Call My Bluff
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''Call My Bluff'' was the second UK game show to be broadcast in colour, on 1 October 1967. The comparatively obscure [[Crossword on 2]] beat it by two days. | ''Call My Bluff'' was the second UK game show to be broadcast in colour, on 1 October 1967. The comparatively obscure [[Crossword on 2]] beat it by two days. | ||
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| + | The 1994 special was part of a theme night called "An Evening In with David Attenborough", marking BBC2's 30th birthday. | ||
The show was officially axed in 2003, only to be revived a few months later with a new host. The last run went out on Sunday mornings, between the god slot and ''Countryfile''. It may not have been the most thrilling of shows, but it deserved better than ''that''. | The show was officially axed in 2003, only to be revived a few months later with a new host. The last run went out on Sunday mornings, between the god slot and ''Countryfile''. It may not have been the most thrilling of shows, but it deserved better than ''that''. | ||
Revision as of 14:24, 10 January 2007
Contents |
Host
Robin Ray (original host)
Joe Melia
Peter Wheeler
Fiona Bruce
Co-hosts
Original team captains: Frank Muir (1965-94) and Robert Morley
Later captains: Patrick Campbell (1970s), Arthur Marshall (1980-8), Joanna Lumley (1994), Alan Coren (1996-2005), Sandi Toksvig (1996-2002) and Rod Liddle (2003-05).
Broadcast
BBC2, 17 October 1965 to 22 December 1988 (c.300 episodes); one-off special 16 April 1994
BBC1, 13 May 1996 to 17 July 2005 (469 episodes)
Synopsis
DING! And the word is 'Call My Bluff'. Vic?
"Well, in prehistoric times, fish used to be able to talk. In English! They also used to keep pets, one of which was called a 'Bluff'. Now, when a friend fish says 'Hello fish! can you call my bluff for me?' he wants you to call his pet. Sadly, fishes have lost the ability to talk nowadays."
Very good Vic. Sandi?
"'Ha ha ha! I'm Danish! Anyway, one day, a synonym for someone's agent was a 'Bluff', thereby, ha ha! when you got someone to call your agent you quite literally got them to 'Call My Bluff'. Ha!"
A modern incarnation of the team, no doubt photographed in a sunny corner of BBC TV CentreAnd finally Phillippa?
"Actually it's none of those, in fact it isn't a word, merely a phrase. It is a saying, originating from Sweden, for your best friend's wife-in-law."
So is it a way of calling fish pets over, a synonym for an agent or a word game on the BBC? Nick?
"Well actually I wouldn't have written this if I didn't know what it was, and I'm quite sure it's Vic's."
Pictures
Picture 1 - From left to right - Robert Morley, Robin Ray, Frank Muir
Picture 2 - Box cover from a vintage board game, featuring Marshall, Robinson and MuirInventor
Based on an American Goodson-Todman show of the same title. According to Frank Muir in his memoir A Kentish Lad, the American show "was a bit of a shambles, mainly because the bluffs... were so obviously false that it was painfully easy to spot the trues. The show proved not to be to the taste of American viewers and only lasted one season."
Theme music
Ciccolino by Norrie Paramor
Trivia
Call My Bluff was the second UK game show to be broadcast in colour, on 1 October 1967. The comparatively obscure Crossword on 2 beat it by two days.
The 1994 special was part of a theme night called "An Evening In with David Attenborough", marking BBC2's 30th birthday.
The show was officially axed in 2003, only to be revived a few months later with a new host. The last run went out on Sunday mornings, between the god slot and Countryfile. It may not have been the most thrilling of shows, but it deserved better than that.
