Last week the BBC launched a quiz streaming channel on iPlayer and that’s you know, fine and great and all that, but it looks like it’s all quite modern last few years stuff.
So it’s annoying that yesterday they launched an international BBC Gameshow FAST Channel (can be found on the US on Freevee) and it sounds like a proper blast, quite a lot of little-seen-outside of original broadcast stuff from 2000-2010, the sort of time when they were throwing formats against the wall and seeing what sticks. Knowitalls with Gyles Brandreth! Get Staffed, which I had no recollection actually going out! Traitor with Tony Livesey, the show The Traitors could have been!
The idea that this is “the best of British gameshows” is frankly way off, but it represents a time when it was probably at its most creative, figuring out how to extract the entertainment of Millionaire without the money. Loads of 6/7 out of 10 stuff by the sounds of it but much of it interesting in its own way. Pity we can’t have it, really.
Talking of gold, here is the Countdown US pilot (via kianworld at pres.cafe)