Whodunnit? (British game show)
Whodunnit? was a British television game show that aired on ITV from 15 August 1972 to 26 June 1978. The show originally aired as a pilot and hosted by Shaw Taylor, and then became a full series, with the first series being hosted by Edward Woodward and then Jon Pertwee took over hosting duties from the second series until the show's end.
| Whodunnit? | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Game show |
| Created by | Jeremy Lloyd Lance Percival |
| Written by | Jeremy Lloyd Lance Percival |
| Presented by | Shaw Taylor (1972: Pilot) Edward Woodward (1973) Jon Pertwee (1974-78) |
| Theme music composer | Simon Park |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 48 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45 minutes (inc. adverts) |
| Production company(s) | Thames |
| Distributor | Fremantle |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | 15 August 1972 – 26 June 1978 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Whodunnit? |
Format
Each week it featured a short murder-mystery drama enacted in front of a panel of four celebrity guests who then had to establish who the murderer was.
The panel members could interview the remaining characters, with the proviso that only the murderer could lie. Each panelist could also request to see a short replay of one section of the initial drama, which would often include events as they occurred and flashbacks as seen and narrated by individual suspects. For series 1, the entire audience also took part in guessing the murderer was (with the winner winning a prop from the set). For series 2 and 3, four members of the audience formed a panel, but did not question the suspects, with the winner taking away a 'Whodunnit?' trophy (a magnifying glass in a frame). For series 4 and 5, the audience panel was dropped and a TV Times competition winner formed part of the main panel (taking away a prop from the set if they won the game). For series 6, they were dropped entirely.
At the end the compere would reveal the murderer with the catchphrase "would the real 'Whodunnit' please stand up?".
Sets
Whodunnit? originally adopted a conventional panel-game studio layout, for series 2 some episodes would use the murder scene for the panel part of the show, with this being full adopted for series 3 onwards
Transmissions
| Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot | 15 August 1972 | 1 | |
| 1 | 25 June 1973 | 30 July 1973 | 6 |
| 2 | 24 June 1974 | 29 July 1974 | 6 |
| Special | 26 December 1974 | 1 | |
| 3 | 14 July 1975 | 15 September 1975 | 10 |
| 4 | 28 June 1976 | 9 August 1976 | 7 |
| 5 | 27 June 1977 | 25 July 1977 | 5 |
| 6 | 3 April 1978 | 26 June 1978 | 12 |
DVD releases
All six series of Whodunnit? have been released on DVD by Network Distributing.
| DVD Title | Discs | Year | Episodes | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complete Series 1 | 2 | 1972-1973 | 6 (+ pilot) | 31 January 2011 |
| Complete Series 2 | 2 | 1974 | 6 | 13 August 2012 |
| Complete Series 3 | 3 | 1974-1975 | 10 (+ special) | 4 June 2012 |
| Complete Series 4 | 2 | 1976 | 7 | 25 March 2013 |
| Complete Series 5 | 1 | 1977 | 5 | 27 April 2015 |
| Complete Series 6 | 3 | 1978 | 12 | 16 October 2017 |
| The Complete Series | 13 | 1972-1978 | 48 | 16 October 2017 |