In With a Shout
Synopsis
"Win money for shouting at your telly!"
Teams of three try to identify what's on a very short clip of film. The better team can win over £20,000.
Joel Dommett.
OK, the game's a bit more complex than that, but not much. Ten categories appear on television screens behind Joel. Each hides a montage of 20 clips, each about three seconds long. In turn, the teams select a player, then the player picks their favoured category.
The aim: say what that thing on your telly is. Do it right, and do it before the clip changes, and there's money to be had. And you move up a money ladder; fail to name that thing and you move down. One can slow down the game, each team has ten "freezes" to use during the whole show - it'll pause the clip for ten seconds, to think and shout out possible answers.
As the game progresses, cash amounts increase. The first round's ladder has £0 on the bottom, then 50, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, and a top prize of £500. There's £10 for each correct answer. Second round has got £0 on the bottom, then 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 700 and £1000 on top, with £20 for each right answer. Third round whacks the prize up even further, going straight from £0 to £1500, then 1600, 1700, 180, 2000, 2200, and a maximum of £2500, and there's £30 for each right answer.
Right answers move you up, wrong answers move you down.
All of this money shenanigans means the game is still in doubt until the final rounds are played - and if you wipe out on the final round, you're not winning. A tie is very unlikely.
Once everyone has played their solo round, whichever team wins gets to play again. One person plays The Multiplier, with a "cash" ladder of Half-Bank-Bank-Double-Double-Treble-Treble-Quadruple. Perfect play - twenty correct answers in each cash round, quadrupled - nets £20,800. We usually see the final played for a few thousand quid.
The final is played by the other two on the team. Sixty seconds to name ten things, one on each screen. The screen gives a clue to what they're looking for – presenter, singer, building, animal, vegetable, mineral. If they're unsure, the players can press the big red button to pass, and face a fresh question. A difficult task, but most teams win their prize pot.
Name that... boy band.
Lots to like on this programme. The individual questions are clear, arrows point to the thing we name. Montages are well authored, each round starts easy, gets hard in the middle to push the player down the ladder and draw some tension into the round, then a little easier in the final moments. The set is functional, and the sounds are restrained: they don't distract from the main game.
Joel Dommett is completely in his element, and does wonderfully well. He supports the contestants throughout, encourages them and offers useful advice. "What's that? Yes! You're already well up! No? Keep throwing stuff out. Never mind, it's alright, it's ok." He's a calming influence, ensures that nobody takes this game too seriously, or gets disheartened.
In With a Shout is a light television entertainment. We found it entirely fun - and impossible to watch without playing along.
Catchphrases
"Think fast, and shout faster."
"Turn off your tellies!"
Joel tried to make a lot of other rhymes about what to do, many of them deliberately bad puns.
Inventors
Credited to a "Development team" - Ramsey Jeffers, Emilia Adamson, Jessica Wiehler
Theme music
Philip Guyler and BMG Production Music, credited for "Music".
Trivia
Kiren Anandji put together the montages of clips, and did a superb job.
The first series went out at 7pm on Saturday night, between In for a Penny and Britain's Got Talent.
See also
Picture Slam, a more civilised version on the BBC.
