Blockbusters

In the UK, everybody knows the quiz show Blockbusters. All you have to say to remind them of the show is: "I'll have a P please Bob". The Bob referred to the host Bob Holness who gained quite a large following, during the running of this quality quiz show. Watching the new Blockbusters hosted now by the lively Lisa Tarbuck, it seems that Bob wasn't the only reason behind Blockbuster's success.

The format is wacky. Two players play against one play in a strange game of hexagonal tic-tac-toe. The game board has been cleverly designed so that every game has a winner. The winners then try to win the Gold Run for a pretty generous prize.

The quiz is quick and entertaining even when the guests are not. The host keeps things moving. Both Holness and Tarbuck are blessed with sure-fire wits that keep the game interesting. The questions are often difficult. Each answer beginning of course with a different letter. I don't know if it ever made it to the shores of the USA but it stamped itself on the culture of Britain for sure.

From a past comment, it said the writer didn't know if Blockbusters made it to the United States. It actually did, in fact this version was first in line. The American version was hosted by Bill Cullen from 1980-1982, the UK version came afterwards in 1983. There was another US version, this time hosted by Bill Rafferty, but it didn't long as long as the previous US version. In fact, neither version is longer than the UK version, which is why the that title of this comment is UK older than US.

Hopefully some day there will be a new US version of Blockbusters, hopefully as good as the previous US versions of Blockbusters and the current UK version of Blockbusters.

The basic concept: A player and a team played against each other to create lines vertically/horizontally on the board before the opposing player/team, answering questions based on the chosen letter. The winner would go on to play Gold Rush, with multiple letters, in an effort to win the big prize.

Great fun. If it had still been going today, I would have liked to go on it myself. It was always a lively program, with some bizarre contestant personalities facing a distinguished host, Bob Holness, who played his part as the host in an ever-cheerful manner.

Although the format will forever appear dated, this is a game show that will live on in people's minds for a good few years yet. A series revival would be good, providing they find the right host and don't deviate too far from it's original setup. What would happen if the theme music changed and killed off that famous hand jive? *Twirls arms, claps hands etc*

I was only young when they axed the original Blockbusters with Bob Holness but I have good memories of watching it. In recent years Challenge has shown repeats and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them.

Three contestants participated at once, two of them worked together in a team and the third worked on their own. The game was played on a board which consisted of 20 hexagonal blocks, each containing a letter. Players would ask for a particular letter and a question would be asked with the answer starting with the letter the player had chose, if the player got it right then the block would change to their playing colour: Blue for the team and White for the single. The team worked horizontally and the single worked vertically on the board with the goal to create a line of correct answers, the first to create a linked line from left to right (Team) or top to bottom (Single) won the round. After up to three rounds, the player with the most rounds won, took part in a 60 second "Gold Run" and a chance at winning a "big" prize which in later series was usually a holiday.

In my opinion, Blockbusters is the best quiz show ever made, much better than the likes of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Weakest Link. It was fun to watch and sometimes the answers given to questions were hilariously wrong!! It would be fantastic if the show was brought back, it recently appeared in ITVs "Gameshow Marathon" too.

I do so wish Blockbusters and Bob Holness would return to out screens. British terrestrial TV needs a good gameshow and Blockbusters could provide it.

In the show, students picked a letter from the hexagonal blocks. They might say, "Can I have a T Bob?" for example or even funnier, "Can I have a P Bob?" The answer to the general knowledge question that they were going to be asked began with the letter they picked. The questions were quite tough at times which made it even more fun. And the 60 second hot spot finale was just engrossing.

Blockbusters was a very good gameshow. It was entertaining but more importantly, it helped build one's general knowledge up. If you've watched enough episodes of Blockbusters, then those good old pub quizzes are going to be a piece of cake!