Talkabout

Synopsis

Little-known, but nevertheless very good, puzzle show. Two couples attempted to out-talk each other to win big money. One team would wear headsets and the other team would "talkabout" one of two subjects offered to them (e.g. "Do you want to talkabout 'fairy tales' or 'the Budget'?")

Each person in the team would get a chance to talkabout the subject for twenty seconds, one after the other.

Hot, hot, hot

The computer hid ten "hot" words. Every time one was mentioned we'd hear a 'DING!' and would be revealed on the screen - the more they talk about the subject the more word's they'll hit. When they've both talked the words they didn't get would be revealed to them. The other team would take off their headsets and look at the words they didn't get - from that they've got to work out the subject the first team talked about within ten seconds. If they managed it they get one point for every word the Talking team uncovered, if they don't get it then the Talking Team get the points instead. After this the roles will reverse, the talking team will attempt to guess and the guessers will talk.

This kept going until one team reached fifteen points, thereby winning the game. The losing team won a Talkabout board game (and any money if they were the champions).

To double or to double-double, that is the question

The winning team went through to the Bonus Round. They would be given two subjects to choose from again but once chosen, one of the contestants sits in the isolation booth. The other person then has twenty seconds to talk about that subject.

After the twenty seconds we see the words they missed out. At the moment they have won £20 for each word that has been uncovered. BUT! The talker can opt to double the cash by saying that the isolated person will definitely hit one of the previously uncovered words within ten seconds. Or, they could double-double by nominating one single word that wasn't hit and saying their partner would hit it within the 'amount of words they hit' seconds.

They get the chance to do it (if they decide to go for it) and if they succeed, the money

Key moments

The out-take (below) where Andrew O'Connor says "Right, he's decided you're going to Double-Double, OK? So... you've got six seconds to talk about... UNDERTAKERS!" At this point the audience laughed because Undertaker was the the magic 'hit' word and not the subject at all!

Inventor

Mark Maxwell-Smith

Trivia

The first and second series aired on Tuesday to Friday afternoons at 2.50pm in the autumn/winter schedules in the run up to Christmas and the third series aired on Monday to Friday mornings at 9.25am before the school holidays just after GMTV had finished. For more, we have a complete guide to ITV's 9.25 shows.

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