The Great Egg Race
m |
(Despite what people think they remember, Lesley Judd seems to have been on it for only one series! And Johnny Ball was the original host - who knew? BFI and INFAX agree on all the salient points.) |
||
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
== Host == | == Host == | ||
| - | [[Lesley Judd]] | + | Brian Cant and Charlotte Allen (1979) |
| + | |||
| + | Johnny Ball (1980) | ||
| + | |||
| + | Hilary Henson (1980-1) | ||
| + | |||
| + | Charlotte Allen (1982) | ||
| + | |||
| + | Heinz Wolff (1983-6) | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[Lesley Judd]] (1984) | ||
[[Howard Stableford]] (guest presenter) | [[Howard Stableford]] (guest presenter) | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Co-host== | ||
| + | |||
| + | Charlotte Allen (1979) | ||
| + | |||
| + | Head judge: Heinz Wolff | ||
== Broadcast == | == Broadcast == | ||
| - | BBC, | + | BBC, 2 January 1979 to 12 September 1986 (68 episodes in 8 series) |
| - | BBC Choice, 2000 | + | ''The Great Egg Race Rides Again'' BBC Choice, 1 April to 8 July 2000 (13 re-edited episodes) |
</div> | </div> | ||
| Line 21: | Line 37: | ||
Teams of university boffins would create weird and frequently Heath-Robinson gadgets out of shockingly scant apparatus in order to crack problems like building bridges to support someone's weight, burglar alarm detectors that people couldn't avoid triggering, or indeed the weekly challenge of transporting an egg over some great distance without breaking it. | Teams of university boffins would create weird and frequently Heath-Robinson gadgets out of shockingly scant apparatus in order to crack problems like building bridges to support someone's weight, burglar alarm detectors that people couldn't avoid triggering, or indeed the weekly challenge of transporting an egg over some great distance without breaking it. | ||
| - | The programme went through a number of different formats. Originally it was studio based and featured teams trying to race home-made machines as fast as possible without cracking their egg-like cargo | + | The programme went through a number of different formats. Originally it was studio based and featured teams trying to race home-made machines as fast as possible without cracking their egg-like cargo. |
<div class="image"><IMG src="/atoz/programmes/g/great_egg_race/greategg5.jpg" width="195" height="158" border="0"> | <div class="image"><IMG src="/atoz/programmes/g/great_egg_race/greategg5.jpg" width="195" height="158" border="0"> | ||
| Line 27: | Line 43: | ||
''Presenters Heinz Wolff and Lesley Judd''</div> | ''Presenters Heinz Wolff and Lesley Judd''</div> | ||
| - | Meanwhile, Professor Heinz Wolff would set three other teams challenges to solve. Over the years, the egg racing was dropped | + | Meanwhile, Professor Heinz Wolff would set three other teams challenges to solve. Over the years, the egg racing was dropped and it became a purely challenge-based programme. Later series broke out of the studio, with challenges varying from building a wave machine to taking a photograph of an oil rig using a kite. |
<div class="image"><IMG src="/atoz/programmes/g/great_egg_race/greategg6.jpg" width="200" height="150" border="0"></div> | <div class="image"><IMG src="/atoz/programmes/g/great_egg_race/greategg6.jpg" width="200" height="150" border="0"></div> | ||
Revision as of 22:19, 23 October 2007
Contents |
Host
Brian Cant and Charlotte Allen (1979)
Johnny Ball (1980)
Hilary Henson (1980-1)
Charlotte Allen (1982)
Heinz Wolff (1983-6)
Lesley Judd (1984)
Howard Stableford (guest presenter)
Co-host
Charlotte Allen (1979)
Head judge: Heinz Wolff
Broadcast
BBC, 2 January 1979 to 12 September 1986 (68 episodes in 8 series)
The Great Egg Race Rides Again BBC Choice, 1 April to 8 July 2000 (13 re-edited episodes)
Synopsis
Teams of university boffins would create weird and frequently Heath-Robinson gadgets out of shockingly scant apparatus in order to crack problems like building bridges to support someone's weight, burglar alarm detectors that people couldn't avoid triggering, or indeed the weekly challenge of transporting an egg over some great distance without breaking it.
The programme went through a number of different formats. Originally it was studio based and featured teams trying to race home-made machines as fast as possible without cracking their egg-like cargo.
Presenters Heinz Wolff and Lesley JuddMeanwhile, Professor Heinz Wolff would set three other teams challenges to solve. Over the years, the egg racing was dropped and it became a purely challenge-based programme. Later series broke out of the studio, with challenges varying from building a wave machine to taking a photograph of an oil rig using a kite.
In this episode, the teams built their contraptions on a platform in the (ever-rising) sea tideOverall, this show was a small-scale triumph, mainly due to presence of miscellaneous dear heart and general populariser of science Professor Heinz Wolff. He brought a sense of humour to the show, not to mention his distinctive Germanic vowels. Each episode was marked by him and a guest judge using a ludicrously back-of-the-envelope marking scheme.
Professor Heinz WolffEssentially, this was the grand daddy of later shows such as Scrapheap. Remastered 15-minute editions ran for a while on BBC Choice.
Key moments
Once, the teams had to build a combination lock for a door. One team built a lock that was so complex that even they couldn't crack it...
Theme music
A music clip is available from the TV Cream site.
Trivia
On one episode, Heinz was surprised by Tomorrow's World presenter Howard Stableford. Heinz was made one of the team members for a "boffin's team" that was required because that particular programme required four teams (rather than the usual three) in a knockout competition.
Howard Stableford (left) guest presents one programmeWeb links
Pictures
Picture 1 - "So, then the green man dives into the pool and the cage comes down..."