The Alphabet Game is a

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

panel game A panel show or panel game is a radio broadcasting, radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity conte ...

show 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 5 August 1996 to 27 March 1997 and is hosted by Andrew O'Connor. The programme was created by O'Connor, Rebecca Thornhill, Mark Maxwell-Smith and produced by Objective Productions. It was remade in Spain as ''

Pasapalabra ''Pasapalabra'' is a Spanish television game show, adapted from the British format '' The Alphabet Game''. The title is a portmanteau of the Spanish verb ''pasar'', "pass", and ''palabra'', literally "word". Gameplay In each episode, two conte ...

'', for which

ITV Studios ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcas ...

sued

Telecinco Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially launc ...

for €17,000,000;

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 ...

would later remake the show as ''

Alphabetical Alphabetical order is a system whereby character strings are placed in order based on the position of the characters in the conventional ordering of an alphabet. It is one of the methods of collation. In mathematics, a lexicographical order is t ...

''.

Format

Two members of the public team up with two celebrities each, while a fifth acts as judge. The five celebrities are there all week, while the contestants rotate. Round 1 sees the teams trying to buzz in for control of a question such as 'things I would do if I won the lottery'; the teams must then go through the alphabet to provide answers. The other team can challenge an answer if they feel it is incorrect, in which case the judge decides which team is correct. If the judge decides the challenging team is correct or a team member can't think of an answer, play passes to the other team. This round ends when one team passes Z, and the next consists of the teams trying to create a chain of words each starting with the end of the last. In round three, the teams are given a sentence and asked to finish it, for example "Kevin likes to F". The three members of the other team have a card each with one answer on which the opposing team must give. Each team member gets seven seconds each. In round four, contestants must try and describe something using word/phrases beginning with each letter. Round five is a repeat of round one to be played until time is up. Round six is played by the winner; if the ties are scored, the teams decide amongst themselves to find one to win the prize for both teams. O'Connor will then ask a question with a three word answer, for example "Who invented the telephone?" and the three team members must answer "A G B" (

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...

). Five correct answers in sixty seconds nets them the prize.

Transmissions

International versions

The format has been adapted in France, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Panama, Portugal, Brasil, Italy, Turkey, Chile, Uruguay and Germany.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alphabet Game, The 1996 British television series debuts 1997 British television series endings BBC panel games British panel games 1990s British game shows English-language television shows Television series by All3Media