''Finders Keepers'' is a British children's game show television series that aired on BBC1 from 13 February 1981 to 1 March 1985, hosted by Richard Stilgoe.

Format

The show combined a quiz element with a computerised version of the game

Battleships A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

. Two teams of three primary school-aged pupils would compete against each other.Finders Keepers on Sausagenet – Access Date 25 April 2018
/ref> On scoring a "hit" at the Battleships game, the team had to answer a question to gain the associated points.

Theme

The show was notable for host Richard Stilgoe playing the theme on a

synthesiser A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

live in the studio at the beginning, as well as the use of the phonetic alphabet to indicate the square on the battleship grid.Finders Keepers on UK Game Shows
/ref>

Transmissions

The series was a victim of the BBC's wiping of their children's programming in the 1990s. 28 out of 42 episodes survive in the BBC archives. The surviving episodes are: Series 1: Episodes 1 and 4; Series 2: Episodes 1–2 and 4; Series 3: Episodes 1 and 4–6; Series 4: Episodes 1–6, 8 and 10–12. Series 5 exists in its entirety

References

External links

*{{UKGameshow, Finders_Keepers_(1) 1981 British television series debuts 1985 British television series endings 1980s British children's television series BBC children's television shows British children's game shows British children's television series British English-language television shows Lost BBC episodes