Big Break | |
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Genre | Sports game show |
Created by | Roger Medcalf Mike Kemp Terry Mardell |
Directed by | Nick Hurran (Series 1–2) Charles Garland (Series 3–5) Babara Jones (Series 6) Phil Chilvers (Series 7) Richard Valentine (Series 7–8) Duncan Cooper (Series 9) Sue McMahon (Series 10) |
Presented by | Jim Davidson |
Starring | John Virgo |
Voices of | Colin Ward Lewis (Series 1–7) Zora Suleman (Series 8) Charles Nove (Series 9–10) |
Theme music composer | "The Snooker Song" by Captain Sensible |
Composer | Mike Batt |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 10 |
No. of episodes | 216 (inc. 17 specials) |
Production | |
Producers | John Burrowes (Series 1–7) Geoff Miles (Series 8 & 10) David G. Taylor (Series 9) |
Production locations | BBC Elstree Centre (Series 1–4) [1] BBC Television Centre (Series 5–10) [1] |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | BBC1 |
Release | 30 April 1991 – 9 October 2002 |
Related | |
Full Swing |
Big Break is a British game show that aired on BBC1 from 30 April 1991 to 9 October 2002 and was hosted by Jim Davidson with John Virgo as referee. The programme focuses on teams consisting of a contestant and a professional snooker player competing in rounds that involve snooker, with the best team eventually seeing its player seeking to win prizes for their contestant.
The idea of a snooker-related television game show was first thought of by Roger Medcalf in 1987 who then colaborated with Mike Kemp. Kemp and Medcalf both produced a written format in 1987 where it was called The Big Break and it went through a number of versions, Kemp then proposed to Medcalf that they should try to get Terry Mardell interested, Mardell was an expert in relation to quiz shows, which was also during that year Mardell devised a successful bingo-related quiz show called Bob's Full House . Mardell agreed to meet Kemp and Medcalf in his office to discuss the snooker-related game that the two men came up with and showed Mardell their written format for the show, Mardell's immediate response was that it was far too complicated, would take far too long and would cost far too much, but he was willing to help them in a further meeting that would take place in his flat where the three men would further discuss and contribute various suggestions to the idea. That meeting produced a further version of the format and afterwards Kemp was left to retype the format where it was called "the June format". It was first practised at King's Cross Snooker Club where a week later, the three men met again to work out how the game could be improved with a view to a presentation to the BBC. They attended the presentation as well as Jim Moir and Kevin Bishop from the BBC where they were sufficiently interested to agree to have rehearsals at the BBC's Acton Studios in October. [2]
In each episode of the game show, three contestants are each paired up with a professional snooker player when a yellow ball, a blue ball or a red ball are drawn – while the contestant tackles questions given by the host, the player handles the snooker-based challenges in each round. Although a game show, Davidson and Virgo usually interject comedy into each episode, including a brief stand-up routine at the beginning of an episode before the introduction of the contestants and players. Although the first two rounds have their own rules, the last two stick to traditional regulation snooker rules regarding potting balls – colours being potted only after a red is potted – although with six red balls used in these rounds except the first round (Red Hot) which has ten red balls. The snooker table on this game show has one colour on each pocket (Corner Pockets: Brown, Blue, Pink and Black, Central Side Pockets: Yellow and Green).
The programme features four rounds:
Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 30 April 1991 [3] | 16 July 1991 [14] | 12 |
2 | 11 January 1992 [15] | 4 April 1992 [27] | 13 |
3 | 12 September 1992 [28] | 19 December 1992 [42] | 15 |
4 | 4 September 1993 [43] | 26 March 1994 [69] | 27 |
5 | 9 September 1994 [70] | 20 May 1995 [96] | 27 |
6 | 2 September 1995 [97] | 19 July 1996 [123] | 27 |
7 | 3 January 1997 [124] | 27 February 1998 [151] | 28 |
8 | 6 March 1998 [152] | 4 December 1999 [177] | 26 |
9 | 18 December 1999 [178] | 19 May 2001 [202] | 25 |
10 | 16 June 2001 [203] | 9 October 2002 | 16 |
Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 27 May 1995 [218] | 17 June 1995 [219] | 6 |
11 May 1996 [220] | 15 July 1996 [221] | ||
2 | 23 July 1997 [222] | 3 September 1997 [223] | 6 |
3 | 3 July 1999 [224] | 11 December 1999 [225] | 6 |
Date | Guests | Snooker Players |
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24 December 1991 [226] | Linda Lusardi, Jean Alexander, Charlie Drake | Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, Jimmy White |
26 December 1992 [227] | Ruth Madoc, Patrick Moore, Anthea Turner | Dennis Taylor, Allison Fisher, Willie Thorne |
27 December 1993 [228] | Bernie Clifton, Vicki Michelle, Tessa Sanderson | Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Dennis Taylor |
27 December 1994 [229] | Zoe Ball, Marti Caine, Craig Charles | John Parrott, Terry Griffiths, Steve Davis |
28 December 1995 [230] | Wendy Richard, Frank Carson, Diane-Louise Jordan | Ray Reardon, Jimmy White, Peter Ebdon |
27 December 1996 [231] | Patsy Palmer, Bella Emberg, Floella Benjamin | Steve Davis, John Parrott, Dennis Taylor |
26 December 1997 [232] | Melanie Stace, Darren Day, June Brown | Peter Ebdon, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ken Doherty |
28 December 1998 [233] | Isla Fisher, Little and Large, Barbara Windsor | Jimmy White, John Higgins, John Parrott |
Date |
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22 August 1995 [234] |
29 August 1995 [235] |
19 October 1995 [236] |
3 August 1996 [237] |
29 August 1996 [238] |
27 June 1997 [239] |
4 July 1997 [240] |
23 December 1999 [241] |
3 January 2000 [242] |