The British Version

In Britain the programme had a different name, a different tone and a long life of its own. It's a Knockout was a BBC series before it joined the European contest, and the British public remembered it as a show about local teams in silly costumes more than as a symbol of European friendship. This chapter follows the British version from its 1966 launch, describes how it was presented, and looks at how it came to be remembered. Dates and names come from general knowledge and a viewer's memory and are flagged where they are uncertain.

A Domestic Series First

It's a Knockout began on the BBC in 1966 as a domestic series, in which teams from British towns competed against each other in the same kind of comic games as the French show. In its third season, 1967, the British programme joined the European competition, so that a British team could meet teams from the other countries in the international contest. The two forms existed side by side: domestic heats, from which a town went on to represent Britain, and the international episodes.

The British Teams

British teams represented towns and, in the usual pattern, were made up of local volunteers. Towns qualified through the domestic heats, and the winners went forward to the international rounds. Local pride mattered: a place that reached the international stage could expect coverage in its local press and a crowd of supporters. The accounts of particular teams and years are better taken from a programme history than from a summary.

Presenters, Referee and Commentary

Chapter 5 introduced the British voices. Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring were the names most associated with the show, and Arthur Ellis was the referee whose formal manner was part of the joke. A viewer's memory of the 1970s and 1980s is that the BBC used two kinds of voice: on-screen comments between the games, and an unseen commentator describing the games themselves. This is the memory of a viewer and not a programme record, so the exact line-up in any given year should be checked.

How the Programme Fitted British Television

The show suited a particular place in the British schedule. It was a family programme, often shown in the summer or at peak time, that needed no knowledge of the rules and could be watched by children and adults together. It combined local pride, a mild sense of national rivalry with the Continental teams and a lot of falling over. Within the chapters of this course, it is the version where the "Europe" element is easiest to overlook, because the British audience mostly saw it as a British programme with foreign guests.

The Royal Charity Special

A well-known later episode of British television history is It's a Royal Knockout, a charity version staged in 1987 with members of the royal family leading teams of celebrities. It was widely criticised and mocked at the time and is often cited as a low point in the monarchy's relationship with the media. It belongs to the story of the format only loosely, since it was a one-off special and not part of the European contest, but it shows how closely the show was tied to the British idea of light entertainment. Check the details of the event, such as who took part, in a news archive before quoting them.

When Britain Stopped, and Wales Took Over

According to the dates usually given, 1982 was the last year in which Britain officially took part in the European contest, and the BBC did not pick it up again afterwards. That was not quite the end of a British-area presence. From 1991 to 1994, Wales is reported to have taken part, with the Welsh-language broadcaster S4C stepping in to cover the competition once the BBC had decided not to return to it. These dates and the S4C detail come from a general web search and are not checked against a broadcaster archive, so confirm them before quoting. Chapter 9 returns to the later history.

Memory and Legacy

For many British viewers the show is a childhood memory: summer evenings, a studio-like arena, and the feeling that the continental teams were somehow more serious. That nostalgia is strong and affectionate. It is also selective. People remember the costumes and the water more than the scoring, and tend to remember their own country's team more than the others.

Exercises

Next chapter: Politics, Rivalry & Controversy, which looks at the disputes and the Cold War background of the contest.