Ben Justice’s Top 100 UK Game Shows of All Time – Part 5

By | April 12, 2019

He’s back! Yes, after a week unsuccessfully negotiating Luna’s fee with her agent, Actual Real TV Developer Ben Justice is back with positions 60-51, the top of his bottom. Some really interesting choices this time around (although we’ve said that about the last four vids, I hope the Top 50 isn’t going to be boring!).

21 thoughts on “Ben Justice’s Top 100 UK Game Shows of All Time – Part 5

    1. Mark A

      I miss that show. S2 used to terrify me as a child (Probably because of the overall darker atmosphere compared to S1), But yeah I agree, S2 is the superior season.

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        1. John R

          I never realised S1 was David Walliams, I always thought it was Mark Speight for some reason!

          Reply
      1. Brandon

        Any reason given for the new theme tune? I saw this on Paul’s YouTube channel, and I assumed it was just the old one that he hadn’t uploaded before

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        1. Crimsonshade

          There’s been some minor presentational changes and graphical tweaks as well, to go along with a tweaked format. I think they’re trying to give this series more of a hardcore feel overall.

          Reply
  1. Chris M. Dickson

    As usual, really enjoyed this. My last Friday was somewhat poorer for its absence, though probably better not ask whether I missed Luna cat even more than the rest of it.

    Sometimes “really well-made” can be synonymous with “had really good music”, and that’s OK. By that token, Chris Searle Runway had a low-key stomper of a theme tune, and if the Wonderwall is the best endgame of the lot (and I’m not going to say it isn’t) then Chris Searle Runway’s endgame had the best orchestral stabs on TV to date. Unless you know better…!

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      1. Chris M. Dickson

        You’re on to something here. Another contender is the last part of the Gong Show orchestra sting… and in this clip they segue seamlessly from a gonged contestant into about three skits back-to-back-to-back. Iain Weaver pointed in his Week of the Year to an excellent article about “dicking about in game shows”, and – in its pomp – The Gong Show may have had the most of them all.

        US Blockbusters technically just-to-say fits the bill in a way that UK Blockbusters technically just-to-say doesn’t.

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        1. David B

          UK Blockbusters would be a ‘disappointment arpreggio’, I think.

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        1. Chris M. Dickson

          That is far too lovely. Raise to some very famous (and once again current) disappointment dissonance.

          Apparently video game sound designers tend to keep their game over tunes fairly light as they don’t want to put people off having another go. Not an issue here, though…

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          1. Brandon

            This cue wasn’t played the one time the final question was answered wrongly on the UK version,but that could have something to do with the fact that the question was thrown out on a technicality or that it was a celebrity special. One of my favourite YouTube videos of all time is a compilation of almost all the times someone has got the final question wrong, some of the reactions are absolutely priceless.

          2. David B

            You can see a compilation of some Japanese top-prize millionaire fails here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_92DlBBSyXg I’m not sure why there are so many in Japan – that the top prize is ‘only’ £70,000 may mean people can gamble a bit more and, perhaps, that also means the questions are a tad easier – because as well as having the most losers, they also have the most top-prize winners of any territory.

          3. David B

            You can see a compilation of some Japanese top-prize millionaire fails here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_92DlBBSyXg I’m not sure why there are so many in Japan – that the top prize is ‘only’ £70,000 may mean people can gamble a bit more and, perhaps, that also means the questions are a tad easier – because as well as having the most losers, they also have the most top-prize winners of any territory.

            And this is a longer playlist of similar moments from various Millionaire versions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tM8H5OjSqs&list=PL5XuHLA2Jbgiv9fKyVwkHsB44MY7srIUR

  2. TheLupineOne

    I barely remember Body Heat, but Incredible Games’ alphabet soup was a much more enduring memory of my childhood. I swear one of my furry friends has a character inspired by the Dark Knight…

    Reply
  3. Des Elmes

    There’s no decent footage of Body Heat online, it doesn’t have a Wikipedia entry – and I don’t believe it has been repeated on Challenge, or anywhere, since its original airing. (Mike Smith *was* perfectly happy for it to be repeated… wasn’t he?)

    I was only a nipper when it was on, but I remember quite liking the format – especially the Batak walls at the end – and the theme tune.

    The Wonderwall *was* brilliant, as was its music (by Keith and Matthew Strachan, of course). However, the Wonderwall perhaps wasn’t *quite* as brilliant when, during Schofe’s first series, it was played on Wednesdays for spending money (and with no pit stops). No doubt this added significantly to the production costs, too.

    I guess we can safely say that Beat The Star, The Whole 19 Yards and Splash! haven’t made Ben’s top 50 – and I assume Today’s The Day hasn’t made it either. And I think I have an idea as to which Lottery game show he has ranked highest – though obviously I’m not going to elaborate on this idea just yet. 😉

    Reply

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