| Give Us a Clue | |
|---|---|
| Format | Panel game show |
| Starring | Michael Aspel (1979–1983) Michael Parkinson (1984–1992) Tim Clark (1997) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Thames Television (1979–1992) Grundy Productions (1997) |
| Running time | 30 Minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV (1979–1992) BBC One (1997) |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original run | 2 January 1979 – 19 December 1997 |
Give Us a Clue is a British televised game show version of charades which was broadcast on ITV from 1979 to 1992. The original host was Michael Aspel from 1979 to 1983, followed by Michael Parkinson from 1984 to 1992. The show featured two teams, one captained by Lionel Blair and the other by Una Stubbs. Later versions of the programme had Liza Goddard as captain of the women's team.
A revived version was attempted by BBC One, which ran from 10 November to 19 December 1997 and commissioned 30 episodes, it was hosted by Tim Clark. Teams were captained by Christopher Blake and Julie Peasgood and the show tried to introduce a lateral thinking puzzle (which the host could "give clues to"). Give Us A Clue returned for a special Comic Relief episode on March 5th, 2011 with Sara Cox, Christopher Biggins, Lionel Blair, Una Stubbs, Holly Walsh, Jenni Falconer and David Walliams.
Contents |
The game was based on charades, a party game where players used mime rather than speaking to demonstrate a name, phrase, book, play, film or TV programme. Each player was given roughly two minutes to act out their given subject in front of his/her team, and if the others were unsuccessful in guessing correctly, the opposing team would have a chance to answer for a bonus point.
In its early days it occupied a weekday early evening slot, usually around 5:15 pm, when ITV didn't have so many shows and relied on repeats as well. It was also a common feature to remain during the Christmas/New Year schedules. In 1987 the show moved to an early morning slot, left vacant when ITV Schools relocated to Channel 4.
The original theme tune was called "Chicken Man", which was also the theme tune of Grange Hill. However, while Grange Hill used the original recording, Give Us a Clue used a less dynamic custom arrangement more in keeping with the style of light entertainment programming. In 1982 David Clark took over as producer/director and commissioned an entirely new theme tune, then in 1987 a new vocalised theme tune was used up until the show ended in 1992.
The programme has been repeated on satellite TV and is also still parodied in British comedy. It was frequently referred to by Humphrey Lyttelton, chairman of BBC radio's long-running "antidote to panel games", I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, during a round of Sound Charades — usually with a gay innuendo-laden gag at the expense of Lionel Blair.
A licensed version of it aired in New Zealand in the 1990s. SVT in Sweden broadcast their own version with the title Gäster med gester.