Jeopardy! (British game show)

Jeopardy!
Genre	Game show
Created by	Merv Griffin
Presented by	Derek Hobson Chris Donat Steve Jones Paul Ross
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2 (Channel 4) 3 (ITV) 1 (Sky 1)
No. of episodes	25 (Channel 4) 125 (ITV) 135 (Sky 1)
Production
Production location	Television House (1995–96)
Running time	30 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production companies	Thames (1983–84) Reg Grundy Productions and TVS (Meridian) (1990–93) Action Time in association with Columbia TriStar Television and King World Productions (1995–96)
Original release
Network	Channel 4 (1983–84) ITV (1990–93) Sky One (1995–96)
Release	12 January 1983 (1983-01-12) – 7 June 1996 (1996-06-07)
Related
Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! is a British game show based on the US version of the same name. It was originally aired on Channel 4 from 12 January 1983 to 2 July 1984, hosted by Derek Hobson, then was revived by ITV from 3 September 1990 to 9 April 1993, first hosted by Chris Donat in 1990 and then hosted by Steve Jones from 1991 to 1993 and then finally on Sky One from 4 December 1995 to 7 June 1996, hosted by Paul Ross.

Transmissions

Channel 4 era

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	12 January 1983	30 March 1983	12
2	2 April 1984	2 July 1984	13

ITV era

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	3 September 1990	26 October 1990	40
2	14 October 1991	20 December 1991	50
3	22 February 1993	9 April 1993	35

Sky One era

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	4 December 1995	7 June 1996	135

Gameplay notes

Unlike in the U.S. version, contestants have points (instead of money) added or subtracted for responses (or lack of) to questions selected, a concession made because of severe restrictions on game show prizes in the UK at the time. The original point values were 5 to 25 in the Jeopardy! Round and 10 to 50 in Double Jeopardy! There were three Daily Doubles in each round. Points became pounds at some point in the Jones run, but later reverted points by the time Ross took over as host.

In the Hobson, Donat, and Jones runs, the contestants only saw their own scores, although, at the end of each round, they were told their relative positions (i.e., who was in first, second, and third place). This had the side effect of reducing "runaways," a common phenomenon in the American show where contestants heading into Final Jeopardy! with more than double their nearest opponent would be guaranteed victory by betting a small amount; most contestants did not pay enough attention to others' correct or incorrect responses to know if they had clinched a runaway game.

Also under Hobson, Donat, Jones and Ross, the response had to be grammatically correct in addition to the usual requirement of phrasing in the form of a question. For example, a response that began "Who is..." when a "What is..." prefix was grammatically correct and the contestant received a penalty.

By the time Ross became host, the points had increased to 100 to 500 for the Jeopardy! round and 200 to 1000 for Double Jeopardy! The Daily Double amount was reduced to the standard one for the Jeopardy! Round and two for Double Jeopardy!.

The contestant leading after Final Jeopardy! won £500 (or whatever total they had in the Jones run when points became pounds). Five consecutive wins increased that champion's winnings to £3,000 with the undefeated champion retiring. When Jones became host, the top three scorers of each of those series played Master Jeopardy! (the equivalent of the Tournament of Champions in the American show) for the grand prize of a holiday. For the 1993 series, the scoring system was changed from points to money, and five-day champions won a £500 bonus.

The Derek Hobson/Channel 4 run of Jeopardy! is based on the original 1964–75 series hosted by Art Fleming. The 1990 version is based on the Alex Trebek version.

Episodes from the original US version also aired daily mornings on Sky One from July 1995 to December 1996.

Reboot

After being off the air for no less than 26 years, on 30 April 2022, it was announced that ITV is looking into developing a reboot of the show on their network with Richard Madeley as host. The show would be jointly produced by Channel 5, whose owner Paramount Global distributes the show globally and sells the format, and Sony Pictures Television, which owns the franchise. The format would be based on the current Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik format, with the concurrent (season 39) title sequence and theme, based on similar policies used by Sony for other international game shows based on Sony formats.

External links

• Jeopardy! at UKGameshows.com