Bullseye (UK game show)

Not to be confused with an American game show of the same name with a different premise. See Bullseye (US game show) for details.

Bullseye
Format	Game show
Created by	Andy Wood Norman Vaughan
Starring	Jim Bowen (Host: 1981–1995) Dave Spikey (Host: 2006) Tony Green (Referee: 1982–1995, 2006)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	16
No. of episodes	325
Production
Producer(s)	ATV (1981) Central (1982–1995) Granada Yorkshire (2006)
Running time	30mins (inc. comms)
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV (28 September 1981 – 8 July 1995) Challenge (17 April – 22 September 2006)
Picture format	4:3 (1981–1995) 16:9 (2006)
Original run	28 September 1981 (1981-09-28) – 22 September 2006 (2006-09-22)

Bullseye was a popular British television programme. It was first made for the ITV network by ATV in 1981 and Central from 1982 until 1995, and hosted by Jim Bowen. The show originally aired on Monday nights from 1981, it was then moved to Sunday nights from 1982 to 1993 where it was watched by around 17 million viewers in its Sunday evening slot. It was then moved from its traditional Sunday nights to Saturday afternoons from 1994 to 1995. After an eleven-year hiatus, Bullseye was revived and a new series was recorded for the digital channel Challenge, produced by Granada at Yorkshire Television in the Leeds Studios, and was hosted by Dave Spikey.

Centred around darts, the show placed three pairs of contestants (each team with one person to answer questions and one darts player) against one another to win prizes ranging from a new car, a speedboat, a caravan, or a luxury holiday, to the consolation prizes of a set of darts, a tankard (silver goblet for lady contestants) and a 'Bendy Bully', a rubber model of the show's mascot.

From Series 2 til the show's end, the show was co-hosted by professional darts commentator Tony Green.

Category round

In round 1, the darts players threw one dart at a board in which each segment represented a different category of question (such as Faces, Places, Sport, Showbiz, Affairs, History, Books, Words, Britain, Spelling). The first set of questions were worth £30 each, the next set (more difficult) were worth £50, and the final set (more difficult still) were worth £100. The cash prize for hitting the board varied depending on what part of the board was hit; the easiest part of the board to hit won £30, a slightly harder part won £50, a narrow and difficult-to-reach part won £100, and hitting the bullseye won the maximum cash prize of £200 (£150 from 2006). If contestants hit a category which they had not chosen, they would win no money for the throw, and could only win money through answering the question if a question on the category had not already been asked. If a contestant hit a category which had already turned up on that programme, the host would say "The category's gone, so we can't ask the question" and carry on. Up to and including series 7, the lowest-scoring couple would be eliminated at the end of the first round, but from series 8 onward, all three couples would stay in the game for the second round.

Pounds for Points

In round 2, the darts players threw three darts at a time at a traditional matchplay dartboard, with the highest scoring team given the chance to convert the number of points scored to pounds by answering a general knowledge question. An incorrect answer caused the question to be passed in turn to the second-highest and lowest scoring teams. After three rounds of play the pair with the highest total winnings went through to the next round. The other pairs received a set of darts, a tankard (silver goblet for female contestants), a 'Bendy Bully' and the money that they had won from the two rounds, which was counted during the commercial break, with Jim advising the viewers that counting the money would "take me two minutes".

Charity interlude

Immediately at the start of part 2, a professional darts player or other celebrity threw nine darts, with the score converted to money for the charity of the final contestant's choice. A score over 301 was doubled. At the end of the series, (Series 5 onward) the dart player who got the highest score in the series received a 'Bronze Bully' trophy. In the earlier years of the show (up to and including series 4) celebrity players were given a 60 head-start; between then and series 14, the charity segment was exclusive to professional dart players. Celebrity players invariably performed awfully, particularly in the case of an obviously worse-for-wear George Best who managed to miss the board completely. Such stars would usually offer to 'add some of their own money' to increase the prize fund from, say, 20 pounds, to 80 pounds or so. The highest score in this segment is 380, which is jointly held by John Lowe, Eric Bristow, Bob Anderson, Kevin Painter and Mike Gregory.

Bully's Prize Board

In this round the final pair were faced with a large prize board containing large black segments, smaller red segments and a large red bullseye. They threw nine darts (three for the non-dart player and six for the dart player) and won a prize for each red segment they hit (however, if they hit a red segment twice, the prize was lost – hence the catchphrase "Keep out of the black, and in the red; there's nothing in this game for two in a bed". However, they could win the prize back by hitting it again). Sometimes though, in special charity episodes, contestants did win the prize twice. The bullseye represented 'Bully's Special Prize'.

The prize board has become the butt of jokes since the programme's original demise because of the perceived poor quality of prizes on offer, but it should be pointed out that for most of the programme's original run prize values were restricted by the Independent Broadcasting Authority. Although some prizes (such as a remote-controlled toy car or legendary "TV with wired remote control") were laughed at by the studio audience even then, smaller prizes were taken for granted at the time, and they seemed relatively lavish compared to those on offer in BBC game shows such as Blankety Blank. In a 2006 episode, Bully's Special Prize was a fully functional Bullseye Fruit Machine, quite possibly the most valuable prize in the show's history not to be the mystery Star Prize – however the contestants promptly lost it after doing badly in the final round.

During series 1, the black segments were green.

In the 1991 Christmas special of the show, Dennis Priestley and John McCririck playing as a professional darts player/celebrity guest combination managed a 100% record with their nine collective darts taking out all eight main prizes and Bully's special prize, all of which went to nominated charities across the UK.

Bully's Star Prize gamble

Having completed Bully's Prize Board, the winning pair were presented with the option of whether to gamble their winnings from the prize board for the mystery Star Prize hidden behind a screen in the studio. From series 11 onward, they also had to gamble the money they had won earlier in the show (it was at this point that the phrase "all you'll win is your BFH – Bus Fare Home" came about). If they gambled, they then had six darts (three for each member of the team) to score 101 or more on a standard matchplay dartboard. Contestants who failed to reach 101 were then invited to "come and have a look at what you could have won", by Jim. Jim's assistants would then wheel out the Star Prize from behind a screen to the sounds of a remixed "sad" version of the theme music, while the audience enjoyed the losing contestants' astonished faces of despair.

If the couple who took part in Bully's Prize Board refused to gamble (inevitably ducking out claiming that they'd already had a "smashing day, Jim" and would like "to give the others a chance"), the second-placed couple from the second round was asked to gamble their money. If the second couple declined, the third couple was asked. On the rare occasions that no couple took up the gamble, the Star Prize was revealed and the show ended. The Star Prize was usually a holiday (especially in later series), a car, a caravan or a speedboat. Sometimes in the earlier series, less lavish Star Prizes (fitted kitchens and the like) were given away so as to fit within the IBA's prize limits.

If in the rare case that both the second and third place couples had tied on equal points (prior to series 7), then both would be asked if they wanted to gamble. If both said yes, then the dart players would each throw three darts at the standard dartboard, the higher scorer winning.

On the show, it was never made clear if the two winning contestants had to share the Star Prize or if they got one each.

Revival

Bullseye was one of several game shows to be released as an interactive DVD game for Christmas 2005, although the game did not feature the voice of Jim Bowen, and 'Bully' was redesigned. A Bullseye board game was made around the same time. A 'Classic Bullseye' DVD game was released the following year, which featured the voices of both Jim Bowen and Tony Green and also classic footage from the show. A second edition of the board game was also released.

In 2005, it was announced that programme creator Andrew Wood had signed a contract with Granada Media for Granada to produce a one-hour long celebrity special Bullseye show to be hosted by Ant & Dec. This Bullseye special was part of Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon, in turn part of ITV’s 50th anniversary celebrations, and was aired on ITV on 22 October 2005. Vernon Kay and Coronation Street star William Roache were the contestants, accompanied by professional darts players Eric Bristow and Andy Fordham, while Tony Green reprised his role as co-host.

Subsequently, as part of a six-month exclusive option agreement signed by Wood, Granada decided that a new series of Bullseye would be produced early the following year. On 25 January 2006, it was announced that Challenge had won the rights to show the new series. On 14 March 2006, it was announced that the show was to be hosted by comedian Dave Spikey, despite tabloid rumours that it would be presented by Ant & Dec or Peter Kay. Bully was also redesigned for the new series, albeit very similar to the Bully used in the original series.

Bullseye returned to the UK on Challenge at 10pm on 17 April 2006. The show maintained the style of prizes from the original — none of the cash prizes had increased in value since the first show. Some of the prizes from Bully's Prize Board were of more modern gameshow standard, such as a TFT television and an MP3 player. Dave Spikey and Tony Green commented on BBC Radio 1's Colin and Edith show on 19 April 2006: "...[Bullseye is] The only gameshow on the television in which the prizes get a round of applause..." then joked around about some of the more "naff" prizes on the show.

The revived series was, unlike many other game show revivals in the UK, strikingly similar to the original series. Whilst refreshed, the show maintained the original theme music and stings, used a near-identical set to the original series, and a refreshed version of one of the original sets of titles, which sees Bully driving a bus before ejecting his seat and holding onto a flying dart. A cartoon version of Dave Spikey replaced Jim's in the titles.

The first series of the Challenge revival ran for fifteen episodes (one each weeknight) until 5 May 2006. The second series began on 4 September 2006, also running for fifteen episodes (again one each weeknight). However, there was no further production afterwards.

On 19 May 2007, another one-hour long celebrity special was aired on ITV, this time as part of Vernon Kay's Gameshow Marathon. This time the contestants were newsreader Andrea Catherwood, footballer Graeme Le Saux and another Coronation Street star, Michael Le Vell, paired with professional darts players Martin Adams, Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld respectively. Once again, Tony Green reprised his co-host role.

Additional information

The show was unusual in having two different closing theme tunes — an upbeat tune played when the contestants won the Star Prize, and a tune in a minor key played when they lost or nobody took the gamble.

The character 'Bully' was ambidextrous. In the opening credits of the show he was shown to throw his darts with his right hand, however prior to the advert break midway through the show he can be seen to write "End of part one" using his left hand.

Jim Bowen once described Bullseye as "the second-best darts-based game show on television". There are no others.

From Series 1 to 9, the show was recorded at ATV/Central House in Broad Street, Birmingham. In Series 10, it moved to Central's purpose-built studios at Lenton Lane in Nottingham, where it remained until its first demise in 1995. The Challenge revival was recorded at the Yorkshire Television studios in Leeds, and the Gameshow Marathon one-offs were produced at the London Studios.

Programme associates on the show were Mickey Brennan and Roger Edwards.

The theme music for the show was written by John Patrick, a successful musician who has written a number of theme tunes for commercial television shows.

Revival series presenter Dave Spikey had also appeared as a contestant on the show in the 80's versions.

Bullseye was repeated on UK Gold from 1996 to 2000, then it was repeated on Granada Plus from 2000 until the channel closed in 2004 and it was then moved to Challenge which is where it remains today. It was also repeated occasionally on defunct channels Ftn and Virgin 1 (later Channel One).

In 1989, John Cooper appeared on the show, who would later be convicted of multiple burglaries, armed robberies, and in 2011, following advances in forensic science, two double murders, one rape and another sexual assault. Footage of his appearance on the show was later used by the prosecution to match him to witness reports at the time.

Transmissions

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	28 September 1981	21 December 1981	13
2	26 September 1982	9 January 1983	16
3	25 September 1983	19 February 1984	22
4	23 September 1984	31 March 1985	28
5	22 September 1985	29 December 1985	15
6	21 September 1986	4 January 1987	16
7	20 September 1987	6 March 1988	25
8	18 September 1988	5 March 1989	25
9	17 September 1989	4 March 1990	24
10	16 September 1990	17 March 1991	26
11	15 September 1991	15 March 1992	26
12	13 September 1992	14 March 1993	26
13	26 March 1994	30 July 1994	18
14	1 April 1995	8 July 1995	15
15	17 April 2006	5 May 2006	15
16	4 September 2006	22 September 2006	15

External links

• The Official Bullseye TV Game Show Site
• Bullseye at the Internet Movie Database
• Bullseye at BFI
• Bullseye at UKGameshows.com