The Colour of Money (game show)

The Colour of Money is a British game show, broadcast on ITV between 21 February and 11 April 2009. The programme was produced by 12 Yard, and hosted by Chris Tarrant and Millie Clode. The format was originally devised by Paul Brassey and Daniel Moody in 2006, and developed by Jim Cannon, Andy Culpin, Samuel Pollard and David Young.

The Colour of Money
The Colour of Money logo
Presented byChris Tarrant
StarringMillie Clode
Narrated byJon Strickland
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of series1
No. of episodes7 (Originally 8, one episode unaired)
Production
Executive producer(s)Andy Culpin
Michael Mannes
Matt Walton
David Young
Production location(s)The London Studios
Running time60 minutes
(including adverts)
Production company(s)12 Yard
DistributorITV Studios
Release
Original networkITV, STV, UTV
Picture formatPAL (576i, 16:9)
Original release21 February (2009-02-21) –
11 April 2009 (2009-04-11)

A total of eight episodes were produced but only seven of these were broadcast, due to poor viewing figures. Subsequently, the programme was axed by ITV on 12 June 2009. The game-show later survived as a board game manufactured by Drumond Park.[1]

Format

Twenty stylised "cash machines" stand on the stage, each with a screen displaying a different colour. Each machine is loaded with a different cash amount ranging from £1,000 to £20,000 in increments of £1,000; the amounts are kept secret from everyone. At the beginning of the game, the contestant selects one of three "cash cards", each of which has been credited with a value of £50,000 or higher in multiples of £1,000. The contestant runs the selected card through a reader to reveal its value, which becomes their target for the game.

On each turn, the contestant selects a machine and the host starts it. The screen displays a starting value of zero and begins to count up slowly in £1,000 steps. As long as the machine has not exceeded its limit, the contestant may shut it off any time by calling "Stop!", at which point the displayed amount is added to their total. However, if the machine reaches its limit and continues to run without being stopped, it shuts itself off and the contestant banks no money for that turn. After the contestant stops a machine, the amount it contains is revealed by allowing it to keep running until shutoff occurs.

The contestant may select up to 10 machines, and must bank enough money to reach the target in order to win that total. Failure to do so forfeits all the money. In addition, if it becomes mathematically impossible to reach the target with the remaining machines, the game ends immediately and the contestant leaves with nothing.

Co-host Millie Clode provided contestants with a statistical rundown between the machines being played – informing them of their running total, how much money they still needed to take, how many machines they could still select and how much money they needed to take, on average, from each of these remaining machines to reach their target.

Each episode of the show featured two games.

Series

The series was filmed at The London Studios, with the first episode airing at 6:35 PM on Saturday, 21 February 2009. The second, third (postponed on Saturday, 7 March) and fourth episodes were broadcast at the slightly later time of 6:45 PM. The fifth episode aired on Saturday, 28 March at 8:20 PM. The sixth episode aired on Saturday, 4 April at 7:55 PM. The seventh episode aired on Saturday, 11 April at 9:15 PM. The eighth and final episode that was scheduled to air on 18 April was rescheduled for 29 December, but again was not shown.[2]

Reception

Ratings

Episode viewing figures from BARB:

Show Date Audience (millions) Viewing share (%)
1 21 February 2009 3.99 18
2 28 February 2009 4.43 20
3 14 March 2009 4.24 20
4 21 March 2009 4.23 20
5 28 March 2009 2.71 12.3
6 4 April 2009 2.50 12.1
7 11 April 2009 2.86 12.5

Prior to the show going on air, former ITV controller of Entertainment Duncan Gray, writing in The Independent, suggested that ITV executives were hoping for an audience of around 5 million viewers.

Critical reaction

The programme received a largely negative response from critics. The Times said that it was "tedious", while The News of the World branded it "exactly the kind of cynical crowd-pleasing guff we’ve come to despise ITV for". One of the few positive reviews came from Charlie Brooker, writing in The Guardian, who called the show "so compelling, tense and yet ultimately random, it's likely to be a huge worldwide hit.". In his review of 2009, Brooker described this as the "most off-the-mark prediction" of the year. Readers of ukgameshows.com named it the worst new game show of 2009 in their "Hall of shame" poll.[3][4][5]

International versions

The TV format was sold in Italy with the title Il colore dei soldi aired on Italia 1, hosted by Enrico Papi in September 2009.

References
  1. "STV programmes news and information". Live Local. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  2. "Chris Tarrant signs £1 million deal to front new ITV quiz 'The colour of money'". mirror.co.uk. 8 October 2008. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Charlie Brooker's screen burn". Guardian.co.uk. London. 21 February 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2009.
  5. "Charlie Brooker's screen burn '09". Guardian.co.uk. London. 19 December 2009. Retrieved 20 December 2009.
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