Derek Batey

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Derek Batey (born 8 August 1928 in Brampton, Cumberland) was a 20th century British television presenter and television executive.

Batey was educated at the White House School, Brampton and after appearing in clubs as a ventriloquist, he first appeared on TV in 1958 as an interviewer on the BBC, and in 1961 moved to the newly formed Border Television, where he became known as "a classless hero who blazed a trail in popular television." He is best known for hosting the original 450 episode run of the game show Mr and Mrs, for a long time the only programme from the small Border Television that was networked nationally. It has become a cultural touchstone that perfectly encapsulated the zeitgeist of the times.He also hosted the talk show Look Who Talking. He was officially Assistant Controller of Programmmes for Border Television, but like some other ITV regional executives, including Jack Hargreaves at Southern Television and Brian Connell a former presenter of This Week an ITV current affairs programme from the 1950's and 1960's from Associated-Rediffusion later Programme Advisor at Anglia Television, all fronted programmes for their respective companies.

Try for Ten

He also hosted "Try for Ten", a game show from Carlisle, Cumbria. Contestants try to give ten consecutive correct True or False answers to a series of statements. A contestant is eliminated if they give three wrong answers in a row, or a total of ten wrong answers. If the game ends early, they win £1 per answer for their best run of correct responses. If they reach their target of ten, they win a rolling jackpot that increases by £25 per failure.

Later work

In 2006, it was confirmed that Batey would be working as a consultant (including writing some of the questions) on the latest version of Mr and Mrs on ITV1.

External links

• Mr and Mrs website
• "Mr and Mrs quiz set for revival", BBC