Hole in the Wall | |
---|---|
Genre | Game show |
Presented by | |
Starring | |
Voices of | Peter Dickson |
Narrated by | Jonathan Pearce |
Theme music composer | Simon Darlow |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of series | 2 |
No. of episodes | 21 (inc. 1 unaired)(list of episodes) |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company(s) | |
Distributor | Fremantle |
Release | |
Original network | BBC One |
Original release | 20 September 2008 – 12 December 2009 |
Chronology | |
Related shows | Brain Wall |
External links | |
Website |
Hole in the Wall is a game show that aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom. This game was an adaptation of the Japanese game Brain Wall (also known as "Human Tetris") in which players must contort themselves to fit through cutout holes of varying shapes in a large polystyrene wall moving towards them as they stand in front of a swimming pool. Each week, two teams of television personalities competed for £10,000 in prize money to be donated to their chosen charity.
BBC One is the first and principal television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution. It was renamed BBC TV in 1960, using this name until the launch of the second BBC channel BBC2 in 1964, whereupon the BBC TV channel became known as BBC1, with the current spelling adopted in 1997.
Brain Wall is a component of the Japanese game show The Tunnels' Thanks to Everyone. Video clips from the show proliferated on video-sharing websites and the concept was eventually adopted by several countries. It became popularly known to non-Japanese speakers and YouTube fans as simply Human Tetris or Hole in the Wall, named for its involvement of the physical body and a supposed close resemblance to the rules of the video game Tetris.
Tetris is a tile-matching puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Soviet Russian game designer Alexey Pajitnov. The first playable version was completed on June 6, 1984, while he was working for the Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the Soviet Union in Moscow. He derived its name from the Greek numerical prefix tetra- and tennis, Pajitnov's favorite sport. The name is also used in-game to refer to the play where four lines are cleared at once.
Dale Winton served as the original host while Strictly Come Dancing ballroom dancer Anton du Beke and former international cricketer Darren Gough were the team captains for the first series. Additionally, Jonathan Pearce commented on the replays and Peter Dickson provided the opening voice-over. The wall was activated by the presenter shouting Bring on the wall!. [1]
Dale Jonathan Winton was an English radio DJ and television presenter. He presented the shows Dale's Supermarket Sweep from 1993 until 2001 and again in 2007, the National Lottery game show In It to Win It between 2002 and 2016 and the 2008 series of Hole in the Wall. Winton also presented Pets Win Prizes (1995–96) and The Other Half (1997–2002).
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television dance contest in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored out of 10 by a panel of judges. The format has been exported to over 40 other countries, licensed by BBC Worldwide, and has also inspired a modern dance-themed spin-off Strictly Dance Fever. The Guinness Book of Records has named Strictly to be the world’s most successful reality TV format. The show is currently presented by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.
Anthony Paul Beke, known professionally as Anton du Beke, is a British ballroom dancer, singer and television presenter, best known as a professional dancer on the BBC One celebrity dancing show, Strictly Come Dancing, since the show began in 2004. His professional dance partner since 1997 has been Erin Boag.
On 3 July 2008, the BBC announced that the show had been commissioned for BBC One. A second series was confirmed, with Anton du Beke giving up his captain role to take over from Dale Winton as host, and new team captains in the shape of former rugby player Austin Healey and actor Joe Swash. Anton du Beke announced that he might be a guest as well as hosting on the last show of the series. [2]
Austin Sean Healey is a former English rugby union player who played as a utility back for Leicester Tigers, and represented both England and the British and Irish Lions.
Joseph Swash is an English presenter and actor, best known for his role of Mickey Miller in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders and various presenting roles with ITV2.
The game was split into four rounds as well as the final "Great Wall" (known as "Mega Wall" in the first series).
The first round was "Solo Wall" which saw each team's guest players take a turn to face a wall just on their own. For each wall, 10 points were given to the player for a pass while a fail could be given up to 5 points depending on the host's whim.
Next was the "Captain's Challenge" or "Captain's Mate" which could be one of a number of games:
The third round was "Mystery Guest or Killer Question", the team leading being offered the choice of which game they wished to play and the currently losing team playing the other challenge. A maximum of 20 points was on offer.
The fourth round was the "Team Wall". All three players face the wall with a maximum of 30 points on offer.
The programme's finale was the "Mega Wall". The leading team got to choose to attempt the wall or nominate the opposition. All three players on the team attempt the wall, which travels at double speed - if they clear the wall, they win the show (and the £10,000 to donate to a charity of their choice), while if they fail, the opposing team wins.
Hole in the Wall used a specialised crane made by Street Crane Company of Chapel-en-le-Frith to move the wall.
Chapel-en-le-Frith is a small town and civil parish in Derbyshire, England.
Series 2, which started on 26 September 2009, contains all new challenges. Solo Wall returned with the Captain's Challenge changing its name to Captain's Mate, as now the captains had to be blindfolded. The Mystery Guest section was eliminated (although, it made appearances in Anton's Twist). Killer Question was now named Wonder Wall (with both teams now playing it as opposed to just one team), and a new challenge named Anton's Twist debuted. Team Wall also returned. The Mega Wall was renamed the Great Wall.
Anton's Twist, according to Anton, involved walls he'd invented with a twist. Variations could be any number players with various twists (such as placing leg braces around the legs of team members commonly used in three-legged races), or the appearance of a mystery guest. Notably, one episode had Anton announce a mystery guest for Joe Swash's team, and Joe asked, "Is it my mum?" It turned out it was his mother, but the two failed the wall (although they still scored points for the team).
Series 1 was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London, with series 2 seeing the show relocating to BBC Pacific Quay in Glasgow as part of an out-of-London production plan. For series 2, the show was also shot in high-definition. [3]
BBC Pacific Quay is BBC Scotland's television and radio studio complex at Pacific Quay, Glasgow, Scotland. Opened by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 20 September 2007, the studios are home to BBC Scotland's television, radio and online services and the headquarters of the BBC in Scotland.
Glasgow is the most populous city in Scotland, and the third most populous city in the United Kingdom, as of the 2017 estimated city population of 621,020. Historically part of Lanarkshire, the city now forms the Glasgow City council area, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland; the local authority is Glasgow City Council. Glasgow is situated on the River Clyde in the country's West Central Lowlands. Inhabitants of the city are referred to as "Glaswegians" or "Weegies". It is the fourth most visited city in the UK. Glasgow is also known for the Glasgow patter, a distinct dialect of the Scots language that is noted for being difficult to understand by those from outside the city.
High Definition Television (HDTV) is a television system providing an image resolution that is of substantially higher resolution than that of standard-definition television. This can be either analog or digital. HDTV is the current standard video format used in most broadcasts: terrestrial broadcast television, cable television, satellite television, Blu-rays, and streaming video.
The first series had the entire audience off to the left side (from the perspective of the cameras looking straight at the wall), with the team benches on the other side, and the scoreboards by each bench. Winton, Du Beke, and Gough (as well as their teammates) would emerge from the left side when introduced, while the mystery guest(s) emerged from a platform below stage that rose to the top when introduced. For the second series, the audience was placed on three sides of the set, and the scoreboards were placed on the floor, hence Anton's catchphrase: "The scores on the floor are..."
Episode | Original airdate | Anton's team | Mystery guest(s) | Points | Darren's team | Mystery guest(s) | Points | Mega wall |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 20 September 2008 | Dave Myers Zöe Salmon | - | 49 | Andi Peters Sherrie Hewson | Dancing Dollies | 39 | Anton's team clear |
2 | 27 September 2008 | Vic Reeves Vanessa Feltz | The Cheeky Girls | 27 | Nancy Sorrell DJ Spoony | - | 22 | Darren's team fail |
3 | 4 October 2008 | Phil Tufnell Nell McAndrew | Glenn Ross | 43 | Iwan Thomas Josie D'Arby | - | 42 | Anton's team fail |
4 | 11 October 2008 | Amy Lamé Sam Nixon | Nouska Hanly | 40 | Siân Lloyd Mark Rhodes | - | 43 | Anton's team clear |
5 | 18 October 2008 | Marcus Brigstocke Sarah Cawood | Neil Fingleton | 36 | Bobby Davro Michelle Heaton* | - | 43 | Darren's team clear |
6 | 25 October 2008 | Vanessa Feltz Joe Swash | - | 39 | Alex Wotherspoon Angellica Bell | Pat Warner | 62 | Anton's team fail |
7 | 1 November 2008 | Phil Tufnell Nancy Lam | - | 49 | Carrie Grant Tony Marshall | Brian Big | 54 | Anton's team clear |
8 | 8 November 2008 | Christine Hamilton Martin Offiah | - | 47 | Neil Hamilton Lady Isabella Hervey | Ross Brewer | 37 | Anton's team clear |
9 | 15 November 2008 | Jennie Bond Rav Wilding | - | 32 | David Spinx Emma Rigby | - | 33 | Darren's team clear |
10 | 22 November 2008 | Ninia Benjamin Dominic Littlewood | - | 39× | Cleo Rocos Scott Mills | London Wasps Women's Rugby Team | 38 | Anton's team fail |
11 | 20 December 2008 | Best of Series 1 Retrospective |
* In episode 5, Michelle Heaton managed to remain dry by not failing a task but this resulted in teammates Darren Gough and Bobby Davro pushing her into the water.
× In episode 10, Anton's team were docked two points for cheating (shouting an incorrect call) during Darren's Captains Challenge (Darren being blind folded).
This series started on 26 September 2009, presented by Anton du Beke.
Episode | Original airdate | Joe's team | Points | Mystery guest(s) | Austin's team | Points | Mystery guest(s) | Great wall |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 26 September 2009 | Comedy Dave Anne Diamond | 35 | - | Sophie Anderton John Altman | 50 | - | Austin's team fail |
2 | 3 October 2009 | Kristian Digby Alison Hammond | 65 | - | Graham Cole Gemma Merna | 27 | - | Austin's team fail |
3 | 10 October 2009 | Lil' Chris Kelly Dalglish | 27 | - | Matthew Chambers Gemma Bissix | 44 | - | Austin's team clear |
4 | 24 October 2009 | Ian 'H' Watkins Linda Lusardi | 80* | - | Ricky Groves Abi Titmuss | 65 | - | Joe's team fail |
5 | 31 October 2009 | Rufus Hound Ninia Benjamin | 48 | - | Dennis Taylor Jessica Taylor | 82 | - | Joe's team fail |
6 | Wasn't broadcast | Danielle Lloyd Mark Foster | 58 | - | Debbie McGee Ben James-Ellis | 34 | - | Austin's team fail |
7 | 14 November 2009 | Annabel Croft Sam Nixon | 70 | - | Beth Tweddle Mark Rhodes | 69** | Erin Boag | Joe's team fail |
8 | 21 November 2009 | Kate Lawler Jonathan Ansell | 45 | - | John Partridge Siân Reeves | 85*** | - | Austin's team fail |
9 | 28 November 2009 | Zaraah Abrahams Simon Rimmer | 45 | Kiffy Swash (Joe's mum) | Toyah Willcox Barney Harwood | 77 | - | Austin's team pass |
10 | 5 December 2009 | Martin Roberts Verity Rushworth | 39 | - | Ben Clarke Caprice | 85 | - | Austin's team fail |
11 | 12 December 2009 | Best of Series 2 Retrospective |
* In episode 4, Joe's team were docked ten points because Joe attempted to push Ricky Groves into the water as Ricky was struggling to stay on his feet after going through Team Wall.
** In episode 7, Austin bounced a ball on Anton's head, and then, he admitted it was meant to bounce on Joe's head, which because of that, 1 point was deducted.
*** In episode 8, Austin's team were docked 10 points because Austin pushed Jonathan into the pool when he was helping Kate and Joe go through Wonder Wall.
× Due to the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance, Episode 6 was not broadcast originally. It involved Danielle Lloyd and Mark Foster playing for Joe and Debbie McGee and Ben James-Ellis playing for Austin. The episode eventually aired some 8 years later on Challenge TV in 2017.
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