''Give Us a Clue'' is a British televised

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 ...

version of

charades Charades (, ). is a parlor game, parlor or party game, party word game, word guessing game. Originally, the game was a dramatic form of literary charades: a single person would act out each syllable of a word or phrase in order, followed by the w ...

which was broadcast on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

from 1979 to 1992. The original host was

Michael Aspel Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', ''Give Us a Clue'', '' This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and ''Antiques Ro ...

from 1979 to 1984, followed by

Michael Parkinson Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the U ...

from 1984 to 1992. The show featured two teams, one captained by

Lionel Blair Lionel Blair (born Henry Lionel Ogus; 12 December 1928 – 4 November 2021) was a Canadian-born British actor, choreographer, tap dancer, and television presenter. From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, he made regular appearances as a danc ...

and the other by

Una Stubbs Una Stubbs (1 May 1937 – 12 August 2021) was an English actress, television personality and dancer who appeared on British television and in the theatre, and occasionally in films. She became known after appearing in the film '' Summer Holiday ...

. Later versions of the programme had

Liza Goddard Louise Elizabeth Goddard (born 20 January 1950) professionally known as Liza Goddard, is an English television and stage actress, best known for her work in the 1970s and 1980s. Early life Goddard was born in Smethwick, Staffordshire.Before 1 ...

as captain of the women's team. Norman Vaughan stood in for Blair for a short spell in 1980. Originally, each team consisted of the captain, two celebrities and one non-celebrity. The non-celebrity participation was dropped and another celebrity was added in their place. On one infamous edition of the programme, the male non-celebrity was handed the title he had to mime on a card by host Michael Aspel, but, rather than read the title, he read the wrong side of the card, on which his name was printed. He thus mimed his name to his teammates. Lionel Blair later wrote this incident led to the dropping of non-celebrity participants.'Stage Struck'. Blair, Lionel. Littlehampton Book Services Ltd (14 March 1985). A revived version was broadcast by

BBC One 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, p ...

in 1997 over 30 episodes, hosted by Tim Clark. Teams were captained by

Christopher Blake Christopher Blake (born Peter Ronald Gray, 23 August 1949 – 11 December 2004) was an English actor and screenwriter. He is perhaps best remembered for starring in the British sitcoms '' Mixed Blessings'' (1978–80) and '' That's My Boy'' ...

and

Julie Peasgood Julie May Peasgood (born 28 May 1956 in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire) is an English actress, television presenter, author and voiceover artist known for her distinctive voice. She is best known for her role as Fran Pearson in the television soap ' ...

and the show introduced a

lateral thinking Lateral thinking is a manner of solving problems using an indirect and creative approach via reasoning that is not immediately obvious. It involves ideas that may not be obtainable using only traditional step-by-step logic. The term was first ...

puzzle (which the host could "give clues to"). ''Give Us a Clue'' returned for a special

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

episode in March 2011 with

Sara Cox Sara Joanne Cyzer (née Cox; born 13 December 1974) is an English broadcaster. She presented ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 from 3 April 2000 until 19 December 2003. Since January 2019 she now hosts the BBC Radio 2 drivetime show, Monday ...

Christopher Biggins Christopher Kenneth Biggins (born 16 December 1948) is an English actor and television presenter. Early life Biggins was born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of William and Pamela Biggins. He was brought up in Salisbury, Wiltshire, attended St P ...

Holly Walsh Holly Dione Walsh (born 8 November 1980) is an English comedian and comedy writer. Early life The daughter of an Anglican vicar, Walsh attended Christ's Hospital School, before going on to read History of Art at Gonville and Caius College, Cam ...

Jenni Falconer Jenni Falconer (born 12 February 1976) is a Scottish radio and television presenter. She appears on the ITV daytime show '' This Morning'' as a regular travel reporter and was a regular presenter of the National Lottery Draws on BBC One. She w ...

and

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little B ...

Format

The game was based on charades, a party game where players used mime rather than speaking to demonstrate a name, phrase, book, play, film or TV programme. Each player was given roughly two minutes to act out their given subject in front of his/her team, and if the others were unsuccessful in guessing correctly, the opposing team would have a chance to answer for a bonus point.

Transmissions

The first series was not networked. Following the launch of morning programming on ITV in September 1987, the last five series of the original run moved from peak-time to daytime slots. The Thames series ended in October 1991, but a one-off special was broadcast on 4 May 1992. Series 18 was made for the BBC.

Theme music

The original theme tune is called " Chicken Man", written by

Alan Hawkshaw William Alan Hawkshaw (27 March 1937 – 16 October 2021) was a British composer and performer, particularly of library music used as themes for movies and television programs. Hawkshaw worked extensively for the KPM production music company ...

, which was also the theme tune of ''

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British Children's television series, children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school. The show began its ru ...

''. However, while ''Grange Hill'' used the original library recording, ''Give us a Clue'' used a less dynamic custom arrangement more in keeping with the style of light entertainment programming. In 1981, David Clark took over as producer/director and commissioned a new theme tune which was composed by Denis King; followed in 1988 by a theme song written and composed by Alan Braden, which remained in use until the end of the Thames series in October 1991. Uniquely, the Braden theme song featured separate lyrics for both the opening titles and closing credits.

Other versions

SVT in Sweden broadcast their own version with the title ''Gäster med gester''. Dutch Public broadcasting organisation

KRO KRO, or (Catholic Radio Broadcasting), was a Dutch public broadcasting organization founded on 23 April 1925. Broadly Catholic in its spiritual outlook, KRO broadcast the bulk of its television output on the NPO 1 channel. KRO was also responsi ...

aired the program from 1983 till 2003 and one series in 2010 under the name ''Hints'' ( nl). A licensed New Zealand version of ''Give Us a Clue'' was first broadcast on TVNZ during the early 1980s and hosted by Australian journalist Les Thompson. Teams were captained by

Peter Rowley Peter Rowley (sometimes credited as Harrison Rowley during his early career) (born April 29, 1952) is a New Zealand comic actor and writer. He is best known for his television roles, where he has played in numerous popular television series as ...

and Jenny Maxwell. The show was revived in 1993 via TV3 with Brian Edwards as host and

Gary McCormick Gary McCormick is a New Zealand poet, radio and television personality, debater and raconteur. McCormick began writing poetry in 1968. His published volumes are Gypsies (with Jon Benson, 1974), Naked and Nameless (1976), Poems for the Red Engi ...

and Belinda Todd as team captains, and again in 1999 via TVNZ with

Marcus Lush Marcus Lush (born July 1965) is a politician and television and radio presenter in New Zealand. Broadcasting He made his first footsteps into television in the 1990s as a reporter co-presenting TV2's ''Newsnight'' alongside Simon Dallow and Ali ...

as host and Gary McCormick and

Alison Wall Alison Wall (born 1966 in Auckland) is an actress and a comedian, best known for her role as Minya in the American TV series '' Xena: Warrior Princess''. Biography Career Wall is a comedy veteran, having worked on New Zealand comedy shows '' I ...

as team captains. The series is rebooted for TVNZ in 2021. Former New Zealand politician

Paula Bennett Paula Lee Bennett (born 9 April 1969) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 18th deputy prime minister of New Zealand between December 2016 and October 2017. She served as the deputy leader of the National Party from 2016 to 202 ...

serves as host, with news reporter

Hilary Barry Hilary Ann Barry (née Pankhurst, born 4 December 1969) is a New Zealand journalist and television personality who co-hosts '' Seven Sharp'' with Jeremy Wells on TVNZ 1. She was a newsreader on TV3 for many years and until 2016, presented the 6 ...

and actor/comedian

Tom Sainsbury Thomas Sainsbury (born 1982) is a New Zealand actor, writer, filmmaker, comedian, TV presenter and podcaster. Sainsbury began his acting and writing career in theatre. He became well known in New Zealand from 2017 for his short form comedy vide ...

as team captains.

NZ format

Rounds 1 & 3

Each team gets 3 points if the team solves the clue in <60 seconds, 1 point for 60-120 seconds. In the final 15 seconds, the opposing team can steal the clue to get 3 points, but 3 points would still be awarded to the original team if the answer is incorrect. During Steal phase, the person giving the clue stops acting. All 4 member include captains alternate until all 8 questions. The categories: Film, Book, TV Show, Song, Play, and Quote/Saying. Some can be a combination of at least 2 categories.

Round 2

In the Show-off round, Team captains act as guesser, and every other member act on one-worded clues with no categories. Captains guess as many as they can in 150 seconds. This is also a chance for the captain to scout the best clue-giver for the next round. If anyone struggles to act out the clue, teammates can tag in to act the clue, but the acting order doesn't alter. The captain can only pass on one question.

Round 4

In the two-minute Quick-Fire round, one member mimes 5 clues back-to-back. The set of 5 are all of a theme. 2 points per correct answer. If they guess all 5 correctly, the point will be doubled, meaning the maximum score is 20.

References

External links

*.
''Give Us a Clue (1979–1992)''
at BFI.
''Give Us a Clue (1997)''
at BFI. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Give Us A Clue 1979 British television series debuts 1997 British television series endings 1970s British game shows 1980s British game shows 1990s British game shows BBC television game shows British panel games English-language television shows ITV game shows Television series by Fremantle (company) Television series by Reg Grundy Productions British television series revived after cancellation Television shows produced by Thames Television Television shows shot at Teddington Studios