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The Price Is Right (UK)

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For more information on The Price Is Right in other countries, see The Price is Right around the world.

Bruce Forsyth, host of the 3rd version in the United Kingdom.
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Bruce Forsyth, host of the 3rd version in the United Kingdom.

The Price Is Right in the UK has been hosted by Leslie Crowther (of Crackerjack fame, Central TV for ITV, 1984-1988), Bob Warman (Talbot Telegame for Sky Television, 1989) Bruce Forsyth (Yorkshire TV for ITV, 1995-2001) and Joe Pasquale (talkbackTHAMES for ITV1, May-September 2006)

The Crowther version is popular with fans of the show for its near-campiness and glamour, not for its cheaper prizes (which were forced on it by the Independent Broadcasting Authority's prize limits). Its format was nearly identical to that of CBS's daytime show in the United States. It initially used the Big Wheel to decide who would go through to the Showcase, but the IBA forced Central to abandon this because of the lack of skill involved. In fact, the show had to go off air for a while during its first season on the IBA's instructions (the regulator was also unhappy that prize values had exceeded its limits), so that the format could be adapted to fit into a much more tightly-regulated UK broadcasting environment.

After this ruling was made, the show replaced the Big Wheel rounds with a game called "Supermarket", in which each of the three people would select up to four of six presented grocery products; the one whose total was closest to £20, above or below, advanced to the Showcase Final.

Series two saw the Big Wheel return for a spin-off to see who would have the of bidding or passing on the first showcase; each contestant had to take two spins. If a person scored 100, £400 would be donated to charity on his behalf, and Leslie would ask the person a consumer-related question to win £100 for himself. The winner was the contestant who came closer to 100 in either direction.

The Crowther version later used a game called "the Showcase Questions", where all six on-stage contestants played a series of estimated-guess questions and the person farthest away from the actual prize was eliminated. This was done until the last two contestants were left, and they then advanced to the Showcase Final.

The showcase was played largely the same way as on the American version. In the first season, the winner wouldn't win the largest prize in their showcase if their winning guess was not within 10% of the showcase total.

The second version hosted by Bob Warman is considered to be a precursor to the third version hosted by Bruce Forsyth, as it was half hour, and had the showcase range game. Having premiered shortly after Leslie Crowther's version went off the air, it retained many elements from the set and props, but was a lot more "Americanized". The show was hence called "The New Price is Right" and had a red, yellow, and green pound sign. The Warman version also had slightly better and more expensive prizes than the Crowther version; this was due to the program's shorter length, in-show sponsorship, and lighter regulation of satellite television channels. The show also had a light border in the opening, mimicking the American version, used US music (including the opening theme) and had more colour on the set. The Showcase round was played considerably differently: after three games and a single Showcase Showdown at the Big Wheel, the Showdown winner selected a range at random from £250 to £1000; if his bid was within the selected range of the price of the presented showcase without going over, he won the showcase. This version was rarely-seen (SKY TV having only just started, and having very few subscribers at the time); even so, its format and its version of the Showcase have since carried over to many other European versions of the show, including Bruce's Price Is Right.

When it started in the mid-1990s, Bruce's Price Is Right was one of the first shows to fully take advantage of the Independent Television Commission's lifting of the prize limits and the general deregulation of the UK broadcasting environment. The Showcase Showdown was played on the Big Wheel (objections to lack of skill no longer being a factor), with the highest-scoring contestant on one spin or a combination of two spins going through to the Showcase, and any contestant who scored 100 on one spin or a combination of two spins would win £1000. The ranges for the Showcase in this version went from £1000 to £5000. Although it was only in a half-hour format with three pricing games per show (the Crowther show had been an hour long with six games) it still gave away more valuable prizes each week than the previous ITV version had done (for example, it was possible for a contestant to win two cars, one in a pricing game and one in the showcase, which would have been utterly unthinkable on British TV in the 1980s).

On the Forsyth version, the game Plinko was played to very different rules from the US version; considerably less money could be won, and contestants could risk their cash winnings on one final Plinko chip in hopes of adding a car or other large prize to their winnings (the cash spaces on the board were replaced with alternating "WIN" and "LOSE" tags).

Many European versions of the show that debuted after the Forsyth version based their games and sound cues on that show. The main theme, an update of the US theme, is from the short-lived 1994 US Doug Davidson-hosted syndicated version.

On September 17, 2005, as part of a celebration of the 50th birthday of the UK broadcast network of commercial regionalised broadcasters commonly known as ITV, Ant and Dec hosted a one-off revival of The Price Is Right as part of Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon; they also hosted revivals of several other game shows that were once popular on the ITV network.

TalkbackTHAMES debuted a revival on ITV1 on 8 May 2006, this time with "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here" winner Joe Pasquale as host. It follows the same gameplay format as Bob Warman and Bruce Forsyth's versions, with Showcase ranges going from £500 to £4000. It has a very "Panto" feel to it, and it relies on nostalgia of the Crowther version, which was known for its cheap prizes because of the regulations of the time. Joe's tour manager, Ray Tizzard, makes appearances as his "twin" in various pricing games. The current series should draw to an end in September 2006, where presenter Vernon Kay, will be hosting a revival of Family Fortunes.

The show expanded to an hour from 3 July 2006. This involves three games being played, a Showcase Showdown, three more games, another Showcase Showdown, and then the winners from both showdowns take part in the 'Pasquale Finale', a spin-off on the wheel to see who will go through to the Showcase. This also brought back the £1000 reward for spinning 100; the prize had previously been a car, though this was for spinning 100 twice.

After the first three games and showcase showdown contestants row is cleared of people and a new set of four people are called down.

In all four versions of the program, a perfect bid in Contestants' Row resulted in a £100 bonus in either cash or (in the Warman version), vouchers.

Contents

Leslie Crowther Version's Pricing Games

(All links below will direct to US description of games)

Bruce's Price is Right Pricing Games

Introduced Series 1 (1995)

Introduced Series 2 (1996)

Introduced Series 3 (1997)

Introduced Series 4 (1998)

Introduced Series 5 (1999)

Introduced Series 6 (2000)

No new games were introduced in Series 7 (2001).

Current Pricing Games

(List to be added as revival continues.)

Announcers

Models

External links

 

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