Now You See It

Contents

Host

Johnny Beattie (1981-4)

Jack McLaughlin (1985-6)

Grant Stott (Celebrity version)

Fred MacAulay (Children's version)

Broadcast

Talbot TV and Mark Goodson Productions in association with STV for ITV, 5 January 1981 to 27 July 1986 (initially STV only, networked from 1 July 1981)

Celebrity Version: 1993 (as part of Weymyss Bay 902101)

Children's Version: July to August 1994

Synopsis

Quite enoyable word game which migrated south of the Border after a few successful seasons in Celticland. Four players answered questions which were hidden in four lines of letters which contain a number of overlapping words, like so:

SCOTLANDISCOVERYEAR

The game board was electronic and not dissimilar to Mr Babbage of Family Fortunes fame. There was a grid of numbers around the outside so that you could give the co-ordinate of the correct answer.

You had to identify the numbered square of the first letter and name the answer. For example, if the question asked "Who won the 2006 Tour de France?" you might say "Line 2, position 5, LANDIS". The score for each question was the co-ordinates multiplied, so in this example you'd score 2 x 5 = 10 points.

In part 2, the top three players went on to play a cryptic round, the winner being the first to score four correct answers. The top two players went on to Round 3, which - imaginitively enough - was exactly the same as Round 1.

At the end, everybody was presented on camera with their engraved crystal decanter and four glasses; the top three were given their additional winnings in cash (£100 for first place). As soon as the credits had rolled, the contestants had to hand back the cash and wait for a cheque in the post!

Quite a few years later, it returned in 1993 for a short series of celebrity specials also aired as part of the children's magazine show Weymyss Bay 90210.

It returned the next year in the summer of 1994 for a kids version for Scottish TV hosted by Fred MacAulay with the board being replaced by computer graphics. It was later repeated in the summer of 1995.

Inventor

Based on a Talbot Television format created by Frank Wayne.

Web links

Wikipedia entry

Videos

Watch the kids' version on Youtube

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