Going for Gold
| Going for Gold | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Game show |
| Presented by |
Henry Kelly (1987–96) John Suchet (2008–9) Dean Wilson (2008–9: stand-in) |
| Starring | Alex Kramer (2008–9) Vicki Letch (2008–9: stand-in) |
| Voices of | Martin Buchanan |
| Theme music composer | Sandy McClelland Hans Zimmer |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 10 (BBC1) 1 (Channel 5) |
| No. of episodes | 703 (BBC1) 105 (Channel 5) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes (BBC1) 60 minutes (inc. adverts: Channel 5) |
| Production company(s) |
Reg Grundy Productions (1987–96) Talkback Thames (2008–9) |
| Distributor | FremantleMedia |
| Release | |
| Original network |
BBC1 (1987–96) Channel 5 (2008–9) |
| Picture format |
4:3 (1987–96) 16:9 (2008–9) |
| Original release | 12 October 1987 – 20 March 2009 |
Going for Gold is a British television game show that originally aired on BBC1 between 12 October 1987 and 9 July 1996. It has since been revived for Channel 5 from 13 October 2008 to 20 March 2009.
Going for Gold was originally broadcast on BBC1 from 12 October 1987 to 9 July 1996, usually, after the lunchtime broadcast of Australian soap opera Neighbours. It was presented by Irish broadcaster Henry Kelly, and its defining concept was that it featured contestants from different European countries who competed against each other to answer questions (all in English) to win a prize. The show was shown on BBC1 in the UK and on Super Channel (later NBC Super Channel) in Continental Europe and on BBC TV Europe (which carried a mix of BBC1 and BBC2 output up to its dissolution in early 1991).
The 1987–1996 run of the quiz show each week had seven contestants that spoke English (each representing a different European country) who would compete against each other for a place in the finals. The show followed a repechage format (now common, but then, unusual), whereby unsuccessful contestants from Monday's show would return on Tuesday, and so on throughout the week. Each episode lasted for 25 minutes, including four rounds.
There were ten series in total (two in 1992). The first five series were broadcast during the winter, and many of these were split in half by the Christmas break. The (second) 1992 and 1993 series went out in the autumn, the last three were broadcast during the summer. The 1996 series featured competitors from the United Kingdom only.
The show was revived and produced by talkbackTHAMES and aired on Channel 5, premiering from 13 October to 19 December 2008. The new version featured only contestants from the UK and Ireland, was broadcast live and hosted by newsreader John Suchet. Former ITV Play host Alex Kramer, did the newly introduced viewers' phone-in question section from 17 November 2008 until 20 March 2009, repeating the questions several times and talking to the selected phone-in contestant. The set questions involve many clues to an item or person, and the phone-ins were notorious for taking up significant amounts of time during the show.
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