News Archive
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2010
BBC2's long-running cookery challenge Ready Steady Cook is to be chopped, the BBC's head of daytime, Liam Keelan, has announced. The move is part of a far-reaching revamp of the BBC2 afternoon schedule. The show debuted in 1994 as part of Peter Bazalgette's Bazal Productions slate. Originally members of the public fought in the red tomato and green pepper kitchens, but recent years have mainly featured celebrity contestants.
ITV has announced it has agreed a deal with Simon Cowell's Syco company and Fremantle Media, which will see Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor both broadcast until 2013. However, it remains to be seen whether Simon Cowell himself will appear in all the programmes due to his commitments in America.
It has been announced that game show channel Challenge is to launch on the Freeview digital TV platform, doubling the number of homes able to receive it. The channel, recently purchased by BSkyB, is home to classic episodes of game shows such as Bullseye, Catchphrase, Family Fortunes, Strike it Lucky, The Crystal Maze and Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
After 11 years, 274 housemates, and thousands of hours of television, the daddy of reality TV shows Big Brother has finally come to an end, with series two winner Brian Dowling being voted the ultimate Big Brother housemate.
Robert Robinson has left Brain of Britain, of which he has been the official regular host since 1972. Russell Davies, who has stood in during Robinson's illness, now becomes the full-time host.
Professional dancer Brian Fortuna has left Strictly Come Dancing after changes to the format were revealed. Fortuna was one of five regulars asked to step down from competing and instead form part of a dedicated professional dance troupe, along with Ian Waite, Matthew Cutler, Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova. The others will not be competing this year but have yet to announce whether they will join the troupe.
The death has been announced of ventriloquist and presenter Ray Alan at the age of 79. Alan's hosting roles included Three Little Words and the travel quiz Where in the World?, and with his dummy Lord Charles he was a regular guest on shows such as 3-2-1 and Celebrity Squares.
Davina McCall is to host Channel 4's live primetime game show, The Million Pound Drop. The programme, described by C4's Julian Bellamy as "live event meets game show", launches later this month and will offer a potential £1m prize.
Hole in the Wall has been axed after two series, according to The Sun today. The first of a new wave of physical gameshows when it launched in 2008, it has since been overtaken in the ratings by the likes of Total Wipeout and The Whole 19 Yards.
With the launch of ITV's The Door in April, Chris Tarrant becomes indisputably the most successful UK game show host of all time. He will have 17 main hosting roles to his credit, and involvement in 18 different formats overall, beating the late Bob Monkhouse who, to our knowledge, had 15 main hosting roles. Tarrant's varied career has included two shows with diametrically opposite aims: Lose a Million and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? as well as board game conversions (Cluedo, PSI) and the raucous Man O Man.
A Question of Sport is to mark its 40th anniversary year by going out on tour. It follows in the footsteps of shows as diverse as I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Dancing on Ice which have cashed in on their popularity with non-broadcast variants. Host Sue Barker and team captains Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell are all signed up to take part in the 15-date tour.
