Catchphrase (UK game show)
| Catchphrase | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Game show |
| Created by | Steven Radosh |
| Presented by | Roy Walker (1986–99) Nick Weir (2000–01, 2002–04) Mark Curry (2002) Stephen Mulhern (2013–) |
| Narrated by | Andrew Lodge (1986) Nick Jackson (1987–94) Ted Robbins (1994, 1997) Charles Foster (1995) Robin Kermode (1998–99) Chris Jarvis (2000–1, 2002–4) Peter Dickson (2002) Jonathan Gould(2013–) |
| Theme music composer | Ed Welch (1986–94) Simon Etchell (1994–99) Marc Sylvan & Richard Jacques (2013–) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 17 (Original) 5 (Revival) |
| No. of episodes | 352 (inc. 5 specials (Original)) 35 (inc. 8 specials (Revival)) |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | The Maidstone Studios (1986–92, 2014–15) Television Centre (1993–94) Carlton Studios (1994–2004) The London Studios (2013, 2016—) |
| Running time | 30 minutes (1986–2004) 45–60 minutes (2013–) |
| Production company(s) |
TVS in association with Action Time (1986–1994) Action Time and Carlton (1994–2004) STV in association with Digital Rights Group (2013–) |
| Distributor |
ABC Family Worldwide ITV Studios |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV, STV, UTV |
| Picture format | (4:3 SDTV) (1986–2000) (16:9 SDTV) (2001–04) (16:9 HDTV) (2013–) |
| Audio format | Mono (1986–94) Stereo (1994–2004, 2013–) |
| Original release | 12 January 1986 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Family Catchphrase |
| Website | |
Catchphrase is a British game show based on the short-lived U.S. game show of the same name. It originally aired on ITV in the United Kingdom between 12 January 1986 and 23 April 2004. A currently running revival premiered on ITV on 7 April 2013 and has aired five series.
Catchphrase was presented by Northern Irish comedian Roy Walker from its 1986 premiere until 1999, airing weekly at night. Nick Weir took the programme over in 2000 and hosted it until the end of series 16 on 23 April 2004. Mark Curry replaced Weir for the final series, which moved to a daytime slot and ran from 24 June to 19 December 2002. When the series was revived in 2013, Stephen Mulhern was named presenter and it returned to its weekly nighttime period.
In the original series, two contestants, one male and one female, would have to identify the familiar phrase represented by a piece of animation accompanied by background music. The show's mascot, a golden robot called "Mr. Chips", appears in many of the animations. In the revived version of the show, the same format remains, but there are three contestants and there is no particular attention paid to gender.
Catchphrase was a creation of Steve Radosh, who created the American series that the British programme was derived from; due to this, he is given credit for creating this show as well (as was producer Marty Pasetta and distributor Telepictures).
In the main game, at the start of each standard round, one contestant stopped a randomiser consisting of money amounts by hitting his/her button. The value landed on would be the amount for the normal catchphrases in that round. On the first two episodes, the minimum value for each round was £10 and then decreased to £5 until 1994. The maximum values were £50 in round one, £100 in round two, and £150 for each round thereafter. In series 10, the values were £35 to £75 in the first round and £35 to £100 in round two. From series 11 to 13, the values were £50 to £100 in round one and £60 to £125 in round two.
In the Nick Weir series, there was no money randomiser; the cash prize was set as default to £100 in round 1 and £150 in round 2. In Weir's third and final series, the round 2 amount for a normal catchphrase was doubled to £200, and for the final series with Mark Curry, these were replaced with the corresponding points values.
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