News Archive
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2012
Andrew Lloyd Webber is taking his casting shows to ITV, and the first role to fill will be Jesus Christ. A new arena tour of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar is planned, and the title part will be cast by the great British public. More: ITV press release
Game show legend Bob Holness has died peacefully this morning. He had been suffering from heart conditions for several years. The South African-born actor and radio presenter hosted the long-running student quiz Blockbusters and a modern incarnation of Call My Bluff.
It has been announced that Alesha Dixon will not return to the judging panel for the tenth series of Strictly Come Dancing, which is due to air later this year. Dixon has been a judge on the programme since 2009, when she controversially replaced original judge Arlene Phillips. Instead, Dixon will judge on Britain's Got Talent, alongside Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, and newcomer David Walliams.
2011
The New Year's Honours list has recognised people associated with game shows. Former Endemol Creative Director Peter Bazalgette, the overseer of shows including Big Brother and Ready Steady Cook, is appointed a Knight. There's a CBE for Ronnie Corbett for his services to broadcasting, Lorraine Kelly is appointed OBE for her charity work, and Stuart Hall is honoured for both of these reasons.
C J de Mooi, the curly-haired one, has announced he's leaving Eggheads. In a brief statement, he said "I'm acting full time now and that's what I want to pursue."
One of Alan Sugar's henchmen from The Apprentice will be the new host of Countdown. Nick Hewer will host the parlour game from the start of 2012, and said in a Channel 4 press release, "It's particularly fitting that I should be doing this now as my spelling has started to slip quite badly. I used to be able spell chrysanthemum."
The BBC has confirmed that is has cancelled long-running comedy panel show Shooting Stars. Hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, the programme first appeared on TV screens in 1993, and despite two hiatuses in the time since, has racked up over 70 episodes of anarchic fun.
Anne Robinson is quitting Weakest Link and will not be replaced, bringing the show to an end next spring. Robinson is stepping down to devote more time to writing. She will continue with her other programmes including Watchdog.
Channel 5 have signed a £200m, two-year deal with rights holder Endemol which will see the reality show, and its celebrity spin-off, return to UK screens from August 2011.
It has been announced that QI will be returning to its original home of BBC Two for the next series. Producer John Lloyd said, "QI did very well in the ratings on BBC One but we thought we ought to give Coronation Street a fighting chance."
The nominations for this year's Royal Television Society Awards are in. The major game show category is "Best Entertainment", with The X Factor, The Million Pound Drop Live and The Cube battling it out. Also up for awards are Deal or No Deal (Daytime and Early Peak), The Great British Bake Off (Lifestyle and Features) and inevitably Ant & Dec (Best Entertainment Performance).
Following the success of extended versions of TV shows such as Have I Got News for You, QI and The Apprentice: You're Fired!, the concept is to be transferred to radio for the first time, with Radio 4's The News Quiz getting an hour-long repeat on soon-to-be sister station Radio 4 Extra (currently Radio 7).
Noel Edmonds has set up a new company, Feel Good Television, and is currently touting a number of potential formats. Feel Good will concentrate on exploiting format rights and will contract production out to other companies. Among the formats being shopped around are valuation game Bank It or Bin It, which recently filmed a pilot, and the headline-grabbing Beat the Monkey, in which questions will be selected by a monkey in recorded inserts.
Escape from Scorpion Island has been honoured as Best Non-Animated or Mixed Series at the inaugural KidScreen Awards. It was one of five trophies picked up by CBBC at the awards, which aim to recognise engaging and entertaining children's TV from around the world.
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 Live. 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.
Noel Edmonds has set up a new company, Feel Good Television, and is currently touting a number of potential formats. Feel Good will concentrate on exploiting format rights and will contract production out to other companies. Among the formats being shopped around are valuation game Bank It or Bin It, which recently filmed a pilot, and the headline-grabbing Beat the Monkey, in which questions will be selected by a monkey in recorded inserts.
Escape from Scorpion Island has been honoured as Best Non-Animated or Mixed Series at the inaugural KidScreen Awards. It was one of five trophies picked up by CBBC at the awards, which aim to recognise engaging and entertaining children's TV from around the world.
2009
Pat Gibson is the new Egghead. Gibson, a former Brain of Britain, Mastermind champion, jackpot winner on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and 2007 IQA World Quiz champion, beat fellow Millionaire and Mastermind winner David Edwards to become the seventh member of "arguably Britain's most formidable quiz team".
The death has been announced of Max Robertson at the age of 94. Robertson hosted the popular antiques panel game Going for a Song for twelve years, 1965-77. He was also a commentator, associated particularly with tennis, and retired in 1986.
BBC Two is to trial the Dave-commisioned comedy debating show Argumental. It is the first time the BBC has picked up an entertainment show from the UKTV network.
The BBC has confirmed that the 2010 series of The Apprentice will be moved from its usual March starting date to the summer. The move was recommended by the BBC Trust in July, due to concerns that Alan Sugar's position as a government advisor could cause a breach of impartiality rules if the series, currently filming, were aired during a general election campaign. The Junior Apprentice spin-off will also be delayed.
Jack Dee is to be the sole host for the next series of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. His appointment is for the next series only, and no decision has been made on a permanent host. Dee was one of three rotating hosts on the previous series, the first made since the death of long-serving chairman Humphrey Lyttelton.
My Music panellist Ian Wallace has died at the age of 90 after a long illness. Wallace partnered Denis Norden on the panel game from 1967 to 1993, never missing a single episode. Wallace was also a bass baritone singer, best known for his performance of Flanders and Swann's The Hippotamus Song.
Mock the Week has been commissioned for a further two series, but Frankie Boyle will not be taking part. Boyle has been a regular on the show since the first series in 2005, when he was still considered an unknown. He has left to pursue other TV projects.
Five has announced that it is to revive the classic format Name That Tune next year. The show will be made by Ant and Dec's production company Gallowgate but they will not host it. Five previously revived the show in 1998, in a short-lived version hosted by Jools Holland.
The BBC has confirmed that next year's planned casting show for The Wizard of Oz will go ahead. Andrew Lloyd Webber had been in talks to move to ITV.
Ant and Dec were the big winners at last night's TV Quick & TV Choice Awards, picking up an Outstanding Contribution award as well as trophies for Best Entertainment Show (Saturday Night Takeaway) and Best Talent Show (Britain's Got Talent). Other game show winners were The Apprentice for Best Reality Show, and Deal or No Deal for Best Gameshow.
The managing director of Birmingham City FC, Karren Brady, has been confirmed as Margaret Mountford's replacement on The Apprentice. Brady has appeared as an interviewer in two previous series and as a contestant on the Comic Relief celebrity version of the show.
C4 has confirmed that next year's Big Brother series will be the last. The channel's Director of Programmes, Kevin Lygo, said that the show was still profitable but that it "has reached a natural end point on Channel 4 and it’s time to move on." The station is planning to spend the money saved on commissioning more original drama.
The celebrity line-up for this year's series of Strictly Come Dancing was announced at a press conference in London this morning. The full list, which includes former tennis star Martina Hingis (pictured) is now up on the Strictly Come Dancing show page.
CBBC has commissioned a full series of Junior Masterchef following a one-off competition for last year's Children in Need night. The show joins the regular, celebrity and professional versions of Masterchef, all of which have already been commissioned through 2011.
23 August Show pulled after fakery claims
The BBC has suspended Sun, Sea and Bargain Spotting after it emerged that a "member of the public" seen buying an item from contestants was in fact one of the show's cameramen. The series, the offending episode of which was repeated last Wednesday, has also been withdrawn from the BBC's iPlayer catch-up service.
18 August X Factor splits over weekend
The X Factor is to move its results shows to Sunday nights for the forthcoming series. Unlike Strictly Come Dancing's recently-abandoned Sunday night show, The X Factor's results show will be live.
18 August Coach Trip keeps travelling
12 Yard's recently-revived Coach Trip has been recommissioned for a longer, 50-episode run in 2010. The show returned to Channel 4 daytime earlier this year after a 3-year break.
9 July Strictly changes
Judge Arlene Phillips has been dropped from the 2009 series of Strictly Come Dancing, the BBC confirmed today. She will be replaced by the 2007 series champion, Alesha Dixon (pictured). Unspecified changes will also be made to the voting for the new series, which is to be launched with a special Friday night show.
23 June Steve Race
The death has been announced of the pianist, composer and broadcaster Steve Race. He was 88. Race's major contributions to game shows were hosting My Music on both radio and TV, and appearing as the "musical mistakes man" in Many a Slip.
31 May Talent's Got Ratings
Saturday night's final of Britain's Got Talent was the most watched British game show for ten years, and the highest-rated TV show of any kind for nearly five years. Overnight figures suggest that the programme, won by dance troupe Diversity, averaged over 18 million viewers and peaked at over 19m. The last TV show to rate higher was an England match in Euro 2004, and the last game show to do so was Who Wants to be a Millionaire? in March 1999.
16 April Clement Freud
Regular panel game contributor Clement Freud has died at the age of 84. The former restaurateur and MP was latterly best known for being a panellist on Just a Minute, having regularly appeared on the show since its launch in 1967.
9 April Lennie Bennett
Comedian and game show host Lennie Bennett has died at the age of 70. The star of Lucky Ladders and Punchlines died at Royal Lancaster Infirmary on Wednesday night after a fall at home.
25 March BAFTA TV awards
Game shows shortlisted for this year's BAFTA TV Awards are: QI and The X Factor (Entertainment programme); Celebrity MasterChef and The Apprentice (Features) and Stephen Fry and Ant & Dec (Entertainment Performance).
22 March Jade Goody
It has been announced that Jade Goody has died at the age of 27. The former Big Brother contestant and star of Jade's PA was diagnosed with cervical cancer last year and died at home in the early hours of Sunday morning.
18 March Royal Television Society Awards
Bruce Forsyth has received a Lifetime Achievement award, and producer Richard Holloway (pictured) picked up the Judges' Award, at the RTS awards ceremony held last night. Holloway's credits include Supermarket Sweep, New Faces, Pop Idol and Britain's Got Talent. None of the nominated game shows won their categories, though Peter Kay's Pop Factor spoof won the Comedy Performance prize.
11 March All, some, or none shall have prizes
UK game show nominees for the prestigious Rose d'Or awards 2009 are Relentless and The Colour of Money in the Game Show category and Last Choir Standing for the Entertainment award. The winners will be announced at the Lucerne Television Festival in May.
10 March MasterChef poached for BBC One menu
MasterChef is to move to BBC One next year after achieving strong ratings for its most recent series on BBC Two. BBC One already shows the spin-off, Celebrity MasterChef.
4 March UC ruckus rumbles on
Following Monday's disqualification of Corpus Christi College from University Challenge, press investigations have turned up evidence of at least three previous winning teams fielding players who were not studying at the institutions they represented at the time of the finals. The programme's producers apparently did not consider these to be an issue, and the BBC have said that they did not act on these breaches of the rules because they were not made aware of them at the time. The decision to disqualify CCO has been widely criticised in the press as disproportionate.
4 March RTS Programme Awards
The Royal Television Society programme awards shortlists have been published. Game show nominations are Masterchef: The Professionals for Best Daytime / Early Peak programme, Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor for Best Entertainment and Britain's Missing Top Model for Best Constructed Factual Series. The winners will be announced on 17 March.
2 March University Challenge: Corpus Christi stripped of title
Corpus Christi College, Oxford, has been officially disqualified from the just-completed University Challenge series, and stripped of their champion status after it emerged that one of the team was not technically a student. Sam Kay applied for the Corpus Christi team in the expectation that he would be studying for a DPhil there, but funding fell through. The title has been awarded to Manchester.
25 February Dale deal
Dale Winton has signed up for another two years as host of BBC National Lottery shows. The deal guarantees him two more series of In It to Win It and two of a new format, most likely We Know Where You Live which will be piloted next month.
24 February Tarrant becomes #1
According to our records, the advent of Chris Tarrant's new ITV game show The Colour of Money means he has become Britain's top game show host, with 16 different shows under his belt. The previous record holder, the late great Bob Monkhouse, had 15. 12 Yard's guessing game - dubbed the "most stressful" on TV - didn't stress BARB's ratings last Saturday, bringing in under 4 million viewers.
13 January Britain's Got Talent's Got Brook
Kelly Brook has been added to the judging panel for the new series of Britain's Got Talent. Brook was a last-minute addition, being signed up on Friday for series 3 which begins filming this week. (Update 20 January: And now she's been dropped, Simon Cowell saying that "it's become clear the format doesn't support another judge".)
12 January David Vine
The death has been announced of former Superstars, It's a Knockout and A Question of Sport host, David Vine. He was 73 and died of a heart attack at his Oxfordshire home on Sunday.
2008
27 December New game show book
If you're wondering what you do with all your Christmas cash, you could do a lot worse than buy The Quiz Show by Su Holmes, a new book published by Edinburgh University Press. Very thoroughly researched and reasonably priced for an academic work, it gives a decent coverage of quizzes old and new all set in a social context.
18 December OFCOM fines BBC £95,000
OFCOM has imposed fines totalling £95,000 on the BBC in respect of competition irregularities on Dermot O'Leary's Radio 2 show, and Tony Blackburn's programme on BBC London. Both shows invited callers to apply for on-air competitions which had already been recorded. Premium rate numbers were not used on either show. Earlier this week, OFCOM also fined the Gcap station Mercury FM £20,000 for deliberately screening out correct answers from callers to its "Secret Sounds" competition.
5 December ESC: Wogan out, Norton in
Graham Norton has been confirmed as the new BBC TV commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest, replacing Terry Wogan who has stepped down after complaining that it is "no longer a music contest".
25 November Krikey!
Ben Shephard has been confirmed as the new host of The Krypton Factor. The revived series, made by ITV Productions, begins filming next month.
21 November Countdown conundrum resolved
The new host of Countdown has at last been named. Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling will take over from Des O'Connor in January. Meanwhile, Carol Vorderman's replacement has been named as Rachel Riley, a 22-year old Oxford graduate with a masters degree in maths.
19 November I want my 15p back
BBC One controller Jay Hunt has said that the BBC "has every intention of reimbursing" people who voted for John Sergeant in this year's Strictly Come Dancing. Sergeant quit the show on Wednesday following weeks of adverse comment in the media.
12 November The Countdown Presenting Saga: part umpteen
Uncomfirmed reports are claiming that Sky Sports frontman Jeff Stelling is back in the frame to become the new host of Countdown. The Soccer Saturday frontman, who had previously ruled himself out of the role, is said to have been reapproached following Alexander Armstrong's 11th hour pullout last month. According to some sources, Stelling will be named as the new host, barring any problems.
31 October Countdown saga continues
It now looks likely that Alexander Armstrong will not be taking over as host of Countdown, after reportedly pulling out at the last minute. No new names have yet emerged as possible replacements, and producers have not officially ruled out employing a large friendly robot to dispense quips and engage in banter with guests.
17 October Countdown latest
It now looks almost certain that Alexander Armstrong will take over as the new host of Countdown in January. Contrary to some reports, the appointment had not been confirmed as of 1pm Friday, but it is understood that Armstrong has verbally accepted the post and an official announcement is expected in the next few days.
13 October Krypton Factor to be AFP
The forthcoming revival of The Krypton Factor is to be ITV1's first primetime Advertiser Funded Programme. The series will be sponsored by the business software company Sage, which will also be promoted through the show's web and interactive content.
9 October 12 Yard show us the colou...BONG!
ITV1 is to air a primetime series based on the Bong Game from Chris Tarrant's old Capital Radio show. Tarrant himself will host The Colour of Money, the first new ITV1 commission from 12 Yard since the production company was bought by ITV last year.
3 October BBC One poaches QI
The BBC has confirmed that QI is to move to BBC One following five series on BBC Two, during which it has become one of the channel's most watched shows. The new series is to air early in 2009.
1 October SFO no-go on premium rate inquiry
The Serious Fraud Office has announced that it will not be carrying out inquiries into the recent allegations of abuse of premium rate services. Allegations against the BBC, ITV, GMTV, Big Game TV, Audiocall and Opera Telecom were referred to the SFO, which reports that "none of these meet the SFO criterion for acceptance for investigation". (SFO statement)
28 September Suchet goes for gold
ITN newsreader John Suchet is to host Five's revival of long-running daytime quiz Going for Gold. The show is to air in the old Brainteaser slot and will be broadcast live. Potential applicants should see the Contestant Calls page for more details.
25 September ITV to regain Krypton Factor ?
Broadcast magazine reports that ITV is on the verge of commissioning a revival of classic game show The Krypton Factor. The show would be made in-house by ITV Productions. The Krypton Factor has been the subject of recurrent comeback rumours since it was axed 13 years ago. (Update: The revival has now been confirmed.)
15 September ESC brings back juries
The European Broadcasting Union has announced that next year's Eurovision Song Contest is to use a combination of national juries and televoting, in a move seen as a response to concerns over "neighbourly" voting skewing the results of recent contests. A similar combined system was used in this year's ESC semi-finals and in the recent Eurovision Dance Contest.
9 September ISIHAC to return
The self-styled "antidote to panel games", I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue will return next year, Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer has announced. The show's future had been in doubt following the death of host Humphrey Lyttelton in April.
29 August Geoffrey Perkins
Former director of Hat Trick Productions and BBC Head of Comedy, Geoffrey Perkins, has died in a road accident. He was 55. Perkins was the devisor of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue's signature game Mornington Crescent and in 1990 hosted the short-lived panel game Don't Quote Me.
25 July Vorderman quits, too
Carol Vorderman has also announced she is to leave Countdown at the end of the year. Carol has been with the show since it started in 1982 and since 1989, has been sole hostess. In a statement released today, Carol's manager John Mills said she is 'extremely sad'.
(BBC)
23 July O'Connor quits Countdown
Des O'Connor is to leave his role as host of Countdown at the end of the current series in November. Des, aged 76, has presented the Channel 4 show since January 2007, when he took over from Des Lynam, the original replacement for the late Richard Whiteley. O'Connor says he has no plans to retire and is working on new projects.
(BBC)
8 May Record fine for ITV plc
Ofcom has fined ITV plc a record £5.675 million for misconduct over its premium rate phone services - the biggest fine ever imposed by the regulator. The fine follows a report by Deloitte last year which identified "serious editorial issues" within Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Gameshow Marathon and Soapstar Superstar. ITV will also have to broadcast six summaries of the regulator's adjudication.
(BBC)
8 May Eggheads sought
Are you one of the millions convinced you could do better than CJ and Judith Keppel? 12 Yard are developing a spin-off show of Eggheads called Are You an Egghead?, the winner of which will join the official line up of the popular BBC2 quiz. Details on how to apply can be found on our Contestant Calls page.
25 April Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Lyttelton, the long-serving chairman of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, has died following surgery for an aortic aneurysm. He was 86.
13 April Mark Speight
Police have announced that the body of children's TV presenter Mark Speight has been found at Paddington station. Speight, who was 42, went missing on Monday.
9 April Ofcom consults
The media regulator Ofcom has issued a new consultation document outlining proposals for the regulation of premium rate "services". The major recommendation is that programmes using phone-ins "must consist primarily of content other than the promotion of the premium rate service" or be reclassified and regulated as teleshopping services. The consultation period runs until 22 May. (OFCOM site)
8 April Speight missing
TV presenter and children's game show host Mark Speight has gone missing. The disappearance follows the death in January of his fiancee Natasha Collins, who appeared as the jester "See" in See it, Saw it with Speight. A recent inquest ruled that Collins had died from a large drugs overdose.
6 April Phone cash unclaimed
Despite ITV offering refunds to all viewers affected by the premium rate phone line scams, only ten thousand pounds out of £7.8 million has been reclaimed. It was announced last October that any unclaimed money will go to charity, and the period for making claims ended on 29 February.
20 March RTS awards
The two game show winners from last night's Royal Television Society awards are Come Dine with Me for Best Daytime Programme ("a pioneering show for daytime, with... great energy and pace", said the judges) and QI for Best Entertainment Programme ("a Great British programme, incredibly old-fashioned but absolutely part of the zeitgeist").
1 March Brits up for golden roses
British game shows shortlisted for this year's Rose d'Or awards are Codex (pictured) and Who Dares Wins in the game show category, Deadline, Last Man Standing and The One and Only for best reality, and Streetmate for best entertainment series. Technically a Netherlands entry (as it's made by Dutch company Eyeworks), CBBC's Hider in the House also joins Streetmate in the entertainment category.
21 February Des returns to the Beeb
After an ill-conceived move to ITV, Des Lynam returns to his alma mater to present a sport-themed version of the BBC's long-running quiz, Mastermind. Over ten programmes, the debonair Lynam will test contestants over the usual specialist subject and general knowledge rounds to find the country's Sport Mastermind.
19 February New phone-in regulations
Under new OFCOM rules, broadcasters will need to have premium rate phone-in competitions approved by the premium rate regular PhonePayPlus. Broadcasters will need to meet new guidelines, including closing lines promptly when competitions end. OFCOM wants the new system to be in place by the end of June.
31 January Vernon Kay signs with ITV
Vernon Kay has signed a two-year golden handcuffs deal with ITV, said to be worth £2m. He is currently lined up to present Beat the Star this spring. The deal allows Kay to keep his current Radio 1 show.
30 January Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy Beadle, the trivia buff and practical joker, has died of pneumonia. He was 59. Beadle rose to fame as the naughty brother on Game for a Laugh, where he pioneered the hidden camera stunts that he developed on Beadle's About. More: BBC.
30 January Re-enter the Gladiators
A revival of the 1990s ITV show Gladiators has been commissioned by Sky. The new series will be produced by Shine and The Sun reports that Ian Wright is in talks to be the show's new host.
26 January Millionaire "best game show"
Who Wants to be a Millionaire has been named the nation's favourite game show in a survey to promote insurance company Churchill. The Crystal Maze, which topped our all-time poll two years ago, came fourth, behind Deal or No Deal and Mastermind. Ant & Dec were named favourite hosts, Bullseye best theme tune and "Can I have a P please, Bob?" the top catchphrase.
17 January Good neighbours? Not likely!
The BBC has confirmed that The Weakest Link is to switch channels from next month, to fill the gap left on BBC One by the loss of Aussie soap Neighbours. The quiz will retain its traditional 5.15 slot. The BBC have denied that the move will diminish its commitment to children's programming, which currently runs until 5.35.
10 January Shephard to take on new flock
Ben Shephard is to replace Dermot O'Leary as host of the Saturday night lottery tie-in 1 vs 100. The show has been recommissoned for a further run of eight episodes.
4 January Natasha Collins
Natasha Collins, who appeared as the jester "See" in See it, Saw it, has died suddenly at the age of 31. Police are treating the death as "unexplained". Her boyfriend and co-star Mark Speight, who lived with her, was questioned and has been released on police bail.
2007
30 December BBC phone-ins to return in new year
The BBC's phone-in competitions will be phased back in from January, starting with Popmaster on Radio 2's Ken Bruce show and Match of the Day's "Goal of the Month" contest. Call charges will be capped at 15p except for specific charity appeals.
29 December Going for a Gong
Sometime game show hosts Michael Parkinson and Des Lynam are recognised in the 2008 New Year Honours list. Des becomes an OBE, while Parky receives a knighthood.
22 December Graham!
2008's follow-up to How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do will be a search for actors to play Oliver and Nancy in a revival of Oliver!. Graham Norton will again host the show, called I'd Do Anything, and Andrew Lloyd Webber is again involved, despite recent interviews suggesting he didn't want to invest the time in another TV series. Legendary West End producer Cameron Mackintosh will also be involved.
20 December OFCOM say, C4 pay
Channel 4 has been fined £1million by OFCOM over irregularities in Richard & Judy's "You Say, We Pay" competition and a further £500,000 over the viewers' competition in Deal or No Deal. C4 has said it intends to recover part of the fines by starting legal proceedings against phone service provider Eckoh. Meanwhile, OFCOM has asked ITV for details relating to last Saturday's X Factor final after more than 2,400 complaints from people who could not get through to vote, mainly for runner-up Rhydian Roberts. ITV has also been asked to reveal the full findings of the Deloitte Report into telephone irregularities, a condensed version of which was published in October.
5 December Yard sale nets tidy profit
ITV has bought the game show producer 12 Yard for an initial £26m, with a further £9m to follow contingent on performance. The company was founded by David Young in 2001 and has recently enjoyed international success with its format The Rich List.
21 November BBC competitions to return: new code of conduct introduced
The BBC has announced that competitions will return across its radio, television and online services by the end of the year. Today, the corporation's Director General, Mark Thompson, announced a new code of conduct which states that every competition entry should have a fair chance of winning and contest winners must be genuine. Competitions were suspended in July this year after an inquiry found 'serious editorial breaches' in programmes such as Children In Need's Scottish opt-out and Comic Relief.BBC Competition code details
6 November OFCOM: Big Brother cleared
OFCOM has ruled that Channel 4 did not breach guidelines by broadcasting two incidents in which contestants in Big Brother used potentially offensive language. A total of 650 complaints were received after the incidents were broadcast in June.
19 October Alan Coren
Writer and frequent panel game contributor Alan Coren has died from cancer at the age of 69. Coren was a regular panellist on The News Quiz and a team captain on the 90s/00s revival of Call My Bluff.
18 October ITV Deloitte report released
The long-awaited Deloitte report into ITV plc's premium rate phone-in services has found three 'key areas of failure' in how the broadcaster integrated services into its programming. In a statement this morning, the executive chairman of ITV plc, Michael Grade, said that a 'serious cultural failure' within the company had been identified. He added that the company will reimburse £7.8million worth of unfunded votes to misled viewers. Voting via digital television and SMS text systems have been suspended, and ITV has pre-announced a refund scheme.
BBC Digital Spy
8 October Ladies please!
Mastermind is to advertise for contenders in women's magazines in an effort to encourage more female applicants, reports MediaGuardian. At present only a quarter of applicants are female, and no woman has won the title since Anne Ashurst in 1997. Applications (regardless of gender) can be made through the Mastermind website.
1 October Ned Sherrin
Ned Sherrin, the original and long-serving host of Counterpoint, has died of complications from throat cancer. He was 76.
26 September GMTV fined
GMTV has been fined £2m by Ofcom over its use of premium-rate phone-in competitions between May 2003 and April 2007, during which time around 18 million calls were placed which were disreagrded as winners had been selected early on. Ofcom ruled that GMTV had been "both irresponsible and negligent" in its relationship with operator Opera Telecom and had not done enough to ensure compliance with Ofcom codes of practice. The fine equals the largest ever handed down by Ofcom.
24 September Telecoms company fined over GMTV competitions
Opera Telecom, the former phone operator for GMTV competitions, has been fined a record £250,000 by the premium rate regulator, ICSTIS. The regulator found that over four years, more than 18 million calls were made to GMTV competitions that had no chance of winning. The fine is the largest ever imposed by ICSTIS in its 21-year history.
13 September Strictly Mr & Mrs
Gabby Logan and her husband, former rugby international Kenny Logan, are to be the first married celebrity couple to compete against each other in Strictly Come Dancing when the show returns next month. Gabby was barred from competing in the 2006 series because she was then under exclusive contract to ITV. Other celebs appearing this year include Kate Garraway, Kelly Brook and John Barnes. The line-up of professional dancers is unchanged from last year. (Full list)
12 September 50/50
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? bosses have created a spin-off show based on the 50/50 lifeline. Called 50/50, surprisingly enough, the quiz will see pairs of contestants competing for big cash prizes by accepting or rejecting alternative answers to questions, but quite what that means is still unclear. (The Sun)
12 September Game over for ITV Play
ITVplc has announced that its phone-in quiz programming on ITV1 + ITV2 is to be axed by the end of the year. The company's executive chairman, Michael Grade, announced the decision to end Glitterball and Make Your Play this morning saying that the recent TV phone-in scandal had decreased call volumes to 'uneconomic levels'. Earlier this year, a dedicated ITV Play channel was closed down in what the broadcaster described as a 'commerical move'. (Digital Spy)
3 September No shocks at TV Quick awards
Winners at last night's TV Quick Awards included I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! as Best Reality Show and The X Factor as Best Talent Show. The award for Best Entertainment Show was won by Saturday Night Takeaway.
31 August "This is so men'al"
Brian Belo, who famously said he did not know who William Shakespeare was, and told Davina he was a director who made Romeo and Juliet, has won the eighth series of Big Brother ahead of twins Amanda and Sam, Liam and Ziggy. (BBC)
31 August Boyle goes Bollywood
Trainspotting director Danny Boyle is to base his forthcoming movie on the Indian version of hit TV quiz show Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? Based on a true story, Slumdog Millionaire, will shoot in Mumbai from a script by fellow Briton Simon Beaufoy, who penned The Full Monty. (BBC)
24 August EXCLUSIVE: Scrapheap scrapped
Celebrity Big Brother is to be rested, and Scrapheap Challenge axed in a major shakeup of Channel 4 programming. Celeb BB will not run next year, in order to free up the 9pm weeknight slot for new commissions, though a "very different" BB spin-off will air on E4 only. Scrapheap Challenge will end after its 2008 series, which has already been recorded. October 2007 Update: Broadcast magazine reports that although the pre-released copy of Kevin Lygo's speech lists Scrapheap as one of many long-running formats to be axed, the show itself was not personally listed by Lygo in his address. Furthermore, we understand that the future of Scrapheap remains undecided at this time.
13 August 12 question money tree on WWTBAM
Jon Culshaw and John Thomson will be the first people to face the new-look Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The prize money will now start at £500, not £100, and it will only take 12 correct answers to win the top prize. It will only take two questions to reach the first safe haven at £1,000. The second rises in value from £32,000 to £50,000, and is achieved after seven correct answers. (BBC)
13 August Merv Griffin
Merv Griffin, the devisor of game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, has died at the age of 82. The US entertainer, best known for his eponymous talk show which ran from 1965 to 1986, had been diagnosed with prostate cancer for a second time earlier this year.
10 August Tony Wilson
Maverick music mogul, veteran news anchor and sometime game show host Anthony H. Wilson has died at the age of 57. Wilson was diagnosed with renal cancer last year but his condition was said to have been responding well to treatment.
9 August Gcap forgoes phone profits
Gcap, the radio giant which runs Capital and BMRB, as well as Classic FM and Capital Gold, is the latest broadcaster to drop profit-making phone-ins. The move comes after phone operator MX Telecom was fined £17,500 over irregularities in Gcap's "Secret Sounds" competition broadcast across 31 local stations in its "One Network". Gcap will continue to use premium-rate services but will not take a profit from them.
9 August Fine over DoND phone-in
iTouch, the telephone operator for Deal or No Deal's phone-in contest, has been fined £30,000 by ICSTIS because the programme gave the impression that viewers could win any one of the three prizes on offer. In fact because the show is pre-recorded, producers knew which prize would be available before the lines opened. Though imposing a fine for a breach of its code of practice, ICSTIS' ruling stated that "the detriment to consumers from this specific breach was not high".
6 August Millionaire moves to audition model
In an attempt to refresh the show ahead of its tenth anniversary (or to put it another way, stop boring people getting on screen), Who Wants to be a Millionaire? is to begin holding auditions for prospective contestants. The premium-rate application line will remain, but will be joined by a free web entry route. Auditions are already held in some countries where the WWTBAM format has been licensed.
1 August Channel 4 scraps almost all phone-ins
In what it describes as "a tough new policy", Channel 4 has announced that it will no longer include profit-making phone-in competitions in its shows, with the exception of Big Brother and Deal or No Deal, from which Channel 4's profits will go to charity. The announcement follows the discovery that between September 2004 and March 2007, a total of 2.9 million calls were entered to Richard & Judy's "You Say, We Pay" competition which had no chance of winning because the shortlist had already been finalised soon after lines opened.
30 July Phil Drabble
Phil Drabble, the original and longest-serving host of One Man and His Dog, has died at the age of 93. Drabble, who fronted the programme from 1976 to 1993, died peacefully at his Staffordshire home on Sunday.
29 July Mike Reid
The death has been announced of comedian and actor Mike Reid at the age of 67. Latterly famous for his role as Frank Butcher in EastEnders, Reid was also the sometime host of Runaround and recently competed in a celeb reality show, The Baron, which was due to air next month on ITV1.
27 July Give a Few Bob
Game show legend Bob Monkhouse returns to our screens four years after his death. With full support of the Monkhouse family, amazing computer graphics and body doubles have been used in conjunction with archive footage to produce an amazingly lifelike advert featuring Bob asking the public to donate money to prostate cancer research, the illness which took Monkhouse's life. Watch the advert here
25 July GMTV MD resigns
Paul Corley, the managing director of GMTV, has announced his resignation over the mishandling of phone-in competitions on the station. GMTV will offer a series of free draws with a total prize fund of 2.5 million pounds and will also change the way that competitions are run in future. Mr. Corley says that he hopes his resignation and this series of initatives will help restore 'viewer trust' in the station. (BBC)
18 July All BBC competitions suspended
BBC Director-General Mark Thompson has announced that all BBC phone-in competitions will be suspended from midnight tonight (Wednesday) and that online and interactive competitions will be suspended "as soon as possible". The measures come after an internal enquiry at the BBC uncovered five previously unknown instances of competition results being faked, including phone-ins during the Sport Relief, Comic Relief and Children in Need telethons.
11 July Holmes flop is new lottery vehicle
Nick Knowles is to host a new BBC One lottery tie-in this autumn. The 12 Yard show, Who Dares Wins, is a renamed version of The Rich List, a format which was billed as Eamonn Holmes' bid to crack America, but which was pulled from US TV schedules after just one episode. The show had previously been piloted and rejected by ITV. The format has, however, been a hit in Australia.
6 July Richard and Judy phone quiz thievery
A fine of £150,000 is to be levied on the phone company involved in the Richard & Judy phone quiz fraud. You Say We Pay began shortly after Richard & Judy went on air at 5pm and ended at 5.38pm, with the competition being won at 5.42pm. On most days a shortlist of 24 possible winners was drawn up as early as 5.11pm, and sent by Eckoh to Cactus Television. (Times)
27 June Tycoon toppled from Tuesdays
ITV has pulled its much-hyped business reality series Tycoon from Tuesday nights after the show failed to improve on its first-week ratings. Only 1.8 million people saw the second episode, a 9% share of viewing. The one-hour episodes will be re-edited to half an hour to fit a 10pm slot on Mondays and it is likely that the live final, originally scheduled for 24 July, will be put back.
26 June er Bra | e fin | Fiv | inte | ed ov | aser
OFCOM has imposed a record £300,000 fine on Five in respect of a series of incidents during the first three months of this year in which Brainteaser faked the results of on-air competitions. According to the ruling, the incidents "should be seen against a background of serious and longstanding compliance failures" dating back to 2003. Five will also have to broadcast apologies both in the show's old slot and in primetime.
26 June Highbrow reality series for BBC2 autumn line-up
BBC2's autumn line-up, announced today, includes two major new reality shows. Classical Star will seek a young musician to be awarded a recording contract with a major classical label, while The Restaurant challenges nine couples to run an eaterie with the winners receiving backing from Raymond Blanc. Dragons' Den will also return for a fifth series.
23 June People's Quiz pays out
Stephanie Bruce, a chemist and self-styled "Essex girl" resident in Haverhill, Suffolk has been named the People's Quiz champion after beating Mark Labbett in the final head-to-head round. Her £200,700 prize is the most ever paid out by a BBC show.
22 July Walsh gets job back
Louis Walsh has confirmed that he is back in The X Factor fold for the next series. Walsh had previously been dropped from the line-up but will return to replace "new judge" Brian Friedman, who has quit the panel but will be given a new role on the show.
15 June Dragons' Den
Entrepreneur James Caan has been confirmed as the new Dragon in the Den. Caan, founder of HR firm The Alexander Mann Group, will replace Richard Farleigh when the fifth series goes into production this summer.
14 June The Great Pretender
Chris Tarrant is taking on Deal or No Deal host Noel Edmonds by fronting a weekday tea-time quiz. The Who Wants to be a Millionaire? star, 60, has signed up for an ITV show in which players bluff each other to win. (The Sun)
13 June Bloody old fool that I am, I'm going to take that risk
Simon Ambrose has won The Apprentice, beating Kristina Grimes to the £100,000-a-year job with Sir Alan Sugar. The pair's final showdown saw them compete to win over architects and property developers with a design for a building on the South Bank. Kristina's property design was said to resemble Fascist architecture which was later changed. (BBC)
13 June Sir David Hatch
The death has been announced of former BBC Managing Director of Radio, David Hatch. He was co-creator of the long-running comedy panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and host of Wireless Wise, as well as commissioner of countless other radio shows. (BBC)
12 June Katie, you're fired
Katie Hopkins, a former candidate on BBC's The Apprentice, has been fired from her 'real job' (a brand manager for the Met Office) as she failed to pass her probationary term. The final, between Simon Ambrose and Kristina Grimes takes place on Wednesday 13th June at 21:00 on BBC1. (BBC)
8 June Brainteaser compensation sought
Five is reported to be claiming compensation from Endemol for loss of revenue following the sudden axing of Brainteaser in March this year. The show, made by Endemol's Cheetah West subsidiary, was pulled after it was discovered that some of the on-air winning "callers" to the show were in fact members of the production staff.
7 June The 'n' word is clearly offensive
Emily Parr has been removed from the Big Brother house for using a racially offensive word to Charley Uchea, while they were dancing in the living room on Wednesday evening. The eviction vote, in which Emily was nominated along with Shabnam Paryani, has been suspended.
(BBC)
7 June Grand Slam goes to U.S.
Winners from American shows including Jeopardy! (Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter), Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (Kevin Olmstead and John Carpenter), Wheel of Fortune, Tic Tac Dough, Lingo and The Weakest Link are scheduled to compete for $100,000 in the U.S. version of the 2003 quiz. The show will be hosted by Dennis Miller with Amanda Byram and broadcast on Game Show Network from 8 Aug. (TV Guide)
4 June X Factor appointments
Singer Dannii Minogue and choreographer Brian Friedman are the new judges on The X Factor. Their appointment follows Louis Walsh's departure from the show.
3 June Manford's the man for Cats
Stand-up comic Jason Manford is to join the regular cast of 8 Out of 10 Cats. He will replace Dave Spikey as team captain when the fifth series begins on 15 June.
30 May Hancock returns
Nick Hancock has been announced as the host of new Channel 4 daytime show Win My Wage, which will air in Deal or No Deal's slot this summer. It will be his first regular hosting role on national TV since leaving They Think it's All Over in 2004.
29 May The Big Donor Show
Big Brother maker Endemol is said to be going ahead with a new reality TV programme called De Grote Donorshow (The Big Donor Show) to be screened on Dutch TV station BNN this Friday, in which viewers vote on who will recieve the kidney of a terminally ill woman. (BBC). (Update 1 June: It was a hoax.) For more information on organ donation, visit: www.uktransplant.org.uk
24 May OFCOM adjudication: CBB broke broadcasting rules
An OFCOM investigation has found that Channel 4's 2007 series of Celebrity Big Brother was in breach of the Broadcasting Code. The report says that a serious failure of the compliance process led to serious editorial misjudgements. Channel 4 and S4C (also affected by OFCOM's actions) will broadcast a summary of the findings after the first show of the new series next week. Repeat summaries will be shown after a revised repeat and the first eviction.
(OFCOM adjudication)
20 May BAFTA Winners
The sole game show winner from this year's BAFTA TV awards was The X Factor as Best Entertainment Programme out of about half a dozen game show nominations. If you count Numberwang from That Mitchell and Webb Look (winner of Best Comedy Programme), there are two winning game shows!
18 May Dragon dropped
Australian investor Richard Farleigh has been dropped from the next series of Dragons' Den. Farleigh said he was "gutted" not to be invited to take part after appearing in the previous two series. His replacement has not yet been named.
18 May MGEITF
The MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival has announced some of the confirmed speakers for this year's event, including Jeremy Paxman, who will deliver the MacTaggart Lecture and host a one-off live edition of University Challenge. Channel 4's chief executive, Andy Duncan, will take part in a major session, including discussion of the Big Brother controversy. (WorldScreen)
17 May Quiz scandal hits ITV profits
In a statement for its annual general meeting the broadcaster confirmed that its premium rate telephone services revenue dropped by around 20 per cent in March and April amid scandals involving GMTV and The X Factor. Ad revenues for the first half of 2007 at ITV1 are down 9.6 per cent against last year, while ITV's total take from advertising is down 5.7 per cent. (InTheNews)
13 Apr Are You Smarter?
Sky One has bought the rights to the phenomenally successful US game show - Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. It will be renamed Are You Smarter Than a 10-Year-Old? (BBC)
11 Apr BAFTA Nominations
The nominees for this year's BAFTA TV awards have been announced. Dancing on Ice, Maria? and The X Factor go up against Derren Brown's The Heist for Best Entertainment Programme, while Stephen Fry, Ant 'n' Dec, Paul Merton and Jonathan Ross face off in the Best Entertainment Performance category, and The Apprentice and Dragons' Den are up against The Choir and Gordon Ramsay's The F Word for Best Features. Dragons' Den and Celeb BB are shortlisted for the Pioneer Audience Award but stand no chance against Life On Mars. Finally Numberwang, or at any rate That Mitchell and Webb Look, is up for Best Comedy. The winners will be announced on 20 May.
4 Apr Brucie's Back!
The Generation Game is making a comeback later this year as part of UKTV Gold's £10 million new programming strategy, with UKGameshows.com's top host of all time (as voted by readers) Bruce Forsyth at the helm. (DS)
30 Mar O'Leary has X Factor
Dermot O'Leary has been confirmed as the new host of The X Factor, replacing the ousted Kate Thornton. The hit ITV talent show will return in the autumn.
13 Mar ITV Play channel closes down for good
The controversial ITV Play channel has ceased transmission permanently after just under a year on air. Overnight broadcasts, which currently include Glitterball and Make Your Play will continue on ITV1 + ITV2. (ITN,
BBC)
5 Mar ITV suspends premium rate phone-ins
ITV has admitted a mistake when a vote on The X Factor led to viewers being overcharged by £200,000. There have also been complaints regarding Richard and Judy and Big Brother on Channel 4. (BBC, BBC)
3 Mar Dominic wins £1m
Dominic Jackson beat Colin Lynch in the final to scoop the jackpot on the second series of PokerFace and go into 12th place in the UK game shows All Time Winners List. Congratulations to him!
22 Feb You Say We Don't Pay refund line
For people ripped off by Richard & Judy, the refund line is 0800 666 805. The line will be open until the investigation is complete. (C4, BBC)
8 Feb Two new ITV game shows
Two shows from Endemol-owned Initial have been commissioned by ITV: For the Rest of Your Life by Deal or No Deal creator Dick de Rijk gives couples the chance to win a pay cheque every month of every year for the rest of their lives; and Golden Balls are due to air in the Spring.
12 Jan Match burnt out
Sky One have confirmed that their longest-running game show format, The Match, has been axed. The celebrity football show ran for three series, but failed to produce a team capable of beating a squad of ex-professionals. Sky has said it is seeking a new football-based reality format.
7 Jan Deal jackpot won
Laura Pearce, a civilian police worker from Hemel Hempstead, has become the first person to win the £250,000 jackpot on Deal or No Deal. It is the biggest prize ever given away on daytime television in the UK.
7 Jan Magnus Magnusson dies
Former Mastermind presenter Magnus Magnusson dies of cancer at the age of 77. (BBC)
5 Jan ITV1 seeks tycoons
The first fruit of ITV1's deal with Dragons' Den investor Peter Jones has been announced. Tycoon will see Jones mentoring would-be entrepreneurs and is likely to air this summer. Applications can be made via the ITV website from Saturday.
1 Jan Return of the King
It has been confirmed that School's Out will be returning for a second, eight-part, series, to be filmed in February. King Danny of Lovely will again host the show, which is made by Graham Norton's So Television.
2006
30 Dec A gong for Sarpong
June Sarpong is an unexpected inclusion on the 2007 new year honours list, becoming an MBE for her broadcasting and charity work. Penelope Keith is made a CBE, though it is unlikely that her stint as host of What's My Line? had much bearing on the award.
26 Dec Grand Cram
The first-round questions for the forthcoming National Lottery People's Quiz have been published online, together with details of the five open auditions for the show. The guaranteed jackpot is £200,700, more than double the previous highest prize awarded on a BBC show. People's Quiz website.
23 Dec Big Game TV
Fraud charges against Big Game TV have been dropped after a six-month investigation found no evidence of criminality. However, the channel may still face regulatory action from OFCOM.
7 November Another Des
Des O'Connor is said to have won the race to replace Des Lynam as host of Countdown. Des, aged 74, is said to still be in negotiations but reports are confident he has been given the job. Channel 4 is thought to have offered him a contract worth £500,000. His first episodes would be broadcast in January 2007. Other contenders Michael Aspel, Alan Titchmarsh, Stephen Fry and Paul Merton are said to have pulled out of the race due to work commitments.
1 November National Television Awards
The winners have been announced of the ITV-sponsored National Television Awards. Ant and Dec won Most Popular Entertainment Presenter, while Gameshow Marathon was voted top game show, ending Millionaire's seven-year winning streak. Deal or No Deal took the Most Popular Daytime Show title, Big Brother was Most Popular Reality Programme (and BB7's Nikki Grahame was named Most Popular TV Contender) and Most Popular Entertainment Programme was The X Factor.
30 October New Faces discovery
A 1973 episode of New Faces previously believed to have been lost has been rediscovered by director Paul Stewart Laing. The episode includes the first TV appearance of Victoria Wood, who went on to win the series. Including this new discovery, only 18 out of the 160 episodes produced in the 1970s are known to have survived.
12 October Magnus Magnusson diagnosed with cancer
Former Mastermind presenter Magnus Magnusson has been diagnosed with cancer. He has cancelled a number of public appearances, including a talk at the Cheltenham Literature Festival to mark his 77th birthday. (BBC)
5 October BB vote rapped
The premium rate watchdog ICSTIS has ruled that Channel 4 "misled" viewers and broke its own guidelines when it invited Big Brother viewers to vote to evict housemates who were subsequently reinstated. ISCTIS received over 2600 complaints about the matter. C4 avoided a fine, but have been ordered to pay the costs of the investigation.
30 September Lynam quits
Des Lynam has announced that he is to leave Countdown at the end of the present series, citing the inconvenience of travel between his West Sussex home and Yorkshire TV's studios in Leeds. No decision has yet been announced on who will take over as host.
16 September Ingram wins the jackpot
Ingram Wilcox's win on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? puts him in at position 10 on the All Time Winners List. His final question was "Which boxer was famous for striking the gong in the introduction to J. Arthur Rank films?" A: Bombardier Billy Wells, B: Freddie Mills, C: Terry Spinks, D: Don Cockell.
18 October NTA Award noms
The shortlists have been announced for the ITV-sponsored National Television Awards, to be handed out on 31 October. The major game show categories are Most Popular Game Show (Cats, Marathon, News, Millionaire), Entertainment Programme (Takeaway, Strictly, Dancing on Ice, The X Factor and non-gameshow Friday Night with Jonathan Ross) and Reality Programme (BB7, Celeb BB4, I'm a Celeb 4 and Apprentice 2). Deal or No Deal is up for Most Popular Daytime Programme, Bad Lads Army is nominated for Most Popular Factual, and there is a new "TV Contender" category featuring contestants from BB, Celeb BB, I'm a Celeb and Soapstar Superstar. The Most Popular Entertainment Presenter noms are Ant and Dec, Noel, Davina, Paul O'Grady and perpetual winner in this category, Jonathan Ross. You can vote if you wish at nta.itv.com.
6 September Anne Gregg
The death has been announced of the presenter Anne Gregg. Best-known for presenting the Holiday programme, she also hosted the short-lived Holiday Quiz spin-off and was a regular panellist on the antiques quiz Going, Going, Gone. Gregg was 66 and had been ill with cancer.
5 September Noel's mystery solved
The mystery of the symbols on Noel Edmonds' hand when filming Deal or No Deal has been solved. Far from being an object lesson in cosmic ordering, as many had thought, in fact the final messages spelt out "www", "red", "box" and "club" pointing to this website. If you can solve the hidden message of the code you can win a VIP trip to the DoND studios including a chance to meet Noel and be one of the blue box openers.
5 September Award season again, so soon
The TV Quick Awards were handed out last night. Deal or No Deal added the "Best Daytime Show" award to its already strained trophy cabinet, while the usual suspects also picked up gongs: I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! won "Best Reality Show" for the fourth year running, and Strictly Come Dancing took "Best Entertainment Programme" for the second year on the trot (so to speak).
