Wheel of Fortune (UK game show)

Wheel of Fortune (UK)

Logo used from 1994-98
Created by Merv Griffin
Presented by Nicky Campbell (1988–96)
Bradley Walsh (1997)
John Leslie (1998–2001)
Paul Hendy (2001)
Starring Angela Ekaette (1988)
Carol Smillie (1989–94)
Jenny Powell (1995–2000)
Terri Seymour (2001)
Voices of Steve Hamilton
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 14
No. of episodes 735
Production
Running time 30 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company(s) Scottish in association with King World Productions, The Walt Disney Company and Action Time (19 July 1988 - 31 December 1989)
Scottish in association with King World Productions and Buena Vista International (4 June 1991 - 24 August 1992)
Scottish in association with King World Productions (7 June 1993 - 21 December 2001)
Distributor CBS Television Distribution
Release
Original network ITV
Picture format 4:3 (1988–2001)
16:9 (2001)
Original release 19 July 1988 (1988-07-19) – 21 December 2001 (2001-12-21)
Chronology
Related shows Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune is a British television game show created by Merv Griffin. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that contestants spin throughout the course of the game to determine their cash and/or prizes. The programme aired between 19 July 1988 and 21 December 2001 and was produced by Scottish Television (STV) for the ITV network - having effectively replaced Now You See It as STV's prime time game show offering for the ITV network. It mostly follows the same general format from the original version of the programme from the United States, with a few minor differences.

Gameplay

Unlike the American version, where the numbers on the wheel correspond to the amount of money won by each contestant, the British version instead referred to these amounts as 'points' – they had no cash value, their only purpose was to determine the grand finalist, or to choose a winner for a particular round. Points earned from all players carried on to proceeding rounds, and were susceptible to Bankrupts, meaning a winner could be crowned that never solved a puzzle, but acquired a large amount of points. This rule would actually encourage sacrificing a player's turn if he or she didn't know the puzzle rather than risking his or her points by spinning again.

For the first three series, before recording of each episode, each contestant spun the wheel and the contestant with the highest score would start the first round. The contestant would be asked a 50/50 trivia question and if the contestant answered correctly, the contestant spun the wheel and if they landed on a number, they had to pick a letter. If the letter appeared on the puzzle board once, the contestant would earn the value. If the letter appeared on the puzzle board twice, the contestant would earn double the value. If the letter appeared on the puzzle board thrice, the contestant would earn triple the value and so on. A player may purchase a vowel for 250 points, regardless of how many times that vowel appeared in the puzzle. The contestant would spin the wheel again but the contestant's turn would end if the contestant either landed on a number but picked a letter that did not appear on the puzzle board earning the contestant no points but not deducted the number the contestant landed on, landed on the 'LOSE A TURN" or landed on the "BANKRUPT" losing the contestant's total score. If the contestant landed on the "FREE SPIN", the contestant would be given a "FREE SPIN" loop and would spin the wheel again and if the contestant landed on a number but picked a letter that did not appear on the puzzle board or landed on the "LOSE A TURN" or landed on the "BANKRUPT" losing the contestant's total score, the contestant could give their "FREE SPIN" loop to the host and spin again or hand over play to the next contestant, But if the contestant answered the 50/50 trivia question incorrectly, they would not spin the wheel and play would move on to the next contestant. From the fourth series onwards, the 50/50 trivia individual questions were dropped. Instead, at the start of each round, the contestants would be asked a general knowledge question and the first contestant to buzz in and answer correctly would gain control of the wheel.

Also from the fourth series onward, from Round 3 to the end, the points on the wheel were worth double.

The center player's arrow determined the point value for each consonant in the speed-up round (and during the final spin both Walsh and Leslie employed the catchphrase "No more spinning, just winning!" whilst explaining how the speed-up round worked). Vowels were worth nothing, and consonants were worth whatever the value spun. The values were doubled starting by 1993.

In the Grand Finale, the winning contestant chose from one of three bonus prizes to play for, a car, a luxury holiday or a cash prize. From 1988-1993 the contestant would randomly pick from envelopes to choose which prize they could win, ("A", "B", or "C"), the envelopes were later (1995) reduced to two ("A" or "B"), being cash or car. The series in 1994 differed in that there was no choice of envelope, the prize the contestant won was a car plus the cash prize of £10.000. In one episode in 1994 the prize was two cars and £10.000. The contestant had 15 seconds to solve the puzzle to win the prize. Unlike other versions, the player could solve any one word individually, and then work on any other word in the puzzle. For example, if the puzzle was "A CUP OF TEA," the player could solve "OF," then "A," then "TEA, and finally "CUP" to complete the puzzle.

In the final series, "LOSE A TURN" was changed to "MISS A TURN," for reasons unknown, and a "500 Gamble" wedge was added.

Prizes

Unlike the original American version, instead of cash prizes, successful spinners from each round were rewarded with a choice of 3 prizes which might contain household appliances, a holiday, etc. In 1988 the prizes for the final were a trip (in the second last episode instead of a trip, there was an oriental furnished living room and in the last episode instead of a trip, there was a new bathroom), a new car (in one episode in the first two series instead of a new car, there was a new boat), or a cash jackpot at £3,000 (although in the last episode, the cash prize was £2,000). In 1989, the cash value increased to £4,000, from 1993 the Cash value increased again to £5,000. The prizes became the car and £10,000 during 1994 with no choice of envelope. In one episode in 1994 this was increased to two cars and £10.000. The prize was later increased to £20,000 or a car from 1995-1998, with the winning contestant randomly selecting his/her prize by choosing one of two sealed envelopes.

During the daytime series, winners of each round were able to chosen from an array prizes laid out in the studio, such as a CD player, dishwasher etc. The cash prize for the final was dropped to £2,000. Players also could pick the same prize more than once, and on some occasions contestants made requests for an opponent who had won nothing to pick a prize, and Leslie always upheld the request.

All contestants in all series, win or lose, went home with a Wheel of Fortune watch (and sometimes other Wheel-related merchandise).

As with most international versions of Wheel (and the American version until 1988), rather than being given "R, S, T, L, N, and E," the contestant picked five consonants and a vowel.

Special prizes

Special episodes

In the ninth episode of the second series and the thirteenth episode of the fourth series, the contestants were brides and in the twelfth episode of the third series and the eleventh episode of the fourth series, the contestants (two women and one man) were retired.

Studio designs

From 1988 to 1993, the host would emerge from the right stairs. Then as the presenter introducers to letter spinner, the letter spinner would walk down the left stairs. Between 1994 and 2000, the host and the letter spinner would emerge from the puzzle board that rotated clockwise. And in 2001, the host and the letter spinner would emerge from the prize pod.

Timeline

In the first series, the letter spinner would say what category the puzzle board was and when the contestant spun the wheel, the camera would zoom in on their position. From the second series onwards, the camera would not zoom in on their position when they spun the wheel. From the second series until the 1998 series, the host would say what category the puzzle was.

Wrong Way Spin

One episode's filming was postponed due to a contestant spinning the wheel the wrong direction. The British wheel has a gearing mechanism to regulate its speed, so said action promptly broke the gears, and the studio technicians spent hours trying to fix it. By the next day, filming resumed, and all contestants from that point onward were warned that the wheel had to be spun clockwise.

Wheel configurations

The top point space was 1000 points, with one such space in round 1. One more space was added in round 2, along with a second Bankrupt, and a third 1,000-point space was added in round 3. Also, starting from series 4 in 1992, values were doubled beginning from round 3 onward, making the top point spaces worth 2,000 points.

Unlike the board used on the American version since 1997, the United Kingdom version's puzzle board was never electronic, so the regular puzzle would be placed at the top portion of the board while the puzzler would fill any unused lines below. The puzzle board's shape from 1994 to early 2000 was the same as the current American puzzle board. From 1988 to 1993, its border was styled like the one on the American puzzle board used from 1981 to 1993. The background colour for unused trilons on the UK's puzzle board was green from 1988 to 1993, after which it was changed to blue.

In 2001, Lose A Turn was renamed Miss A Turn and a 500 Gamble space was added. When 500 Gamble was landed on, the player had a choice of going for the regular 500 points or gambling their round score on a correct letter. Choosing a correct letter increased their score to a higher amount while an incorrect letter took away all the points they accumulated in the round.

The round one wheel used in 1988. The following year, this layout was reversed and the red 250 next to 750 was decreased to 200. The resulting layout was used until 1991.
The round one wheel used from 1992 to 1993.
The round one wheel used from 1994 to 2000.
The round one wheel used in 2001. Note the 500 Gamble and Miss A Turn spaces.

Transmissions

Series

Series Start date End date Episodes Host
1 19 July 1988[2] 27 September 1988[2] 11[2] Nicky Campbell Angela Ekaette
2 5 September 1989[2] 19 December 1989[2] 16[2] Carol Smillie
3 4 June 1991 27 August 1991 13[3]
4 18 May 1992 24 August 1992 13[3]
5 7 June 1993 30 August 1993 13
6 11 July 1994 12 December 1994 23
7 30 August 1995 27 December 1995 18 Jenny Powell
8 24 July 1996 27 December 1996 24
9 3 January 1997 12 December 1997 50 Bradley Walsh
10 15 June 1998 7 December 1998 26 John Leslie
11 2 March 1999 20 December 1999 135
12 3 January 2000 8 December 2000 250
13 2 January 2001 4 August 2001 125 Terri Seymour
14 12 November 2001 21 December 2001 30 Paul Hendy

Specials

Date Entitle
22 December 1988[2] Christmas Soap Stars Special[2]
29 December 1988[2] Christmas Celebrity Special[2]
31 December 1988[2] Hogmanay Special[2]
26 December 1989[2] Christmas Celebrity Special[2]
31 December 1989[2] Hogmanay Special[2]

The two Hogmanay Specials were only broadcast to the Scottish and Grampian Television regions.[2]

Regional transmissions information

1988–1998

For the first ten series, the show was broadcast once a week in a primetime slot. With series 8, a number of regional ITV stations did broadcast episodes a few days later including the last episode on 31 December 1996.

1999

During the eleventh series, the programme was moved to a five-shows-a-week daytime slot and it aired at 2.40pm each afternoon from 2 March, after the sixth series of Dale's Supermarket Sweep concluded its run. It took a break from 28 May to 10 September 1999.

2000

The twelfth series began at the start of the year, and lasted until the start of December. During this series, the show's slot varied in different ITV regions. Carlton (London and Westcountry), Grampian and Scottish broadcast it at 5.30pm. Anglia, Border, Granada, Meridian, Yorkshire, Tyne Tees and Ulster aired it at 1.30pm until 31 March 2000, then Friday afternoons only from 18 May to 9 June. Then, from 12 June, it was moved back to five-times-a-week; from 17 July, it was moved to 2.40pm, so not all the episodes aired. HTV followed Anglia's pattern until 8 May before switching to the 5.30pm slot. Carlton (Central) also followed Anglia's pattern until 12 June before moving the show to 5.30pm. Additional episodes were broadcast by all ITV regions on Sundays during May.

2001

During the thirteenth series, most ITV regions broadcast episodes at 5.30pm from 2 January to 22 June 2001, expect for Meridian, Yorkshire, Tyne Tees, before being switched to a Saturday afternoon slot until 4 August 2001. The final thirty episodes (series fourteen) were networked at 2.40pm, from 12 November to 21 December.

International broadcasts

The eleventh series was broadcast in Ireland by TG4.

References

  1. ↑ Bradley Walsh :: TV :: Wheel Of Fortune
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "Evening Times". Retrieved 15 October 2012.

External links

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