The Link

Contents

Host

Mark Williams

Broadcast

STV Productions in association with Linkee TV and BBC Scotland for BBC One, 5 May 2014 to present

Synopsis

Mark Williams (best known as a Harry Potter actor) hosts a near-impossible quiz show about connections.

Three pairs take part in this game. They're shown a board with six amounts of money - £125, £300, £500, £750, £1000, and £2000. Each amount is suspended by "links" - one for the £125, progressing up to six for the £2000 pod.

Mark asks a general knowledge question, and players buzz as individuals to answer that question. A right answer goes up on the board, and the pair who gave that right answer get a chance to spot the link. Getting the connection between the answers allows them to cut some of the links holding up the prizes.

The Link From this right answer, the players can cut three links.

With a total of 21 links to sever, and a maximum of four links to cut at a time, this opening round goes on a bit. It will often take up more than half of the show's runtime, and it feels slower and more awkward than it needs to.

Eventually, the round is over, and the top two pairs progress. They're in a best-of-seven race to release the money they won in the first round. In this second round, the players specify the number of clues they wish to see, and cut the appropriate number of links with a right answer. A wrong answer goes over to the other side for a bonus point.

The winners of this second round go through to the daily final. The money they won in round one, and retained in round two, is added to £2000 for the jackpot - typically somewhere over £3000. One of the players will see a list of one-word clues, each leading to a "super link". Get a correct answer, and progress up the money tree - it's £125, £300, £500, £750, £1000, and the jackpot. But there's a clock under this game, and if this hits zero, the team leaves with nothing.

The Link The final round in progress.

Clues appear at intervals of slightly more than a second. The only way to win the jackpot is to buzz early and get lucky.

Inventor

Tristan Hyatt-Williams, Ben Drummond and Dean Tempest

Based on the board game Linkee.

Theme music

Toby Jarvis

Web links

BBC programme page

Wikipedia entry

See also

Weaver's Week review

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