Runaround (British game show)

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Runaround
Runaround film Opening titles (British game show)).png
Also known asPoparound (1985–86)
Genre Children's game show
Created by Merrill Heatter & Bob Quigley
Presented by Mike Reid (1975-6, 1978–81)
Leslie Crowther (1977)
Stan Boardman (1977–78)
Gary Crowley (Poparound)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series12 (Runaround)
2 (Poparound)
No. of episodes100 (inc. 3 specials) (Runaround)
12 (Poparound)
Production
Running time30 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production companies Southern Television (Runaround)
Central (Poparound)
Original release
Network ITV
Release2 September 1975 (1975-09-02) 
7 September 1981 (1981-09-07) (Runaround)
Release19 June 1985 (1985-06-19) 
4 June 1986 (1986-06-04) (Poparound)
Related
Runaround

Runaround was a children's game show produced by Southern Television for the ITV network between 2 September 1975 and 7 September 1981. It was much more successful than the original American version.

Contents

The original host was comedian Mike Reid. In 1977 his place was taken by Leslie Crowther and Stan Boardman, before Reid returned in 1978. The ball in tube scoring was copied from the US version but with two colours; red worth one point for a correct answer and yellow worth two points for being the only contestant to choose the right answer (this was reversed in later series). Metal Mickey made his screen debut on the British version of the show after being discovered by the show's in-vision researcher, Tim Edmunds.

The series ended when Southern Television's franchise ended at the end of 1981. The game was also incorporated into the two seasons of the short-lived ITV Saturday morning show Saturday Banana hosted by Bill Oddie from 1978.

A spin-off entitled Poparound was produced by Central and aired between 19 June 1985 and 4 June 1986 with Gary Crowley as the host.

Transmissions

Runaround

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
12 September 19757 October 19756
CS126 December 19751
213 January 197624 February 19767
331 March 19765 May 19766
418 August 197629 September 19767
CS227 December 19761
512 April 197712 July 197713
623 November 19774 January 19787
728 March 19782 May 19785
84 August 19788 September 19786
922 May 197931 July 197910
CS324 December 19791
1013 June 198019 September 198013
1125 December 198025 March 198114
1227 July 19817 September 19816

Out of 103 episodes from 12 series that were made during its 6-year run, 33 survived from the archives, which included Episode 4 of Series 8, Episodes 5 & 9 of Series 9, The 1979 Christmas Special, Episodes 1, 3–5, 7–8 & 10–13 of Series 10, Episodes 1–7 & 9–14 of Series 11 and all 6 episodes of Series 12. [1]

Poparound

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
119 June 198524 July 19856
230 April 19864 June 19866

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References

  1. "TV Archive".