The Golden Shot
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The Golden Shot | |
---|---|
Genre | Game show |
Presented by |
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Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 337 |
Production | |
Production locations | |
Running time | 60 minutes (inc. adverts) |
Production company | ATV |
Original release | |
Network | ITV |
Release | 1 July 1967 13 April 1975 | –
The Golden Shot is a
The show was broadcast live and used a crossbow attached to a TV camera to shoot a bolt at a target, using the camera as the crossbow's viewfinder. The person who loaded the crossbows was referred to by the nickname "Bernie" (or "Heinz" in early episodes), giving rise to the catchphrase "Bernie, the bolt".
Gameplay
The show involved the "Tele-Bow", a
Contestants who successfully negotiated seven (later four) rounds of targets won a reasonable prize; those who missed got a negligible one. Most who reached the final stage operated the Tele-Bow like a rifle, with mixed results. One winner simply stood next to it and used a light touch on the rifle butt, sighting using the TV screen.
In his autobiography, host Bob Monkhouse recounted the story of a person who competed on the show from a telephone kiosk while watching a television in a rental shop over the road. While the contestant was directing the bolt, however, an assistant came in and switched the televisions off or changed the channel.
Another story Monkhouse told was about a priest (who was in the studio audience) audibly praying during the programme that he wouldn't get injured by the bolt, only for the bolt to ricochet off the target and land beside the priest.
Broadcast history
The show's first host was Canadian singer and record producer Jackie Rae. Bob Monkhouse was a guest star on the tenth episode, and his autobiography reveals he did so fully intending to demonstrate to the producers that he should replace Rae as host. The plan worked, and Monkhouse took over as host from the 15th show onward. His quick wit, and willingness to revel in the show's chaotic nature led the Monkhouse era to be regarded as the show's golden age; by programme 26, the viewing figures were up by 50%. Because the programme was broadcast live (necessary because contestants took part over the telephone), Monkhouse often chatted to the participants to fill in whilst the crossbow was adjusted after the previous round.
In January 1968, the show moved to Sunday afternoons at around 16:40.
In 1972, Monkhouse was spotted accepting a gift from Wilkinson Sword representative Bob Brooksby. The following week, a Wilkinson Sword "his and hers" grooming kit was the bronze prize on the show. ATV's production controller Francis Essex suspected collusion and fired Monkhouse, although publicly it was announced that he "was being released to find opportunities for his abilities elsewhere". The gift was in fact the collectable book The Shy Photographer and there was no collusion; however Monkhouse's side of the story was not made public until his autobiography Crying with Laughter was published in 1993.
The next host was comedian and entertainer
On 20 March 1974, Francis Essex met with Bob Monkhouse to invite him back onto the show. Monkhouse had no hesitation in accepting the offer, though, his agent negotiated that he would only return if ATV took up an option on the American game show
Bernie, the bolt!
The show's catchphrase became "Bernie, the bolt!" (originally "Heinz, the bolt!", as Heinz had been brought over from Germany when the show was imported). The instruction was from the host to the armourer that the crossbow bolt should be loaded. Three people acted as "Bernie" on the show; Alan Bailey, Derek Young, and Johnny Baker (a film unit
Revivals
The programme was revived in two forms.
In 1991, the idea was used for the final round, "The Dart Through the Heart", of the Bob Monkhouse gameshow for newly married couples,
On 1 October 2005, as part of their Gameshow Marathon celebrating 50 years of the ITV network, Ant & Dec hosted a one-off revival that was the only edition of the series to be broadcast live. The show was revived again as a one-off on Vernon Kay's Gameshow Marathon on 28 April 2007.
Parodies
The show was parodied as "The Golden Shoot" in an episode of The Benny Hill Show broadcast 25 December 1969.
See also
- TV Powww (similar US program, involving video games)
References
- ^ Birmingham Live. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
- ^ Monkhouse), Laurence Marcus 2015 (Sources: TV Times-various editions, Crying With Laughter by Bob. "The Golden Shot". Television Heaven.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
External links
- The Golden Shot at IMDb.
- The Golden Shot at BFI.
- The Golden Shot at UKGameshows.com.