Blockbusters (1994)

[@nigelkthomas9501]

Why was Blockbusters ever taken off? It was a great game/quiz show and had a brilliant theme tune! I miss it greatly! RIP Bob Holness.

[@David-h4z2s]

Happy Days Blockbusters Bob Was A Legend Rip

[@97channel]

Home & Away was to blame. It nudged Blockbusters out of its teatime slot, and the regions were struggling to find space for it. Eventually, it started to get dumped in graveyard slots and the ratings plummeted. When it got picked up by Sky, they gave it a primetime 7pm slot. But that was actually a bad thing, because it was going up against some of Britain's biggest shows on BBC and ITV. It didn't do half as well as they'd anticipated, and just fizzled quietly away in the end. The BBC revival was a carbuncle, Sky's second attempt was only mediocre, and by that point the ship had long since sailed, nobody cared about it anymore. I loved the Challenge revival though, and the more recent Comedy Central version was quite a nice update to the format.

[@nigelkthomas9501]

@@97channel I think one problem was Bob Holness was hosting any more. His death meant it just wasn’t that same anymore.

[@Lozza144]

A blast from the past

[@my_beer_stories]

Some very Bob-centric questions - he was from South Africa and was also James Bond.

[@David-h4z2s]

Did he play James Bond On Radio 📻

[@tarantulagirl]

I thought they did three gold runs. I been watching 1992 where they did only three. But there were two kids from my school on BB and I remember thinking they were on forever and did five. I feel complete now knowing this knowledge to be true!

[@lojosol]

The original run had 5 gold runs until the last few seasons, where they reduced the gold runs to 3. When it went to this version, they went back to 5.

[@thecyberleaderwhufc]

I just got the board game yesterday and it’s hard ngl compared to the real thing like this

[@LawnMowersThingsThatMakeNoise]

I wish upon a star he did a few more series 😞

[@ahmeddhagahofficial9034]

18th January 1995

[@UrsusTheodorusdoesGameShows]

24:00 That same clue was also on Bill Rafferty's US Blockbusters back in 1987!

[@wrexham1983]

17:14 it’s lovely ☺️

[@wessexfox5197]

I wish this show had carried on for the rest of the 90s. Maybe it was ratings or maybe Bob was just bored of it. Either way it was a great show and no one will ever beat Bob’s amazing charm.

[@davidayling6629]

Can I have a Y please? Y not. 😆😆😆.

[@Alji3dom]

Hahahahahah Atomic Guy Fawkes you muppet shame on you!!.

[@JasonCliftJones]

SJ in the first gold run is wrong; M5 is J8, SJ is J6...

[@davidtaylor7085]

The question has asked was :- nickname for the place where the m5 and m6 meet. Then says when giving answer or there about spaghetti junction

[@danwoodvine5900]

Shrewsbury Sixth Form College!

[@Lozza144]

There’s a long pause @12:26

[@nashdatle]

This is the master tape I think for the network to broadcast. You can see the clock after that long pause

[@DavidShiel1]

Balkan? Surely he meant Baltic

[@C345OFR]

I suspect he's like Ron Burgundy in that he reads whatever's in front of him.

[@pikeman80]

They didn't know wombat????

[@ABCEasyas--]

As an American viewer, I feel this is not as enjoyable to the American show even though this lasted much longer. This host is like a stuffy college professor, though Bil Kulin from the American version can be corny at times. The prize budget was lame. Winning the bonus round here wins you a CD collection but in the US in 1980, the prize for winning the bonus round was $5,000. Doesn’t help that a lot of the questions are British-focused. The M5 and the M-what?

[@UrsusTheodorusdoesGameShows]

Then again, at the time, British game shows (from what I gathered) had to make do with low budgets due to laws or rules at the time. Those from England who grew up or are more familiar with the Bob Holness version of the show may not like the Cullen or Rafferty versions because they were American-focused.