Scottish Borders, UK
Ep8 Wiltshire, UK
Ep9 Staffordshire, UK
Ep10 Devon, UK
Ep11 Cotswolds, UK
Ep12 County Kerry, Ireland
Ep13 County Durham, UK
Ep14 Clwyd, UK
7 16 February 1989 18 May 1989 14
Ep1 New Zealand, Australasia
Ep2 Worcestershire, UK
Ep3 Devon, UK
Ep4 Lake District, UK
Ep5 West Berkshire, UK
Ep6 Perthshire, UK
Ep7 East Sussex, UK
Ep8 Buckinghamshire, UK
Ep9 Shropshire, UK
Ep10 Humberside, UK
Ep11 Somerset, UK
Ep12 Gwent, UK
Ep13 South Lancashire, UK
Ep14 Derbyshire, UK

2002–03 version

8 (set in Kent) 16 December 2002 20 December 2002 5
Ep1 Folkestone, Kent
Ep2 Canterbury, Kent
Ep3 The Weald, Kent
Ep4 Dover, Kent
Ep5 West Kent, UK
9 14 April 2003 2 August 2003 10
Ep1 San Francisco, USA
Ep2 Mexico City, Mexico
Ep3 New Zealand, Australasia
Ep4 Alice Springs, Australia
Ep5 Melbourne, Australia
Ep6 Arizona, USA
Ep7 Tasmania, Australia
Ep8 New Orleans, USA
Ep9 Christchurch, New Zealand
Ep10 Gold Coast, Australia

Specials

Date Entitle
28 December 1982 Christmas Special
17 March 1983 Series 1 Highlights
5 January 1984 Christmas Special
29 March 1984 Series 2 Highlights
27 December 1984 Christmas Special
5 April 1985 Series Finale Special
30 October 1985 ITV Telethon Special
27 December 1985 Christmas Special
29 May 1988 ITV Telethon Special

External links

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