Winner Takes All (game show)

Winner Takes All is a game show that aired on ITV from 20 April 1975 to 28 June 1988, first hosted by Jimmy Tarbuck from 1975 to 1986 and then hosted by Geoffrey Wheeler from 1987 to 1988. The show then returned on the screens in 1997, this time on Challenge TV hosted by Bobby Davro.

Winner Takes All
GenreGame show
Created byGeoffrey Wheeler
Presented byJimmy Tarbuck (1975-86)
Geoffrey Wheeler (1987-88)
Bobby Davro (1997)
StarringVicky McDonald (1987-88)
Voices ofGeoffrey Wheeler (1975-86)
Gaynor Barnes (1997)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original language(s)English
No. of series14 (ITV)
1 (Challenge TV)
No. of episodes248 (inc. 3 specials) (ITV)
?? (Challenge TV)
Production
Running time30 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company(s)Yorkshire Television
DistributorITV Studios
Release
Original networkYorkshire Television (1975)
ITV (1976-88)
Challenge TV (1997)
Picture format4:3
Original release20 April 1975 (1975-04-20) –
1997 (1997)

Gameplay

The two contestants started with 50 points each (30 points when it became a daytime show in 1988) and were asked multiple choice questions with six possible answers but each answer had some odds (Evens (removed by 1986), 2–1, 3–1, 4–1, 5–1 & 10–1) and after each question was asked, the contestants were asked how many points they would like to bet (up to 50 (30 in 1988)) and then, they selected the odds that corresponded to the answer they thought was correct, if they got the correct answer, they won the points the odds were worth, if they gave a wrong answer, they lost the points. After five questions, the contestant with the most points would go through to the final while the loser left the show with nothing. In later series, the losers took home a filofax (except the 1988 series where they took home an encyclopedia). In the Challenge TV version, the losers took home a Winner Takes All T-shirt. Then, they played again with two different contestants and the winner of that met the winner of the first game.

The two winners played for cash in the final with a maximum of £1,000 to be won. Only the winner took the money home while the loser took home a consolation prize of £100: the winning contestant was given the option of returning on the next show to add to his or her winnings, but if they returned and lost they would lose all but £100 of their winnings. By 1979, a defeated champion lost half the winnings.

Production

From 1980 until 1987, Winner Takes All started with an alternative version of the Yorkshire Television ident where the chevron would spin toward the screen revealing the four contestants who appeared on that week's edition. The final ITV series in 1988 was a Television Techniques production for Yorkshire Television.

The Challenge version was recorded at the former TVS studios at Vinters Park in Maidstone, but was produced by Yorkshire Television.

During his run as host, Jimmy Tarbuck would at the start of some editions come out carrying a briefcase containing £1,000 in £1 notes which was the top prize on Winner Takes All.

In 1989, Iorworth Hoare was jailed for rape after being identified from a photo he submitted to the show when applying to be a contestant.[1]

Transmissions

ITV era

Series
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
120 April 197513 July 197513
214 May 19766 August 197613
31 July 197723 September 197713
414 April 19787 July 197813
516 March 197911 November 197922
616 May 198029 August 198016
75 June 19814 September 198114
811 June 198210 September 198214
91 July 19837 October 198314
1025 May 198424 August 198414
1126 May 198525 August 198514
1225 May 198624 August 198614
1320 July 19874 September 198714
1411 April 198828 June 198860
  • Series 1: The Series was not fully network, with Granada, HTV and LWT not broadcasting the series. From August LWT: Started broadcasting the series on 22 August 1975.
  • Series 14: Grampian and Scottish: Started on 20 April, but Scottish Television finished on 7 July 1988, while Grampian completed the series on 15 July 1988; A number of episodes were held back

Specials
DateEntitle
23 December 1977All Star Special
26 December 1979All Star Special
28 December 1986Christmas Special

Challenge TV era
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
11997199765
gollark: If you give me several tens of thousands of samples of GEORGEuous and nonGEORGEuous art I can make a GEORGEuosity classifier.
gollark: citrons: we could make even MORE art relating to GEORGE, such that art schools will be forced to teach students about GEORGE.
gollark: Idea: GEORGEart™?
gollark: It would be nontrivial to convince Yale School of Art students to embrace GEORGE.
gollark: We will need a person on the inside, clearly?!

References
  1. Blackstock, Colin (11 August 2004), "Rapist serving life term wins lottery £7m", The Guardian, London, retrieved 19 June 2009.

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