Password

Synopsis

Word game with the added bonus (if we remember correctly) of sometimes not having any adverts midway through the show, a bit like This Is Your Life (when it was on ITV, that's not something to be too impressed by on the BBC, is it?).

Based on the American show that's a bit like The Pyramid Game (indeed, the French show Pyramide probably has more to do with Password than it has to do with The Pyramid Game), two teams consisting of celebrity and real-life person compete in guessing passwords. If anything, though, 'Password' was even more like Three Little Words, which definitely did involve one-word clues.

One person gives a one word clue and their partner has to try and guess from that what the password is. If they don't then their opponents get a go but for less points. Keep going back and forth until someone gets it; keep going to a certain amount of points are reached then something good is bound to happen.

Lasted a couple of years but eventually made way for the behemoth that was Chain Letters and the underrated excellence of Talkabout.

Enter in a new Password

After over three decades in relative obscurity, a pilot of the show was filmed for ITV in March 2023, with Alan Carr and Daisy May Cooper reported to be hosts. The non-broadcast pilot was positively received and a full series was commissioned a month later; Cooper and Carr were now captains, Stephen Mangan the host. Episodes were filmed in June 2023 at Television Centre in London, and eventually went out the following year.

The format was simple: first round is a race to 25 points, second round is a Super Password where all the answers are linked; if these rounds are split, a tie-break is one further Super Password on the buzzer.

Winning contenders play Alphabeticals, 60 seconds to give clues to ten words beginning with ten consecutive letters of the alphabet. There's £500 for each correct answer, doubled to £10,000 on a clean sweep. Miss anything and they play The Final Word, Alan and Daisy give a clue, contestant gets one guess to the word and doubles their money if successful.

Viewer reaction was neutral-to-negative - there's no chance to play along at home (but there never was, it was The Pyramid Game where they didn't announce the word), and the show tended to be slow and ponderous. Too much game to be a chat show between Stephen, Daisy, Alan, and some interesting people; too much wittering and filling to be entertaining. Viewing figures fell and fell, at one point barely 600,000 people watched the broadcast.

Inventor

Based on a classic US Mark Goodson-Bill Todman game show.

Theme music

Channel 4 version composed by Mr. Lovejoy himself, Denis King. A clip can be found on the relevant page of TV Ark.

The 2024 revival composed by James Poyser and Robert Israel

Trivia

Password is the only game show (at the time) to have broadcast on all four terrestrial channels. It also appeared in vastly different schedule slots. The ATV series aired on Tuesday evenings at 7pm. The first BBC series aired on Saturday evenings at 8.30pm on BBC2. The second and third BBC series moved to BBC1; the second series started on Monday afternoons at 3.30pm before moving to Tuesday evenings at 6.50pm, the third series was stripped across the week in the Christmas/New Year schedule in late mornings. The Channel 4 series aired on Saturday afternoons at 4.35pm. The first and second Ulster series were only aired in the Northern Ireland region, two episodes each week on Mondays and Fridays at 3.30pm (6.30pm for the second series). The third Ulster series was networked from Mondays to Fridays at 9.25am just after TV-am had finished. For more information on the ITV 9.25 slot, we have a complete guide to ITV's 9.25 shows.

One of the contestants on the second episode of the 2024 run was Me'sha Bryan, who had previously been a vocal coach on Change Your Tune.

Web links

Wikipedia entry

Opening titles from the BBC Motion Graphics Archive

See also

Weaver's Week review (2024)

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