''Beat the Teacher'' is a British

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

that aired on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

from 24 September 1984 to 27 October 1988. It was first hosted by

Howard Stableford Howard Stableford is a British television and radio presenter. Background Stableford was born 12 April 1959 in Poynton, Cheshire and grew up in Preston, Lancashire. He attended Hutton Grammar School. He read for a Geography degree at Durham Univ ...

in 1984, then hosted by Paul Jones from 1985 to 1986 and finally

Bruno Brookes Trevor Neil "Bruno" Brookes (born 1959 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) is an English former radio presenter who became prominent on British radio in the 1980s. He was CEO of in-store radio company Immedia from 2000–2020. Early life and care ...

from 1987 to 1988.

Show format

Each edition featured two contestants; one a school student and the other a teacher. Both were tested on

general knowledge General knowledge is information that has been accumulated over time through various mediums and sources. It excludes specialized learning that can only be obtained with extensive training and information confined to a single medium. General kn ...

questions and

logic puzzle A logic puzzle is a puzzle deriving from the mathematics, mathematical field of deductive reasoning, deduction. History The logic puzzle was first produced by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who is better known under his pen name Lewis Carroll, the au ...

s. Correct answers won the contestant moves on a giant

Noughts and Crosses Tic-tac-toe (American English), noughts and crosses (Commonwealth English), or Xs and Os (Canadian or Irish English) is a paper-and-pencil game for two players who take turns marking the spaces in a three-by-three grid with ''X'' or ''O''. T ...

board made from rotating cubes. Questions awarded one, two or three moves of the board, based upon their difficulty. Control of the board was determined by the use of buzzers. After answering the question correctly, the contestant was given the choice of which blocks on the board to turn over. For example, if a square displayed a "nought", one rotation would see the square turn blank; two would see it replaced with a "cross", three with another blank and on the fourth turn it would revert to a "nought". Tactical play would lead to the contestant building up lines of noughts or crosses, for which points were awarded (10 points per horizontal, vertical or diagonal line). A special " joker card" could be played once in each game by either contestant, reversing each square on the board so that all crosses became noughts and vice versa. A bonus was awarded for a full board of noughts or crosses, after which each square on the board would be randomised. Question styles generally included puzzles, "true or false," or "identify the picture". In later series, the last round played by both contestants before the winner was revealed was a "wrong answer" round, in which the aim was for each contestant to give as many ''incorrect '' answers as possible within 60 seconds. The player with the highest score at the end would be crowned champion and participate in the "final" round. The board was cleared, and the winning contestant had to try to fill all nine squares up by answering nine questions correctly within 60 seconds. If they accomplished this, they would win a prize. Whether they won or not they were invited to come back again the next episode. A "Beat the Teacher" Failure Mug was the consolation prize awarded to a majority of the show's unsuccessful contestants. Once a contestant won five games in a row, they would "retire" undefeated (although this rule was waived for the final series, which saw one contestant win thirteen episodes in a row before being defeated). The best four students and the best four teachers from each series in terms of total number of wins and then total scores achieved in their episodes (excluding the final round) would return for the quarter finals at the end of the series

Transmissions

References

External links

* *{{UKGameshow, Beat_the_Teacher 1980s British children's television series 1984 British television series debuts 1988 British television series endings BBC children's television shows British children's game shows 1980s British game shows English-language television shows