Punchlines was a comedy game show series that was produced by LWT and aired on the ITV network from January 3, 1981 until December 22, 1984. The programme was hosted by Lennie Bennett.
* 79 episodes and 1 special
* Series 1 - 13 x 30' 03/01/1981 - 28/03/1981 * Special - FA Cup Final edition 09/05/1981 * Series 2 - 16 x 30' 05/09/1981 - 19/12/1981 * Series 3 - 16 x 30' 24/12/1982 - 09/04/1983 * Series 4 - 17 x 30' 10/09/1983 - 31/12/1983 * Series 5 - 17 x 30' 01/09/1984 - 22/12/1984
(Source: ITN Source website)
Each week 2 teams of a celebrity guest and a member of the public had to match the punchlines which were given by 8 other guests who were seated in 'Celebrity Squares' style boxes to the questions that were asked by the host, the first team to reach 150 points won the chance to win a major prize while the losing contestant left with a 'Lennie Bennett' doll in the first 2 series then from series 3 onwards they left with a case of champagne and some glasses.
In the first two series the panel of 8 Punchliners consisted of actors and comedians who weren't yet well known to the British public, including:
At the beginning of each show they would all look into the camera one at a time and introduce themselves.. 'I'm Matthew', 'I'm Patti' etc... From the third series onwards the Punchliners consisted of a mixture of the original Punchliners and more well known celebrities.
In the final round the winning contestant had to match 7 of the 8 punchlines correctly to win the star prize but if they failed to do so they went away with the prize that corresponded to how many correct punchlines they had matched.