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''Fifteen to One'' is a British general knowledge quiz show broadcast on Channel 4. It originally ran from 11 January 1988 to 19 December 2003 and had a reputation for being one of the toughest quizzes on TV. Throughout the show's original run, it was presented and produced by William G. Stewart. Thousands of contestants appeared on the programme, which had very little of the chatting between host and contestants that is often a feature of other television quiz shows.

History

The basis of the show was devised by John M. Lewis, a former sales manager for British Telecom. He submitted the idea to Regent Productions, who developed the programme into a 30-minute format. Originally, there were 20 starting contestants, but this was reduced to 15 to fit the available running time. The number varied in other countries. William G. Stewart as producer originally only intended to present the pilot episode until a permanent host could be found if the show was taken up by one of the networks.

The Grand Final of Series 35 of ''Fifteen to One'', which originally aired on 19 December 2003, was the last edition of the show until it was revived nearly ten years later. It was won by John Harrison, who also won the finals board trophy of that series with a score of 291. G. Stewart began the show by explaining some statistics about the show, which had run from 11 January 1988. Nearly 350,000 questions had been asked to 33,975 contestants in 2,265 shows.

From 2008, the ''Fifteen to One'' format is sold internationally by DRG from London. On 20 September 2013, a special one-off episode, hosted by Adam Hills, aired on Channel 4 and was titled ''Celebrity Fifteen to One''. Two previous celebrity specials had been aired before then, in 1990 and 1992. Amongst the changes, the studio set and presentation were overhauled, the length of the programme increased from 30 to 60 minutes, the host's catchphrase, "Lights out" was introduced, spoken when a contestant is eliminated from the game before the final round.

On 9 December 2013, it was announced that ''Fifteen to One'' would return for a new 20-part daytime series in 2014, hosted by Sandi Toksvig, and primetime celebrity specials, which would be hosted by Adam Hills. There were ten series and 370 episodes in the revived edition which ran from 5 April 2014 to 28 June 2019.

Schools series

In the middle of 1999, Channel 4 broadcast the one and only schools version of the show, in which 108 schools from across the UK took part. Instead of 15 individuals, each episode featured 3 teams of 5 players per school. Round 1 consisted of questions to each player in turn (no conferring) worth 10 points each. In round 2, each player was asked further questions worth 10 points each if they answered themselves, or 5 points if they opted to confer with team-mates. In the final buzzer round, the captain of each school went head-to-head over 30 questions. The "three lives" rule was in play in the final round only. The 9 highest-scoring schools played in 3 semi-final episodes and the champions received a trophy.

Series champions were Audenshaw School, from Audenshaw in Tameside, who claimed victory after a hard-fought Grand Final episode. Audenshaw scored 270 points (plus a nominal 20 for 2 remaining lives) and triumphed over Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School from Elstree in Hertfordshire (250 points), and Westbourne High School from Ipswich (245 points).

Format

The 15 contestants stood in a semicircle, each behind a lectern with a number from 1 to 15 (a similar layout was used by the later game show ''The Weakest Link''). Although the design varied slightly over the years, the essential elements were a number on the front of the lectern, a name badge on top of the lectern (in the earlier series, the badge was worn by the contestant) and three green neon lights to represent the lives of the contestant. The numbers were allocated by drawing lots from a bag before videotaping. Upon elimination from the game, a contestant had to sit down and their spotlight went out.

A separate lectern for each contestant was moved in place for the third and final round, with the semicircle behind it no longer lit.

Twelve of the contestants were eliminated over the course of the first two rounds, leaving three to compete in the final.

Round 1

Each of the 15 numbered contestants began the quiz with three 'lives'. The host made two passes through the field in numerical order, asking one question to each contestant per pass; typically, the category for each question was announced before it was asked. The contestant had three seconds to respond, and lost one life for the first incorrect answer or failure to respond in time, whether on the first or second pass. A second miss took away both remaining lives and eliminated the contestant from the game. Stewart's succinct explanation of Round 1 was, "Two questions each in the first round; one correct answer from you to survive."

The outcome of Round 1 could vary considerably. Sometimes there were as few as four contestants left standing, but occasionally nobody was eliminated at all. There was never a case when only three or fewer contestants survived the round, which would have made Round 2 unnecessary. Were this to happen, the contingency plan would have been to replay the first round, although Stewart once jokingly said that he would give a talk on the Parthenon Marbles to fill the time. Stewart was an outspoken supporter of returning the Marbles to Greece, and once presented a ''Fifteen to One'' special on the subject with replicas of the Marbles placed at the contestants' podiums.

Round 2

At this point, every surviving contestant had either two or three lives remaining. As in Round 1, questions were asked to contestants in numerical order in turn, with one life lost for an incorrect response. The first contestant to answer correctly gained the right to "nominate", or choose another contestant to receive the next question. If the nominee answered incorrectly, they lost one life and the nominating player kept control; a correct answer turned control over to the nominee. Contestants were eliminated after losing all their lives. Towards the end of the show's original run, a new rule forbade contestants from nominating the player who had just nominated them. This rule was abandoned in the revived series. When only three contestants remained, the round ended and the programme paused for a commercial break.

Round 2 had no fixed duration or number of questions; it varied depending on how many players survived from Round 1 and how many correct answers were given. In theory, it could continue indefinitely if not enough wrong answers were given to narrow the field to three, until the pool of available questions was exhausted.

Round 3: The Final

Each of the three remaining contestants was given a new set of three lives and (except in the first two series) received one point for each life they had kept through the first two rounds. A maximum of 40 questions were asked in this round, with 10 points awarded for each correct answer and one life lost on each miss. The questions were initially open for all contestants on the buzzer until one of them gave a total of three correct answers (not necessarily on consecutive questions). That contestant could then either answer the next question directly or nominate an opponent to take it. A contestant who answered correctly gained control of the next question. If a nominee answered incorrectly, control reverted to the nominating contestant. If a contestant took a question for themselves and missed it, the buzzer questions resumed until one contestant gave a correct answer and gained control.

Once two contestants were eliminated, the remaining contestant became the day's winner and continued answering questions until all 40 had been used or all three lives were lost (whichever came first), with each correct answer still worth 10 points. However, if at least two contestants remained in the game after the questions were exhausted, the high scorer won; in the event of a tie, the contestant with the most remaining lives won. In episodes where all questions were asked, the winning contestant received an additional 10 points for every life remaining. The contestant would then earn a place on the Finals Board (see below) if their score was high enough. Regardless of their final scores and standings, all winning contestants were automatically invited to compete again in the next series. From Series 11 onward, contestants who lost in Round 3 were also invited to return if their score would have been high enough to earn a place on the Finals Board.

In the grand finals of series 1 to series 7, the question or nominate format was remained, from series 8 to series 33, the final was played entirely on the buzzer.

Finals Board/Leaderboard

The 15 highest-scoring winners and their totals during any given series were displayed in a table referred to at different times as the Finals Board or Leaderboard. The board was cleared at the beginning of each new series, and the winners of the first 15 episodes were automatically entered onto it in descending order by score. Beyond the 15th episode, earlier winners could be displaced from the board by being outscored, and newer winners who failed to surpass the last-place score did not earn a slot on it at all. If more contestants were tied for last place than there were available slots at the bottom of the board, they were said to be "on the sidelines", and were frequently listed off to one side rather than on the board itself - for example, if three contestants tied for 14th place.

Grand Final

At the end of a series, the 15 winners still listed on the Finals Board competed in the Grand Final. An unscreened playoff took place immediately before the Grand Final if there were still people on the sidelines tied for last place.

The format of a Grand Final differed in Round 3; after the first few series, all the questions were played on the buzzer. Presumably this was to prevent a contestant from gaining initial control with three correct answers and then taking all subsequent questions directly, without ever nominating an opponent.

Prizes

There was no prize for winning an individual episode. Many players would win one of the daily shows but would not achieve a high enough score to appear on the high-score board for a place in the Grand Final. All winning players were invited back for the next series. Some players became so regular that in the last few series Grand Final winners would not get such an invitation. Initially, players who did not win were generally not permitted to compete again; this rule applied even if they had been previous winners. However, in 2000, the rule was altered to allow players who had previously played a while earlier and had not got as far as the Grand Final to apply to be on the show again.

The series prize tended to be a classical artefact (for example an ancient Greek vase). Prizes were occasionally valued at several million pounds by archaeologists, and were presented to the winning contestant by the regular voice-over artist, Laura Calland (who married Stewart in 1997). Voice-overs were occasionally provided by other presenters, usually Philip Lowrie and occasionally Sarah Wynter, but only Calland was seen on screen, when she presented the prize. In later series, the highest-scoring person on the finals board also received a minor trophy. In series 1 to 3 the original voice-over was Anthony Hyde, although he was never seen on screen, and in the early days William G. Stewart presented the prize himself in the Grand Final. Calland became the regular voice-over artist at the beginning of series 4, after Anthony Hyde left series 3.

The Grand Final of Series 34, in early 2003, saw the only series tie. It was one of only four ties in the show's history, such a result being possible only when two contestants finished the final level on points ''and'' lives remaining. In this case, Jack Welsby and David Stedman both finished on 101 points with one life remaining. No provision had been made for a tie-breaker, so Stewart offered to buy a prize of equal value for the two winners.

In the 2014 revival, episode winners receive trophies, and the series winner receives a cash prize of £40,000.

Records

The maximum end game score of 433 could only be achieved if a player started the end game with all three lives intact and correctly answered all 40 questions. The player scored 3 points for retaining their three lives from the first two rounds, 400 points for answering the 40 questions correctly, and 30 points for retaining their three lives from the end game. The maximum score was achieved only once by Bill McKaig, a minister from Glasgow, in April 1999 (Series 25). The other two contestants in that final, Martin Penny and Alison Shand, were invited back for the next series even though they had not won, a very rare exception to the rule preventing losers from competing on the show again.

The feat of correctly answering all 40 questions in the final was also achieved by Daphne Fowler in May 2000 (Series 28). However, she scored 432, having answered a question incorrectly in round 2 of that episode. As with the time Bill McKaig managed his 433 score, the other two contestants in the final, Don Street and Eric Matthews, were allowed to try again. The feat of scoring over 400 in the final was achieved on two other occasions, both in Series 32: Michael Penrice achieved a score of 423 on 30 January 2002, having been beaten to the buzzer for one of the questions at the start of the final, before Matti Watton achieved a score of 412, after attempting all 40 questions but incorrectly answering one in the process. Watton's score was thus the highest not to win the Finals Board trophy, although he atoned for this by winning the subsequent Grand Final.

The highest number of people ever to go out of the first round is 11, leaving just 4 contestants for Round 2. This happened in September 2000 (Series 29). The lowest number is 0, which also happened on a few occasions but was very rare, and even in Grand Finals it was rare despite the much higher standard level of competitors, even though the questions were not thought to be much harder in the Grand Final than in normal heats.

In Series 32, Matti Watton set the record for the highest score in the final of the Grand Final, of 222 (not including the points for the remaining lives). A close second was Nick Terry with 221, set in series 25. He also holds the record for the lowest score in a Grand Final, of 52 in series 26 (September 1999). This came after the other two finalists, Eddie Collins and Martin Ewers, had lost all three lives. Terry won four Grand Final titles; however, he never held a finals board trophy.

In the final original series, in late 2003, Gwyneth Welham achieved a perhaps unwanted feat of the highest winning score that failed to make the Grand Final, with the score being 211. Worse, she was told by William G. Stewart, as one of his common phrases when a high score had been achieved, "I'll see you in the Grand Final." She was knocked off the Finals Board with eight shows remaining in the series when Barry Smith scored 232. Wil Ransome and Andrew Dickens were joint 14th, with a score of 221. Their participation in the Grand Final was under threat as a result, despite a very high score. One score of 201 and another score of 202 had also been posted in the series. Andrew Auger's score of 203 failed to make the Grand Final in series 27 (early 2000), as did Nick Terry's and Alan Gibbs' scores of 202 in series 27 and 32 respectively. Dennis Collinson's score of 201 in series 25 (1999), which he achieved in the very first episode of the series, failed to make the Grand Final when his name was displaced from the board on the very last episode before the Grand Final.

Other arguably dubious honours attained in ''Fifteen to One'' are: lowest ever winning score (10, scored by Mila First in series 1, episode 36), most appearances without winning either trophy (14, by Chris Russon from series 4 to series 12); also, Paul Hillman was the only ''Fifteen to One'' champion (he won the series 24 grand final) to win only once.

In the Grand Final, several people have achieved the feat of not getting a question wrong in the first two rounds. People who have done this are Mike Kirby (series 7), Stanley Miller (series 13), Leslie Booth (series 14), Matti Watton (series' 28 & 29), Olav Bjortomt (series 32) and Debra Carr (series 33). Only three of them went on to win the Grand Final.

The lowest score to lift the finals board trophy is 202, set by Thomas Dyer in series 4. In the same series, a score of 111 made the Grand Final (although a four-way play-off was required).

The rules of the series also state that a losing contestant who achieves a score that would otherwise have offered a place in a Grand Final, is given a second chance. In 2001, two contestants achieved scores of 272 (the highest losing score in the series' history) before going out on the penultimate question. The first, Liam Maxwell, a teacher from Roslea, County Fermanagh, appeared in the next series Grand Final with a score of 223 (series 30). The second, Alan Gibbs, achieved a winning score of 202 when he returned a year later in series 32, but failed to make the Grand Final after his name was displaced from the board with three episodes remaining.

Controversy

In 1998, Trevor Montague, a former contestant, was sued by Regent Productions. Montague broke the rule that losers on the programme cannot take part again unless invited back. Having been knocked out in 1989, he entered again in 1992 under the name "Steve Romana". A viewer who was watching a repeat of the series on Challenge TV, noticed similarities in appearance between Montague and "Steve Romana" and contacted Channel 4.

Filming

The shows were filmed at Capital Studios in Wandsworth, south west London. Only in the first few series was there a live audience. William G. Stewart decided to abolish the studio audience after audience members audibly whispered answers to questions on too many occasions. After that, the audience sounds were pre-recorded, and the only real audience were any contestants who had already been knocked out and 1-4 guests per contestant (for the last few original series, however, the contestants' guests were also barred from the studio, due to a change in the layout of the filming and production equipment).

The Celebrity Special in 2013 was recorded at Pinewood Studios in front of a live studio audience. However, the revived 2014 non-celebrity series did not have an audience. The first series of the 2014 revival, including the four celebrity specials, were recorded at Elstree Studios, afterwards all subsequent series were recorded at BBC Pacific Quay, Glasgow.

Famous episodes

In one show, in the 16th series in 1995, William G. Stewart dropped his cards whilst explaining the rules of the first round. The questions had to be scrapped. A notable contestant on this show, and clearly seen in the outtake as he was standing at position 7, was Ingram Wilcox, who later won the top prize on '' Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''.

On 25 December 1999, a "Millennium Quiz" episode brought back 25 contestants to compete for a silver trophy in a four-round contest. Lives were not used until the final round; instead, contestants began with 100 points, scoring 10 for a correct answer and losing 5 for a miss. Round 1 employed the usual two passes through the field, while Rounds 2 and 3 gave each contestant the chance to answer five questions. Only the top 15 scorers advanced past Round 2, and only the top three reached the final, which followed the standard Grand Final rules and scoring.

In the grand final of series 29 shown in December 2000 (won by Matti Watton), one contestant, who was standing at position 4, could not be identified for legal reasons, so the contestant's two questions were edited out, and the camera jumped from contestant 3 to 5. The contestant was eliminated in the first round, so the episode progressed as normal. The heat episode that the “mystery contestant” won was also never aired, being replaced by a repeat of Bill McKaig's perfect 433 episode.

Revival

In August 2013, the ''Daily Mirror'' reported that ''Fifteen to One'' was to make a special comeback on Channel 4, on 20 September 2013, as part of a weekend devoted to the 1980s. This was later confirmed by Channel 4. The one-off 60-minute special was hosted by comedian Adam Hills and featured celebrities as the contestants. A TV source said: "Everyone remembers ''Fifteen To One'' and who knows what could happen if the audience is big enough or it creates a stir on Twitter. A new series and a comeback is not out of the question. It has a proven track record."

The special was produced by Remedy Productions at Pinewood Studios on 13 September. Jo Brand won this episode for charity, with Jennie Bond providing the voiceover. The special was originally watched by 1.64 million viewers, ranking ninth in the channel's top 10 programmes that week.

On 9 December 2013, it was announced that ''Fifteen to One'' would return for a new 20-part daytime series in 2014, hosted by Sandi Toksvig, and primetime celebrity specials, which would be hosted by Hills. ''Fifteen to One'' returned for a new daytime series on 5 April 2014, hosted by Toksvig. Four celebrity specials in the primetime slot were hosted by Hills. Filming of the daytime series took place in February 2014 at Elstree Studios. The all celebrity specials are shot at the Pinewood Studios used for the 80s special, but daytime versions were shot at Elstree for Series 1, then subsequently Pacific Quay, Glasgow from Series 2 to Series 10.

Channel 4 renewed the show for a 40-part second series in July 2014. It was subsequently renewed again for three more series with 100 parts in total in both 2015 (Series 3–4), 2016 (Series 5–6), 2017 (Series 7–8) and 2018 (Series 9). Series 10 was aired in 2019 and no further series have been aired since.

Andy Tucker won the 10th and last-ever revival edition of ''Fifteen to One'' which originally aired on 28 June 2019, with a score of 213.

Format changes

In the revival series, the Grand Final winner receives a £40,000 cash prize and each player has three chances to reach the final round of a show. A player can thus appear in up to four shows in total (three regular episodes, and then the Grand Final if they win the final on their last appearance and score well enough on the Leaderboard). However, players who reach the final and lose are no longer eligible to appear, regardless of how many games they have played. Additionally, each episode winner receives a trophy, regardless of whether their score is high enough to post on the Leaderboard or reach the Grand Final. Because contestants have three chances to reach the final, there are increased opportunities for the host to chat and learn more details about them as the game progresses.

Some contestants who appeared in the original series have also competed in the revived series, including Series 33 Champion David Good (who made it to the Grand Final on his third attempt in Series 1). Unlike in the original series, series winners are not invited to reappear in subsequent series. Initially, each new series commenced with 15 fresh contestants, and players from the later heats of the previous series who had not exhausted all of their games were not invited to return for the following series. However, from Series 3 onwards, this rule was changed to allow still-eligible previous contestants to continue at the start of the following series, if commissioned. From Series 7, contestants who have previously appeared in the revived series are permitted to reapply.

Since Series 2, a new rule was introduced in the final of the Grand Final. If a contestant answers incorrectly, one life is lost and the same question is repeated so that the may answer.

Transmissions

Original series

Broadcast scheduling

Sometimes, ''Fifteen to One'' was not shown when Channel 4 broadcast either the Cheltenham Festival or an England Test match: that is why there were fewer episodes in some series. Repeats were sometimes shown if a Test match either stopped due to rain or finished early. However, when the 2001 Cheltenham Festival was cancelled, due to foot-and-mouth outbreak, Channel 4 did not show any ''Fifteen to One'' repeats. Between 1988 and 1996, ''Fifteen To One'' and ''Countdown'' alternated in the schedule with ''Countdown'' typically airing between January and March as well as July and September with ''Fifteen To One'' airing between April and June as well as October and December. The practice was dropped by series 18 when both shows ran together in the schedule until its original demise and continued again upon its revival.

''Fifteen to One Schools''

Revival series

This table details the daytime revival, excluding the 1+4 specials hosted by Adam Hills.

Series winners

Original

Revival

International versions

The Polish version of ''Fifteen to One'', quizzes only 10 participants, as the questions are longer in Polish. Until 2020, it was firmly established as the channel's top rated quiz show. and it has a relatively large fan following and is often called "the last true quiz show" because of its emphasis on knowledge, instead of special effects, celebrities and physical skills. However, in 2020, it has been challenged by a local version of ''Jeopardy!'' (pl) also airing on TVP from Sony Pictures Television and Paramount Global Distribution Group that has been called a tougher quiz with harder answers and returning champions with both a winning cap (five wins or 100,000 zl limit) and a Tournament of Champions.

Also, the German version on Sat.1 used 10 contestants and the Greek version of ''15 to 1'' also used 10 contestants.

The Hungarian version on MTV 1 used 9 contestants and since 15 June 2015 it is repeated on the public retro-channel M3.

The Iranian version of Fifteen to One aired on IRIB TV2 used 14 constestants.

The Swedish format was transmitted every week day on SVT2 with the Friday edition being a final of the week's top contestants. The Swedish version has 8 (formerly 12) contestants.

References

External links

''Fifteen to One''
at Channel 4.
* .

''Fifteen to One''
at BFI.
* {{UKGameshow, Fifteen-to-One.

1988 British television series debuts
2019 British television series endings
1980s British game shows
1990s British game shows
2000s British game shows
2010s British game shows
Quiz shows
Channel 4 game shows
English-language television shows
Television series by Fremantle (company)
British television series revived after cancellation
Television shows shot at Elstree Film Studios