I was only young when they axed the original Blockbusters with Bob Holness but I have good memories of watching it. In recent years Challenge has shown repeats and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them. Three contestants participated at once, two of them worked together in a team and the third worked on their own. The game was played on a board which consisted of 20 hexagonal blocks, each containing a letter. Players would ask for a particular letter and a question would be asked with the answer starting with the letter the player had chose, if the player got it right then the block would change to their playing colour: Blue for the team and White for the single. The team worked horizontally and the single worked vertically on the board with the goal to create a line of correct answers, the first to create a linked line from left to right (Team) or top to bottom (Single) won the round. After up to three rounds, the player with the most rounds won, took part in a 60 second 'Gold Run' and a chance at winning a 'big' prize which in later series was usually a holiday.

In my opinion, Blockbusters is the best quiz show ever made, much better than the likes of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Weakest Link. It was fun to watch and sometimes the answers given to questions were hilariously wrong!! It would be fantastic if the show was brought back, it recently appeared in ITVs 'Gameshow Marathon' too.

Title screen for original version of show (1986–93) Also known as All New Blockbusters (2012) Genre Created by Presented by (1983–95) (1997) (2000–01) (2012) Theme music composer (1983–95, 2000–01) Paul Boross (1997) Rage Music (2012) Country of origin United Kingdom Original language(s) English No. Of series 11 (Bob Holness) 1 (Michael Aspel) 1 (Liza Tarbuck) 1 (Simon Mayo) No. Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Background [ ] Blockbusters was created by - Productions and originated as an in 1980. The UK version was created after producer Graham C. Williams spotted the show in 1981 and produced a pilot in 1982. The difference was that instead of adults, who appeared on the American edition, the UK edition was produced for. Was the original presenter staying on for the first ten series of the first incarnation and a 1994 revival on., Bob commented in 1988: 'When Central TV were looking for someone to host Blockbusters I was thought of.

It was remembered that I'd done TV programmes of much the same sort, such as which I compered in the 1960s and which was also a question and answer show. One led to the other.'

A 1997 edition featuring adults was produced for one series on with presenting. Sky One brought Blockbusters back under its original rules in 2001 with at the helm, and the Challenge series was presented. The Longest Day Colorized Movies. The show's first series, in 1983, was recorded at the (which was still owned by Central until 1984 when it was sold to the BBC). Subsequent series were produced at Central's in; however, at least one season (1989–90) was taped at Central's studios. The series was filmed in the summer months over a 6–8 week period, with five episodes being made each day. In the final episode of each day, the contestants were allowed to do a 'hand jive' during the end credits, therefore only appearing on each Friday's episode.

The hand jive first appeared in 1986 after one of the contestants was bored while sitting through filming several shows a day waiting for his turn. It lasted for the rest of the original series' run. The hand-clapping sequence was referenced by in their song 'Hedley Verityesque'.