Pets Win Prizes

Last updated

Pets Win Prizes
Created byDavid McGrath
Andy Mayer
Presented by Danny Baker (1994)
Dale Winton (1995-96)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3
No. of episodes22
Production
Running time30 minutes
Release
Original network BBC 1
Original release16 July 1994 (1994-07-16) 
3 August 1996 (1996-08-03)

Pets Win Prizes is a game show, produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation and shown on Saturday nights on BBC 1 in the United Kingdom from 16 July 1994 to 3 August 1996. It was originally hosted by Danny Baker, but Dale Winton became the host at the start of the second series.

Contents

Format

In the first rounds, the owners' pets competed in games of skill and agility - depending on what animal they were, this could vary from snail racing to dog pool. The owner whose pet won each game had to randomly choose between two envelopes, one of which contained a prize for them, and the other a prize for their pet.

The final round took the form of a 3-minute quick-fire quiz, where the owners had to answer animal-related trivia questions. For every correct answer, a cardboard representation of their animal moved along a race track; five correct answers were required to reach the end. The first player to the end of the track (or the one with the most correct answers after 3 minutes) was declared the winner.

The prize for the final was determined by a cat known as "The Professor", who would be placed on the centre of a hexagonal board, which was divided into six sections, each of which corresponded to a prize. The owner won the prize from whichever section The Professor's front paws were in after 30 seconds.

Production

The first series of Pets Win Prizes was presented by Danny Baker. Baker was dropped from the show at the end of the first series, following a dispute with the BBC. He was replaced by Dale Winton, who had recently become a popular television personality through hosting the game show Supermarket Sweep . [1]

Reception

The first series of Pets Win Prizes proved popular with audiences, even if it was heavily criticised by reviewers in the press. [1] One episode in series one had over 7.5 million viewers. [2] James Rampton, writing in The Independent, suggested that "The secret of its success is that it doesn't take itself too seriously". [2]

Transmissions

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
116 July 199420 August 19946
224 June 199526 August 199510
329 June 19963 August 19966

Related Research Articles

<i>The Weakest Link</i> (British game show) British television quiz show

The Weakest Link is a British television quiz show, mainly broadcast on BBC Two and BBC One. It was devised by Fintan Coyle and Cathy Dunning and developed for television by the BBC Entertainment Department. The game begins with a team of nine contestants, who take turns answering general knowledge questions within a time limit to create chains of nine correct answers in a row. At the end of each round, the players then vote one contestant, "the weakest link", out of the game. After two players are left, they play in a head-to-head penalty shootout format, with five questions asked to each contestant in turn, to determine the winner.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television, contestants tackle a series of multiple-choice questions to win large cash prizes in a format that twists on many game show genre conventions – only one contestant plays at a time, similar to radio quizzes; contestants are given the question before deciding whether to answer, and have no time limit to answer questions; and the amount offered increases as they tackle questions that become increasingly difficult. The maximum cash prize offered in most versions of the format is an aspirational value in local currency, such as one million pounds in the UK or 75 million rupees in India.

<i>Hollywood Squares</i> American television game show

Hollywood Squares is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show piloted on NBC in 1965 and the regular series debuted in 1966 on the same network. The board for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants. The stars are asked questions by the host and the contestants judge the truth of their answers to gain squares in the right pattern to win the game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dale Winton</span> English radio DJ and television presenter (1955–2018)

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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Baker</span> Former BBC presenter

Danny Baker is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television.

The Joker's Wild is an American television game show that aired at different times between 1972 and 2019. In the show, contestants answer questions based on categories determined randomly by a mechanism resembling a slot machine. The show's title refers to the game's slot-machine mechanism also having jokers.

<i>Figure It Out</i> American childrens panel game show

Figure It Out is an American children's panel game show that aired on Nickelodeon. The original series, hosted by Summer Sanders, ran for four seasons from July 7, 1997, to December 12, 1999. The show was revived in 2012, with Jeff Sutphen as host, with the revival airing from June 11, 2012, to July 16, 2013. The series was originally recorded at Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. The revival episodes were filmed on stage 19 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.

<i>3-2-1</i> British game show

3–2–1 was a British game show that was made by Yorkshire Television for ITV. It ran for ten years, from 29 July 1978 to 24 December 1988, with Ted Rogers as the host.

<i>Winning Lines</i> British TV series or programme

Winning Lines was a National Lottery game show that was broadcast on BBC One from 12 June 1999 to 16 October 2004. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo and then by Phillip Schofield.

<i>Celebrity Squares</i> British television series

Celebrity Squares is a British comedy game show based on the American comedy game show Hollywood Squares. It first ran on ITV from 20 July 1975 to 7 July 1979 and was hosted by Bob Monkhouse, then—also hosted by Monkhouse—from 8 January 1993 to 3 January 1997.

<i>Tic-Tac-Dough</i> American game show

Tic-Tac-Dough is an American television game show based on the paper-and-pencil game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, X or O, on the board. Three versions were produced: the initial 1956–59 run on NBC, a 1978–86 run initially on CBS and then in syndication, and a syndicated run in 1990. The show was produced by Barry & Enright Productions.

<i>Shop til You Drop</i> American TV series or program

Shop 'til You Drop is an American game show that was on the air intermittently between 1991 and 2005. Four different series were produced during that time, with the first premiering on Lifetime on July 8, 1991, and the fourth series airing its final episode on May 27, 2005, on PAX TV.

<i>Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?</i> (British game show) British television quiz show

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a British television quiz show, created by David Briggs, Steven Knight & Mike Whitehill for ITV. The programme's format sees contestants taking on multiple-choice questions based upon general knowledge, winning a cash prize for each question they answer correctly, with the amount offered increasing as they take on more difficult questions. If an incorrect answer is given, the contestant will leave with whatever cash prize is guaranteed by the last safety net they have passed, unless they opt to walk away before answering the next question with the money the cash prize they had managed to reach. To assist in the quiz, contestants are given a series of "lifelines" to help answer questions.

WinTuition is an American game show created as an original series for Game Show Network, on which it originally ran from December 9, 2002 to April 1, 2003, with repeats until January 4, 2004. The game had a school-oriented theme in which three contestants competed to answer questions on general school-based subjects in an attempt to win a $50,000 college fund, hence the name of the show. The show was hosted by Marc Summers and announced by Burton Richardson. Henry Winkler served as the show's executive producer. WinTuition would end up being the final game show that Summers would emcee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animals in sport</span> Sports that involve use of animals

Animals in sport are a specific form of working animals. Many animals, at least in more commercial sports, are highly trained. Two of the most common animals in sport are horses and dogs.

<i>Supermarket Sweep</i> (British game show) British television game show

Supermarket Sweep is a British game show that is based on the original American version. Originally hosted by Dale Winton, it ran for exactly 8 years from 6 September 1993 to 6 September 2001 and then revived from 12 February to 31 August 2007 on ITV.

<i>The National Lottery: In It to Win It</i> British TV series or programme

The National Lottery: In It to Win It was a BBC National Lottery game show which was broadcast on BBC One from 18 May 2002 to 16 July 2016. It was hosted by Dale Winton.

<i>Hole in the Wall</i> (British game show) British game show

Hole in the Wall is a British game show that aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom. It also occasionally aired repeats of this show on CBBC until April 2014. This game was an adaptation of the Japanese game Brain Wall 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.

Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. The original British version of the show is still aired around the world on BBC Entertainment. The game begins with a team of eight or nine contestants who take turns answering general knowledge questions within a time limit to create chains of correct answers in a row. At the end of each round, the players vote one contestant, "The Weakest Link", out of the game. Once two players are left, they play in a head-to-head contest, with five questions asked to each contestant in turn, to determine the winner.

<i>The Wall</i> (British game show) BBC game show

The Wall is a British television series hosted by Danny Dyer, broadcast on Saturday evenings on BBC One. It is based on the American version of the same name. The first series of the show was filmed on the set of the Polish version, at Transcolor Studio in Szeligi near Warsaw between 1 and 6 July 2019, and the second was filmed at Wembley Arena due to travel restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The questions are voiced by Angela Rippon. The show was developed into a board game in December 2020 by Ideal Games.

References

  1. 1 2 Wallace, Richard (17 March 1995). "Danny Baker axed from his TV show". Daily Mirror .
  2. 1 2 Rampton, James (23 June 1995). "Animal magic - Dale Winton , the cult TV quizmaster in the fine tradition of British campery, is suddenly very popular. Now everyone wants him to front their kitsch comedy format. James Rampton dodges the innuendoes". The Independent.