Best of Friends

For other uses, see Best of Friends (disambiguation).

Best of Friends
Genre	Children's Game show
Created by	Jonathan Wolfson Mark Robson
Presented by	Michael Absalom Rani Khanijau Ortis Deley
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	5 (Original series) 1 (Africa series)
No. of episodes	90 (Original series) 5 (Africa series)
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Talent TV
Original release
Network	CBBC (2004, 2008) BBC One (2005-7)
Release	7 March 2004 (2004-03-07) – 13 August 2008 (2008-08-13)

Best of Friends was a children's game show that ran from 7 March 2004 to 13 August 2008. It first aired on CBBC for series 1, then on BBC One from series 2-3 and then back on CBBC from series 4-5.

Format

Tasks and Treats

In the show, five friends with a strong friendship must complete a series of three unpleasant tasks in order to win a final treat. The tasks include mucking out pigs, cleaning bins, picking up ice with the bare feet, getting your feet tickled without laughing or smiling and so on, for the test of friendship. While some members of the group are doing the task, their friends do treats such as visiting animals at the RSPCA, getting a manicure, shopping, going to a football game, going to a theme park etc. They must make decisions deciding on who will do the task and who will do the treat or they can use the "Unlucky Dip".

"The Unlucky Dip"

The unlucky dip contains three, two or one blue sweet(s) in a bag. The friends choose a sweet each (without looking) from the bag, and then suck it. The number of children to do the next task, and therefore the number of blue sweets in the bag, will depend on the success of the previous task. The people or person with the blue sweet(s) will have a blue tongue and will be forced to do the task, while the others will do the treat. The first task requires three people and, each time the children pass a task, the number needed to do the next task will reduce. For the final task they have three options: the unlucky dip, volunteer or the whole team can do the task as it is the hardest.

The presenters also have an option of volunteering to do the task. If they do not volunteer, the presenters also do a compulsory Unlucky Dip with each task. The presenter with a blue tongue will be forced to do the task.

Transmissions

Original series

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	7 March 2004	31 March 2004	15
2	6 January 2005	21 April 2005	15
3	8 January 2007	21 February 2007	20
4	8 January 2008	10 March 2008	20
5	2 April 2008	13 August 2008	20

Africa

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	4 July 2005	8 July 2005	5

Specials

Date	Entitle
14 July 2006	Sport Relief Special

Episodes & friends in each episode

Series 1

1. S
2. S
3. S
4. S
5. S
6. S
7. S
8. S
9. S
10. Ella, Beth, Sam, Mana & Sophia
11. S
12. S
13. S
14. S
15. S

Series 2

1. S
2. S
3. S
4. S
5. S
6. S
7. S
8. S
9. S
10. S
11. S
12. S
13. S
14. S
15. S

Series 3

1. S
2. S
3. Josh, Harvey, Max, Jordi & Raph
4. Harry, Danny, Ella, Olivia & Tom
5. S
6. S
7. S
8. Danika, Leona, Charlotte, Hannah & Halima
9. Ellie, Jack, Victoria, Antony & Georgia
10. S
11. S
12. Joe, Emma, Megan, Kerry & Joseph
13. S
14. Jeevan, Saif, Ashley, Ross & Jasneet
15. S
16. S
17. Robbie, Laura, Ben, Gabby & Bethan
18. S
19. S
20. Sophie, Charlie, Katie, Ashley & Katherine

Series 4

1. S
2. S
3. S
4. S
5. S
6. S
7. S
8. S
9. S
10. S
11. S
12. S
13. S
14. S
15. S
16. S
17. S
18. S
19. S
20. S

Series 5

1. S
2. S
3. S
4. S
5. S
6. S
7. S
8. S
9. S
10. S
11. S
12. S
13. S
14. S
15. S
16. S
17. S
18. S
19. S
20. S

Africa

1. E
2. E
3. E
4. E
5. E

Sport Relief Special:

External links

• Best of Friends at BBC Online
• Best of Friends at UKGameshows.com