Winner Takes All (game show)

Winner Takes All
Created by	Geoffrey Wheeler
Starring	Jimmy Tarbuck (1975 - 1986) Geoffrey Wheeler (1987-1988) Bobby Davro (Challenge TV)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	15
No. of episodes	312
Production
Producer	Yorkshire Television
Running time	30mins (inc. adverts)
Original release
Network	ITV (1975 - 1988) Challenge (1997)
Release	20 April 1975 – 1997

Winner Takes All was a popular game show that was produced by Yorkshire Television and ran for 13 years on the ITV network from 1975 until 1988 but returned in 1997 on the cable and satellite channel Challenge.

The original host of Winner Takes All was comedian Jimmy Tarbuck, who hosted the show from 1975 until 1986. For series 13, Geoffrey Wheeler replaced Jimmy Tarbuck as the host and the show went into a 5 day a week daytime show. Geoffrey also devised the format for Winner Takes All and was the voiceover reading the questions in the Jimmy Tarbuck era. The Challenge version (Series 15) was hosted by Bobby Davro with Yorkshire Television news journalist Gaynor Barnes as the voiceover reading the questions and was produced by Yorkshire Television for Challenge.

Gameplay

The two contestants started with 50 points each (30 points when it became a daytime show in 1987) and were asked multiple choice questions with six possible answers but each answer had some odds (Evens, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, 5-1 & 10-1) and after each question was asked the contestants were asked how many points they would like to bet and then they selected the odds that corresponded to the answer they thought was correct, if they got the correct answer they won the points the odds were worth, if they gave a wrong answer they lost the points, the contestant with the most points won through to the final while the loser left the show with nothing. In later series, the losers took home a filofax (except the 1988 series where they took home an encyclopedia). In the Challenge TV version, the losers took home a Winner Takes All T Shirt. Then they played again with two different contestants and the winner of that met the winner of the first game.

The two winners played for cash in the final with a maximum of £1,000 to be won but only the winner took the money home while the loser took home a consolation prize of £100, the winning contestant was given the option of returning on the next show to add to his or her winnings but if they returned and lost they would lose all but £100 of their winnings.

Production

From 1980 until 1987 Winner Takes All started with an alternative version of the Yorkshire Television ident where the chevron would spin toward the screen revealing the four contestants who appeared on that weeks edition.

The final ITV series in 1988 was a Television Techniques production for Yorkshire Television. The Challenge version was recorded at the former TVS studios at Vinters Park in Maidstone.

During his run as host Jimmy Tarbuck would at the start of some editions come out carrying a briefcase containing £1000 in £1 notes which was the top prize on Winner Takes All.

In 1989, rapist and lottery winner Lorworth Hoare was jailed because of a photo he submitted as part of his contestant application.

Transmissions

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	20 April 1975	July 1975	13
2	14 May 1976	6 August 1976	13
3	1 July 1977	23 September 1977	13
4	14 April 1978	7 July 1978	13
5	16 March 1979	11 November 1979	22
6	16 May 1980	29 August 1980	16
7	5 June 1981	4 September 1981	13
8	11 June 1982	10 September 1982	14
9	1 July 1983	7 October 1983	14
10	25 May 1984	24 August 1984	14
11	26 May 1985	25 August 1985	14
12	25 May 1986	24 August 1986	14
13	20 July 1987	4 September 1987	14
14	11 April 1988	28 June 1988	60
15	??	??	65

Specials

Date	Entitle
23 December 1977	All Star Special
26 December 1979	All Star Special
28 December 1986	Christmas Special

External links

• Winner Takes All at UKGameshows.com