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Ask the Family
Also known asDick & Dom's Ask the Family (2005)
GenreGame show
Created byPatricia Owtram
Presented by
Opening theme"Acka Raga"/"Sun-Ride"/"Maple Leaf Rag"
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series18
No. of episodes275
Production
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkBBC1 (1967–1984)
UK Gold (1999)
BBC Two (2005)
Release12 June 1967 (1967-06-12) –
5 May 2005 (2005-05-05)

Ask the Family is a British game show that was first broadcast on BBC1 from 12 June 1967 to 22 October 1984 hosted by Robert Robinson and then on UK Gold from 6 June to 10 October 1999 hosted by Alan Titchmarsh and from 4 April to 5 May 2005 hosted by Dick & Dom on BBC Two.

Format

The show took the form of a quiz contest between two teams, with each team consisting of four members of a single family – two parents and two teenage children. Over the course of the thirty-minute show the teams were asked a variety of general knowledge questions and mental puzzles, with the winner advancing to later rounds, culminating in a grand final between the two families that had been unbeaten in the series.

The teams were asked questions, with certain questions directed at only certain members of the family – such as "children only", or "father and elder child only".

Theme music

The 1960s series' theme music, with its distinctive sitar, was "Acka Raga" by John Mayer and Joe Harriott.[1] The second theme tune, from the mid 1970s was "Sun-Ride" by John Leach (from the Chappell Recorded Production Music Library), which featured the cimbalom.[2] The third theme tune was an arrangement of Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" for banjo, piano and brass.[3] "Sun-Ride" returned as the theme tune for the 1999 revival series.

Transmissions

Series Start date End date Episodes Presenter
1 12 July 1967[4] 23 August 1967[5] 7 Robert Robinson
2 9 September 1968[6] 23 December 1968[7] 15
3 8 September 1969[8] 29 December 1969[9] 17
4 14 September 1970[10] 28 December 1970[11] 16
5 13 September 1971[12] 27 December 1971[13] 16
6 24 January 1973[14] 9 May 1973[15] 16
7 10 September 1974[16] 7 January 1975[17] 15
8 5 January 1976[18] 19 April 1976[19] 15
9 3 January 1977[20] 8 April 1977[21] 15
10 9 January 1978[22] 24 April 1978[23] 15
11 23 April 1979[24] 20 August 1979[25] 15
12 21 April 1980[26] 18 August 1980[27] 15
13 6 April 1981[28] 10 August 1981[29] 15
14 2 November 1982[30] 14 December 1982[31] 7
15 21 September 1983[32] 16 November 1983[33] 8
16 3 September 1984[34] 22 October 1984[35] 8
17 6 June 1999 10 October 1999 31 Alan Titchmarsh
18 4 April 2005[36] 5 May 2005[37] 23 Dick & Dom

The show was parodied in contemporary comedy TV shows during the 1970s and 1980s, notably in Not the Nine O'Clock News in which both families were introduced as being almost identical save for surname, with all being quantity surveyors by profession (including the children). A spoof edition on The Kenny Everett Television Show featured Everett as Robert Robinson and as the (female) heads of the respective Windsor and Thatcher families. An episode of the radio sketch show I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again opened with a parody where "Robin Robertson", played by John Cleese, poured scorn on the families and abandoned them in disgust. One episode of The Burkiss Way likewise parodied it as Ask the Cleverdicks.

At one point tabloid newspapers made much of an occasion where the father of one family correctly answered the question "What is the sum of all the numbers from 1 to 100?" in a few seconds. However, there is a quick formula for the answer, as demonstrated by Carl Friedrich Gauss, and the answer may have been known to the person in question.

References

  1. ^ "Ask The Family - Acka Raga - Joe Harriott and John Mayer Theme Song - TelevisionTunes.com". televisiontunes.com. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  2. ^ "Ask the Family". IMDb. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Ask the Family". UK Gameshows. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 12 July 1967". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 23 August 1967". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  6. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 9 September 1968". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  7. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 23 December 1968". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  8. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 8 September 1969". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  9. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 29 December 1969". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  10. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 14 September 1970". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  11. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 28 December 1970". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  12. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 13 September 1971". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  13. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 27 December 1971". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  14. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 24 January 1973". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  15. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 9 May 1973". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  16. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 10 September 1974". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  17. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 7 January 1975". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  18. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 5 January 1976". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  19. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 19 April 1976". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  20. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 3 January 1977". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  21. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 8 April 1977". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  22. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 9 January 1978". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  23. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 24 April 1978". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  24. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 23 April 1979". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  25. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 20 August 1979". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  26. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 21 April 1980". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  27. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 18 August 1980". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  28. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 6 April 1981". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  29. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 10 August 1981". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  30. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 2 November 1982". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  31. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 14 August 1982". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  32. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 21 September 1983". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  33. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 16 November 1983". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  34. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 3 September 1984". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  35. ^ "Ask the Family - BBC One London - 22 October 1984". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  36. ^ "Dick & Dom's Ask the Family - BBC Two England - 4 April 2005". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  37. ^ "Dick & Dom's Ask the Family - BBC Two England - 5 May 2005". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
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