Masterteam

MASTERTEAM
Made by: BBC
Shown on: BBC
Years shown: 1984-6

It took me a long time to remember what this quiz was called, which is probably down to the fact that the title was somewhat of a misnomer. This was basically a pub quiz on TV, hosted by Angela Rippon rather than the publican’s wife, and the teams all had rubbish names, like Blyth Battlers, or West Hastings Bowls Club. Angela Rippon always seemed a bit refined for this sort of malarkey, and looked slightly on edge while she tried to hold the fort.

The first round was the Team Challenge, which was a quick-fire round, intended as a team effort. This was followed by Spotlight, where the team would choose a member of the opposition (who they thought was a dunce) to answer a question from a selection of subject categories, including history, sport, and the bewildering ‘pot pourri’ which was, according to Angela, “a tough general knowledge round.” This still meant nothing to a five year old. Once they’d survived this, there was In A Spin, where the teams were given 3 randomly selected letters, and had to come up with the longest word, using the letters in the order they appeared (eg. if it was C, V and L, you could have ‘Conversational’) This was a bit much for the average pub-quizzer. Finally, there was It’s All Yours, another question round but this time it was fingers-on-the-buzzers, and - ooh! - there was no conferring allowed.

For completists out there, the winning teams from the three series were Warrington Sports Club, Antrim Coasters, and Carrick Plus One (who sound like an eighties pop combo.) But in the end, this poor-quality imitation of one of the great British pursuits was axed in favour of another old favourite, Neighbours, which is still in the same slot to this day, making the chances of a Masterteam comeback fairly remote.

SQUARE EYES RATING: 5/10
(Thanks to www.ukgameshows.com for the borrowed pic)