Bullseye (British 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
File:Bullseye TV logo.jpg The current Bullseye logo
Presented by	Jim Bowen (1981 - 1995) Dave Spikey (2006 - Present)
Starring	Tony Green (Referee)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	391
Production
Running time	30mins (inc. comms)
Original release
Network	ITV (28 September, 1981 - 8 July, 1995) Challenge (17 April, 2006 - Present)
Release	28 September, 1981 – Present

Bullseye is a British television programme. It was first made by ATV and Central for ITV between 1981 and 1995, and hosted by Jim Bowen. In its prime, it was watched by around 15 million viewers on Sunday evenings, where it was shown from 1982 to early 1993. The first series (1981) was on Monday nights, and the last two series (1994 and 1995) were on Saturday evenings. After an eleven-year hiatus, a new series has been recorded for the satellite channel Challenge, produced by Granada.

Centered around darts, the show places 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 prize of a set of darts, a tankard (silver goblet for lady contestants) and a 'Bendy Bully', a rubber model of the show's mascot.

Structure

Nearest To The Bull (Series 1 only)

Before the main game, the three dart playing contestants would throw one dart each on a special board to determine the order of play.

Category Round

In round 1, the darts players throw one dart at a board in which each segment represents a different category of question (such as Faces, Places, Sport, Showbiz, Affairs, History, Books, Words, Britain, Spelling). The first set of questions is worth £30 each, the next set (more difficult) is worth £50, and the final set (more difficult still) is worth £100. The cash prize for hitting the board varies depending on what part of the category board is hit; the easiest part of the board to hit wins £30, a slightly harder part wins £50, a narrow and difficult-to-reach part wins £100, and hitting the bullseye wins the maximum cash prize of £200 (£150 from 2006). If contestants hit a category which they have 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 hits a category which had already turned up on that programme, the host will say "The category's gone, so we can't ask the question" and carry on. Up to and including the 1987-88 series, the lowest-scoring couple would be eliminated at the end of the first round, but from the 1988-89 series onwards, all three couples would stay in the game for the second round.

Pounds For Points

In round 2, the darts players throw 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 causes 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 goes through to the next round. The other pairs receive a set of darts, a tankard (silver goblet for female contestants) a 'Bendy Bully' and the money that they had won from the 2 rounds, which is counted during the commercial break.

Charity interlude

Immediately at the start of part 2, a professional darts player or other celebrity throws 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 (from the 1985-86 series onwards) 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 the 1984-85 series) the celebrity player was given a 60 head-start; between then and 1995, the charity segment was exclusive to professional dart players. Celebrities who performed particularly badly (as when an obviously worse-for-wear George Best missed the board) would usually offer to 'add some of their own money'.

Bully's Prize Board

In this round the final pair is faced with a large prizeboard containing black and smaller red segments. They throw 9 darts (3 for the non-dart player and 6 for the dart player) and win a prize for each red segment they hit (however, if they hit an already-hit red segment again, the prize is 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, in special charity episodes, contestant did win the prize twice. The bullseye represented 'Bully's special prize'. The prizeboard 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 cat) 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 recent 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- It should come to little surprise that the contestants promptly lost it after doing badly in the final round.

During Series 1, the black segments were green.

Bully's Star Prize Gamble

Having completed Bully's Prize Board, the winning pair is 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 the 1991-92 series onwards, they also have 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 gamble, 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 "have a look what you would have won", by Jim.

If the couple who took part in Bully's Prize Board refuses 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-place couple from the second round is asked to gamble their money. If the second couple decline, the first couple is asked. On the rare occasions that no couple takes up the gamble the star prize is revealed and the show ends. The star prize is usually a holiday (especially in later series), a car, a caravan or a speedboat. Sometimes 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, both the second and third place contestants had tied on equal points (prior to the 1987-1988 series), then they would have to play a round. The winning couple would have the first chance to gamble.

On the show, it is never made clear if the two winning contestants have to share the star prize or if they get one each. The issue of the star prize being completely inappropriate is never broached either - prizes like speedboats are unlikely to be useful for contestants living in blocks of flats in Wolverhampton. Although Jim Bowen did on some occasions utter phrases such as "And you live by the sea - that's good ...so you can use it" when he could put a positive spin on the situation.

Revival

In more recent years, people have started to remember Bullseye again, and its popularity has risen. 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 boardgame was made around the same time. [1]

A 'Classic Bullseye' DVD Game was released the following year, which featured the Voice of both Jim Bowen & Tony Green & 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 1 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 birthday celebrations and was aired on ITV on 22 October 2005.

Andrew Wood signed an exclusive option Agreement with Granada Media. This exclusive option is for 6 months at the end of which Granada Media can extend the option period for a further 6 months.

Granada had decided during this period that a new series of Bullseye would be produced early next year. On January 25 2006, it was announced that Challenge won the rights to show the new series. [2]

Jim Bowen was not asked back to present the show, possibly due to allegedly racist comments [3] that he had made earlier in 2002 on a local BBC radio show he was presenting. Following these comments he told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph that he expected the incident would end his career.

Asked if he would be retiring, he said: "Yes, although in this business you don't actually retire.

"What happens is that the phone stops ringing and sometimes little hiccups occur like this one.

"Basically you do as the business tells you."

He said: "No racial connotation was ever intended and, having said all that, I should have been sharp enough to correct the error.

"I almost immediately apologised for it as it was, to say the least, not clever." It was announced on 2006-03-14 that comedian Dave Spikey would present the show, despite tabloid rumours that it would be presented by Ant and Dec or Peter Kay. Bully was also redesigned for the new series.

Bullseye returned to the UK on Challenge at 22:00 on 17 April 2006. The show maintained the style of prizes from the original — none of the cash prizes have 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, who had remained from the original Bullseye, 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 joking around about some of the more "naff" prizes on the show.

Additional Information

The show is co-hosted by professional darts commentator Tony Green.

The show is nearly unique in having two different closing theme tunes — an upbeat tune played when the contestants win the star prize, and a tune in a minor key played when they lose or nobody takes the gamble.

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

From 1981-1989 the show was recorded at ATV / Central House in Broad Street Birmingham and from 1990-1995 the show moved to The Television House the home of Central Independent Television Nottingham.

The revival of Bullseye is now recorded at Yorkshire Television studios in Leeds West Yorkshire.

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.

A New Broadband version of "Bullseye" (As well as other British game shows past and present) can be played at the website wedigtv.com either for fun or for money. This game uses a unique combination of old footage and "Virtual" players to play the game. Some differences in this game include the lack of the Charity round and that no gambling is required for the Star Prize Bonus, as all points earned are cumulative.

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

Key Moments

There were two bits of music played out over the credits. A jolly upbeat tune if the players won Bully's Star Prize and a rather more downbeat one if they lost.

On one occasion, one couple won over £1,000, but the scoring could only accommodate three digits, so they manually stuck a '1' on a piece of card on the front of their desk.

It was often painful to see the non-dart player score 97 with some jammy shots, only for the supposed 'dart player' to try to hit 20, but hit 1 three times instead and thereby lose.

The nickname incident.

Outtake ahoy: Bowen once asked, "In which state of the United States was President Kennedy assassinated... in Texas?".

Catchphrases

Jim Bowen version:

(the show always started with the cry of), "It's a bulllllseye! And here's your host, Jiiiim Bowen!"

"Stay out of the black and into the red, nothing in this game for two in a bed."

"Look at what you could have won."

"And Bully's Special Priiiiize..."

"Now the cash you won for charity earlier, that's safe."

"Super, smashing, great." (somewhat apocryphal, Bowen said 'smashing' as a reflex action after one contestant revealed that he'd been made unemployed)

"Iiiiiiin one..."

"You win nothing but your BFH, Bus Fare Home."

(into the ad break) "I've got £___ here and it'll take me two minutes to count out."

"All for the throw of a dart."

"Go for your lights." (in the prize board round, although this changed after a while. In other series, the lights represented what they had won)

"You've got the time it takes for the board to revolve..."

"Up to the oche, and listen to Tony!"

"You can't beat a bit of Bully!"

"Bully's bellowed you out there!"

"Let's check that with Bully." (for the spelling category)

"The subjects that are lit are the ones you can hit!"

Dave Spikey version:

"You've had a good night out, but you go home with nowt!"

"Throwers and knowers." (dart players and question answerers)

External links

• Bullseye at UKGameshows.com