Gameshow Marathon (British game show)

Gameshow Marathon was a British game show, broadcast on ITV from 17 September 2005 to 28 October 2017. After a quick retrospective look at the history of the particular show, the show itself is recreated. This involves recreating the original set and using original opening programme titles, including the appropriate producer ident. All participants are celebrities, and any prizes won go into a "Viewer Prize Mountain" which is awarded to a viewer via a phone-in competition.
== Series 1 (2005) ==
Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon is a seven-episode special event aired in 2005 on Britain's ITV Network, as part of a celebration of ITV's 50th anniversary. In it, hosts Ant & Dec presided over recreations of seven classic game shows that had been seen on the network. Six celebrity contestants competed in a series-long tournament, receiving a donation to their favourite charity for their participation. In addition, home viewers were given the opportunity to win the cash and prizes each episode's winning contestant "won" via telephone.
The programme was co-produced by ITV Studios and FremantleMedia.
The shows recreated were:
Show 	50 Years aired on ITV 	Original producer(s) 	Date of appearance
The Price Is Right 	1984–1990;1995–2001;2003-2004;2006-2009;2013-Present	Central, Talbot Television, Fremantle, Grundy, Yorkshire, TVS, Westcountry	17 September 2005
Take Your Pick! 	1955–1968;1992–1998 	Associated-Rediffusion, Thames 	24 September 2005
The Golden Shot 	1967–1975;2016-2022 	ATV, Central 	1 October 2005
Sale of the Century 	1972–1983;1997–1998;2016-Present 	Anglia, Grundy 	8 October 2005
Play Your Cards Right	1980–1987;1994–1999;2002–2003;2011-2015 	LWT, Talbot Television, Fremantle, Grundy 	15 October 2005
Bullseye 	1981–1995;2006-2007;2019-Present 	ATV, Central 	22 October 2005
Family Fortunes 	1980–1985;1987–2002;2006-2015;2020-present 	ATV, Central, Fremantle 	29 October 2005
The celebrity contestants in series 1 were:
*Eamonn Holmes (TV presenter, News anchor)
*Vernon Kay (TV presenter)
*Patsy Kensit (Emmerdale actress)
*William Roache (Coronation Street actor)
* Carol Vorderman (TV presenter)
* Ruby Wax (TV presenter, comedian)
The series was run as a three-round tournament. In the first round, each show was played by every contestant who had not already won a show. The four winners from the first round then competed in single-elimination format.
Carol Vorderman was the eventual winner of the series. The Golden Shot was broadcast live like the original show, and Sale of the Century with organist Keith Beckingham and had a dedication at the end to comedian Ronnie Barker, who had died five days earlier.
Following the series, several of the shows were revived; Bullseye returned on ITV in 2006 and in 2019, followed by The Price Is Right (Produced by TVS this time) and Family Fortunes (in a celebrity format) on ITV, the latter hosted by one of the Gameshow Marathon celebrities, Vernon Kay. (Ironically, on Kay's Family Fortunes, the Vorderman family would play the game again. They did not win on their second attempt, however.) However, The Price is Right was brough back in 2013 (Produced by Westcountry this time) presented by David Jason and then later by Alan Carr, Family Fortunes was brought back again in 2020 presented by Gino D'Acampo, and both Sale of the Century and The Golden Shot were eventually brought back in 2016.
Les Dennis presented the prizes each week to the winners of the home viewer competition.
===Progression===
Round 	Show 	Winner 	Eliminated
Round 1 	The Price Is Right 	Carol Vorderman	No eliminations
Round 1 	Take Your Pick! 	Patsy Kensit 	No eliminations
Round 1 	The Golden Shot 	William Roache 	No eliminations
Round 1 	Sale of the Century 	Vernon Kay 	
Semi-finals	Play Your Cards Right	Carol Vorderman	Patsy Kensit
Semi-finals	Bullseye 	Vernon Kay 	William Roache
Final 	Family Fortunes 	Carol Vorderman	Vernon Kay (runner-up)
==Series 2 (2007) ==
Season 2 of Gameshow Marathon was presented by series 1 runner-up Vernon Kay. The programme aired every Saturday night on ITV from 7 April to 26 May 2007.
The shows that were played were:
Show 	Years aired on ITV 	Original producer(s) 	Date of appearance
The Price Is Right 	1984–1990;1995–2001;2003-2004;2006-2009;2013-Present	Central, Talbot Television, Fremantle, Grundy, Yorkshire, TVS, Westcountry	7 April 2007
Blockbusters 	1983–1995;2000-01;2019-Present 	Central, Talbot Television 	14 April 2007
Blankety Blank 	1979-1990;1997-1999;2001–2002;2016;2020-Present 	Grundy, Thames 	21 April 2007
The Golden Shot 	1967–1975;2016-2022 	ATV, Central 	28 April 2007
Name That Tune 	1983–1987 	Thames 	5 May 2007
Mr. & Mrs. 	1964–1988;1999;2008-2016 	TWW, HTV, ATV, Border 	12 May 2007
Bullseye 	1981–1995;2006-2007;2019-Present 	ATV, Central 	19 May 2007
Play Your Cards Right	1980–1987;1994–1999;2002–2003;2011-2015 	LWT, Talbot Television, Fremantle, Grundy 	26 May 2007
Bold type indicates the pre-programme ident used.
The celebrities competing in series 2 were:
*Andrea Catherwood (TV presenter, News anchor)
*Jamelia (singer)
*Graeme Le Saux (footballer)
*Michael Le Vell (Coronation Street actor)
*Wendy Richard (former EastEnders actress)
* Ben Shephard (TV presenter)
There was a slight change to the format for this series. As before, each show in the first round was played by those celebrities who have not already won a show. However, the remaining rounds were each a single show played by all celebrities still in the tournament: five in the quarter-final, three in the semi-final and two in the final.
The celebrity panellists for Blankety Blank were Andrew Castle, Fern Britton, Joe Pasquale, Holly Willoughby, Vic Reeves, and Lorraine Chase aka Steph Stokes.
The special guests on The Golden Shot were Jo Brand and Jim Bowen.
The celebrity conductor on Name That Tune was Noddy Holder. The celebrity instrument players were Antony Cotton aka Sean Tully on the tubular bells, Carley Stenson on the recorder, Adele Silva aka Kelly Windsor on the xylophone and Kelvin Fletcher aka Andy Sugden on the swanee whistle. The celebrity pianist in the Bid-a-Note round was Myleene Klass.
In Mr. and Mrs., the celebrities invited their real-life partners to play along.
On Bullseye, the celebrities were paired up with professional dart players. Andrea was paired with Martin Adams, Graeme was paired with Phil Taylor and Michael was paired with Raymond van Barneveld. Tony Green reprised his role as the scorer.
On Play Your Cards Right, each celebrity invited another celebrity to play with them. Graeme played with Kyran Bracken and Michael played with Kym Ryder.
On the Blankety Blank and Mr and Mrs editions, the more recent revivals of both series were not mentioned on Gameshow Marathon, due to Blankety Blank having been presented by Paul O'Grady (no footage of him), who was then in a legal dispute with ITV.
Following the series, three of the shows were revived; Mr. and Mrs. (in a celebrity format) on ITV in 2008, Blockbusters on Challenge in 2012 for one series and then on ITV in 2019, and Blankety Blank revived as a Christmas special on ITV in 2016 with David Walliams, and then from in 2020 on ITV as a Christmas special and subsequent series, hosted by Bradley Walsh .
Lionel Blair presented the prizes each week to the winners of the home viewer competition.
===Progression===
Round 	Show 	Winner 	Eliminated
First 	The Price Is Right 	Graeme Le Saux 	No eliminations
First 	Blockbusters 	Ben Shephard 	No eliminations
First 	Blankety Blank 	Michael Le Vell 	No eliminations
First 	The Golden Shot 	Andrea Catherwood	No eliminations
First 	Name That Tune 	Jamelia 	Wendy Richard
Quarter-final	Mr. and Mrs. 	 	
Semi-final 	Bullseye 	 	Andrea Catherwood
Final 	Play Your Cards Right	Michael Le Vell 	Graeme Le Saux (runner-up)
==Series 3 (2015)==
Series 3 of Gameshow Marathon was presented by Ryi J Hoodberri
Show 	60 Years aired on ITV 	Original producer(s) 	Date of appearance
The Price Is Right 	1984–1991;1995–2001;2003-2004;2006-2009;2013-Present	Central, Talbot Television, Fremantle, Grundy, Yorkshire, TVS, Westcountry	
Trick or Treat 	1989–1994;2011-2021 	LWT, Talbot Television, Grundy, TVS, Fremantle 	
Sale of the Century 	1972–1983;1997–1998;2016-Present 	Anglia, Grundy 	
Wheel of Fortune 	1988–2001;2024–present 	Scottish Television, Whisper North 	
Play Your Cards Right	1980–1987;1994–1999;2002–2003;2011-2015 	LWT, Talbot Television, Fremantle, Grundy 	
Bullseye 	1981–1995;2006-2007;2019-Present 	ATV, Central 	
Family Fortunes 	1980–1985;1987–2002;2006-2015;2020-present 	ATV, Central, Fremantle 	
==Series 4 (2017)==
Season 4 of Gameshow Marathon was presented by Alan Carr
Show 	Years aired on ITV 	Original producer(s) 	Date of appearance
The Price Is Right 	1984–1990;1995–2001;2003-2004;2006-2009;2013-Present	Central, Talbot Television, Fremantle, Grundy, Yorkshire, TVS, Westcountry	
Take Your Pick! 	1955–1968;1992–1998 	Associated-Rediffusion, Thames 	
Catchphrase 	1986-2004;2013-present 	TVS, Scottish Television 	
Name That Tune 	1983–1987 	Thames 	
Bullseye 	1981–1995;2006-2007;2019-Present 	ATV, Central 	
Countdown 	1984-present 	Yorkshire 	
Play Your Cards Right	1980–1987;1994–1999;2002–2003;2011-2015 	LWT, Talbot Television, Fremantle, Grundy 	
==International versions==
Country 	Local name 	Host(s) 	Game shows recreated	Channel 	Original run
Australia 	Bandit and Chilli's Game Show Marathon	 	 	Network 10	2021
France 	Le marathon des jeux TV 	 	 	France 2 	August 2006
Germany 	Gameshow-Marathon 	 	 	ProSieben 	2007
Hungary 	Születésnapi kvízmaratont tart 	Attila Till 	 	TV2 	2007
Israel 	Play It Big 	Avri Gilad 	 	Channel 2 	2010–2011
Mexico 	Gameshow Marathon 	Marco Antonio Regil	 	Televisa 	2007
Portugal 	Superconcurso-Jogo De Sempre 	Jorge Gabriel 	 	RTP1 	2007
Turkey 	Yarişma Maratonu 	 	 	Kanal D 	2006
United States	Gameshow Marathon 	 	Season One:Season 2:	CBS 	2006; 2017
In Mexico, it also has its own version of Gameshow Marathon as well, as part of Teleton's charity funds for 2007. Marco Antonio Regil hosts the marathon, which includes its versions of The Price Is Right (Atínale al Precio) and Family Fortunes (100 Mexicanos Dijeron). It's on Televisa.