Jeopardy! (British game show)

This article is about the quiz show. For the children's show, see Jeopardy (BBC TV series).

Jeopardy!
Genre	Game show
Created by	Merv Griffin
Presented by	Derek Hobson Chris Donat Steve Jones Paul Ross Stephen Fry
Narrated by	Nick Jackson David Hopewell Charles Foster Des Clarke
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2 (Channel 4) 3 (ITV) 1 (Sky One) 1 (revival)
No. of episodes	25 (Channel 4) 125 (ITV) 135 (Sky One) 20 (revival)
Production
Production locations	Television House (1995–96) Dock10 (2024)
Running time	30 minutes (1983–96) 60 minutes (2024)
Production companies	Thames (1983–84) Reg Grundy Productions and TVS/Meridian (1990–93) Action Time (1995–96) Whisper North (2024)
Original release
Network	Channel 4
Release	12 January 1983 (1983-01-12) – 2 July 1984 (1984-07-02)
Network	ITV
Release	3 September 1990 (1990-09-03) – 9 April 1993 (1993-04-09)
Network	Sky One
Release	4 December 1995 (1995-12-04) – 7 June 1996 (1996-06-07)
Network	ITV
Release	1 January 2024 (2024-01-01) – present
Related
Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! is a British game show based on the U.S. game show Jeopardy!. Originally aired on Channel 4 from 12 January 1983, to 2 July 1984, hosted by Derek Hobson, the show was later revived by ITV from 3 September 1990, to 9 April 1993. Initially hosted by Chris Donat in 1990, it was later presented by Steve Jones from 1991 to 1993. The show then moved to Sky One from 4 December 1995, to 7 June 1996, with Paul Ross as the host. It was revived for a third time in 2024, returning to ITV, with Stephen Fry as presenter.

Gameplay

Main article: Jeopardy! § Gameplay

The Stephen Fry iteration of the series is modelled after the current format of the U.S. version of Jeopardy, with two rounds using cash amounts of £25, £50, £75, £100, and £150, followed by a third, Double Jeopardy! round with doubled values, and concluding with Final Jeopardy! There is one Daily Double in each of the first two rounds, and two Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy!.

Earlier incarnations of Jeopardy! in the UK had rule differences in comparison to the U.S. version. Due to limits on cash prizes enforced by broadcast regulators, the game was originally played for points rather than cash, with values of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 in the Jeopardy! round, and three Daily Doubles in each round. Champions received a flat £500 for each victory; a champion retired undefeated after five consecutive victories, and won an additional £500 for a total of £3,000. Beginning in the Steve Jones run, the top three scorers of each series returned for Master Jeopardy! (the equivalent of the Tournament of Champions in the American show) to play for the grand prize of a holiday. The current Stephen Fry version does not have limits on returning champions, as with the U.S. version.

Points were replaced by pounds at some point in the Jones run, but later reverted to points by the time Ross took over as host. 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 of one in the Jeopardy! Round and two for Double Jeopardy!.

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 U.S. version, 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 was ruled incorrect, and the contestant received a penalty.

2024 revival

On 27 February 2023, ITV announced that the show would be revived again, produced by Whisper Films (Jeopardy! rightsholder Sony Pictures Television had invested in the company in 2020) and presented by comedian Stephen Fry. In April 2023, Fry was also announced as host of an Australian revival using the same format, which premiered on 20 April 2024 on the Nine Network. The new British series, delayed from October 2023, premiered on 1 January 2024. By the request of Fry, the revival would be modelled extensively after the current U.S. version (including using a nearly identical set and graphics), although extended with an extra round between the Jeopardy! and Double Jeopardy! rounds to fill an hour-long time slot.

The version received mixed reviews, with the slow pace and Fry's hosting style being common criticisms. American online magazine Slate felt that the show was "slower, sleepier, and irritatingly nonchalant" than the U.S. version of Jeopardy! due to Fry's hosting style (exacerbated by the longer timeslot, three round format, and Fry's reminders of rules and other topics), while also noting that Jeopardy! had never been as ubiquitous of a quiz show in the United Kingdom as it has in the United States (noting the lengths of its prior runs, as well as the U.S. version being treated like a "professional sport" with an extensive following).

Transmissions

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
Channel 4 era
1	12 January 1983	30 March 1983	12
2	2 April 1984	2 July 1984	13
ITV era
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
1	4 December 1995	7 June 1996	135
ITV revival era
1	1 January 2024	26 January 2024	20
2	TBC in 2025	TBC in 2025	25

External links

• Jeopardy! at UKGameshows.com