Play to the Whistle
| Play to the Whistle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Comedy panel game |
| Presented by | Holly Willoughby |
| Starring |
Bradley Walsh Frank Lampard Romesh Ranganathan Seann Walsh Jimmy Bullard |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 7 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Dan Baldwin |
| Location(s) | Fountain Studios |
| Running time | 45 minutes (inc. adverts) |
| Production company(s) | Hungry Bear Media |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV, STV, UTV |
| Picture format | 16:9 (HDTV) |
| Original run | 11 April 2015 – present |
Play to the Whistle is a British comedy panel game show that airs on ITV with the first episode broadcast on 11 April 2015. In each episode two teams of three compete in sports knowledge rounds and physical games to achieve points for their teams, at the end the team with the most points is declared the winner.
The show is hosted by Holly Willoughby. One team is captained by entertainer, actor and presenter Bradley Walsh and the other team is captained by professional footballer Frank Lampard. Lampard is joined by comedian Romesh Ranganathan as a regular panellist. Seann Walsh is the resident scorer and Jimmy Bullard is the host's assistant.[1]
Production
The show was commissioned as part of ITV's endeavour to find a panel show for their flagship channel after other pilot series have aired. The show is made by Hungry Bear Media and the executive producer is Dan Baldwin, Holly Willoughby's husband. Despite the sport theme, ITV say that they are not targeting sports fans specifically but producing the show for the whole family audience. Baldwin stated that the host's lack of sports knowledge "will help viewers in the same position". Filming of each episode takes place at the Fountain Studios in Wembley in front of a live studio audience. The first two episodes were recorded on 31 March 2015, the next two on the 20 April, one on the 27 April and the final two will be recorded on the 3 May.[1]
The show's title comes from the phrase used in association football where players should continue with the game, despite thinking an incident has taken place to stop it, until the referee has blown his whistle to halt play.[2] In the show it is when the host blows her whistle that the rounds are concluded.
Episodes
The inaugural series of Play to the Whistle will air seven episodes (three have been broadcast). The first episode aired on 11 April 2015 and the final episode is due to be broadcast on 23 May 2015.
The coloured backgrounds denote the result of each episode:
- indicates Bradley's team won
- indicates Frank and Romesh's team won
| Episode | First broadcast | Bradley's guests | Frank and Romesh's guests | Scores |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1x01 | 11 April 2015 | Rob Beckett and Peter Crouch | Paddy McGuinness | 8–7 |
| 1x02 | 18 April 2015 | Sean Lock and Alex Scott | Graeme Swann | 8–10 |
| 1x03 | 25 April 2015 | Alex Brooker and Piers Morgan | Harry Redknapp | 8–9 |
| 1x04 | 2 May 2015[3] | Christine Bleakley and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | Dermot O'Leary | |
| 1x05 | 9 May 2015[4] | Natalie Anderson and Bob Mortimer | Pat Cash | |
| 1x06 | 16 May 2015 | |||
| 1x07 | 23 May 2015 |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Holly Willoughby to host new ITV panel show". British Comedy Guide. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- ↑ "Weekly Football Phrase: To Play to the Whistle". languagecaster.com. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
- ↑ "Play To The Whistle (4 of 7)". ITV Press Centre. 22 April 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
- ↑ "Play To The Whistle (5 of 7)". ITV Press Centre. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.