Family Fortunes
Family Fortunes is a British television game show based on the American game show Family Feud. The programme ran on ITV from 6 January 1980 to 30 December 2004. On 2 July 2020, it was announced that the show will return after 18 years later this year with Gino D'Acampo as the show's new host.
The game involves two families providing answers to 'everyday questions' that were surveyed by 100 members of the British public before the show to win cash prizes. The top answers to the surveys are displayed on a large electronic board, known as "Mr. Babbage", which famously sounds a wrong answer "Eh-uhh" sound effect and its accompanying X to signal the strike, as well as a "ding".
Hosts and presentation
Family Fortunes was first hosted by comedian Bob Monkhouse then by singer and entertainer Max Bygraves. The show returned on 27 June 1987 with Les Dennis as presenter, and had a consistently successful run for the next 15 years. It was then moved out of peak time and became a daily daytime show hosted by Andy Collins and no longer having a studio audience, instead using canned applause, but it only had a short run in this format before being axed.The most iconic aspects of the show are the large computer screen, named "Mr Babbage" by original host Bob Monkhouse and the famous computerised "Eh-uhh" sound used when wrong answers are given. Both were originally designed to appear high-tech but have since become regarded for being quite the opposite. The computer screen name, "Mr Babbage", was in recognition to the English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer, Charles Babbage. During the Monkhouse and Bygraves era, the board was also used to show the closing credits at the end of the episode. In 1987, a completely different board was used for the first Les Dennis series, however, a board similar to the original Mr Babbage one was used from the following year.
Format
Two family teams, each with five members, are asked to guess the results of surveys in which 100 people would be asked open-ended questions. Although rarely acknowledged in the show, the 100 people surveyed are invariably audience members who have volunteered before the show.Each round begins with a member of each family approaching the podium. As the question is read, the first of the two nominees to hit a buzzer gives an answer. If this is not the most popular answer, the other nominee is asked. The family with the more popular answer then chooses whether to "play" the question, or "pass" control to the other family.
The host then passes down the line of the controlling team, asking for an answer from each member. After each answer, the board reveals whether this answer featured. If not, the family is assessed a strike, and the family loses control of the board after accumulating three strikes in the round. If a family manages to come up with all the survey answers before striking out, they win the amount in pounds of the total number of people who had given the answers. A strike is marked similar to tenpin bowling with an X on the board accompanied by a buzzer. In later versions with a colour screen, the strike is marked with a strike chip on another Fremantle game show in the United States. If a family strikes out, the opponent is given the chance to "steal" by coming up with an answer that may be among those missing. Only the head family member may give the answer after consultation. If this answer is present, this family wins the round and is said to have "stolen" the money; otherwise, the family that played the board keeps the money.
On celebrity specials, each top answer added a bonus of £200 to that family's charity.
Often the hosts do not refer to the strikes as "strikes;" rather they will say that a "life is lost," and the family has "two lives left" or "one life left." In the early years of the show, the strikes were referred as "ducks".
Double Money
Following three rounds before the commercial break, "Double Money" is played. Gameplay is the same as the first rounds, but each answer is worth £2 for each person who said it, and there are generally fewer possible answers. The family who passes £300 first go on to play "Big Money" for the jackpot.Big Money
This involves two contestants answering five questions that fit with those given by the "100 people surveyed", with the questions asked within a narrow time limit. The first contestant answers the five questions within 15 seconds; then the second contestant answers within 20 seconds. If they get 200 points or more from the ten answers they win the top cash prize.From 1994 onwards, a bonus star prize was available if all five "top" answers were found and they had reached 200 or more points. If the family did not earn 200 points, they won £2 per point, up to £398.
Cash and prizes
The top cash prize in "Big Money" in the first series was £1,000. From the second series, the prize started at £1,000 then rose by £500 weekly if no one won, to a limit of £3,000 which it could stay at for more than one week if it still was not won. Once won, it reverted to £1,000 for the next edition. In the 1987 series, it started at £1,000, and if not won rose by £1,000 per week to a maximum of £3,000. From the 1988 series, the prize was stabilised at £3,000. After the abolition of the IBA's prize limits, the top prize rose to £5,000 from 1996. The money had to be shared out between contestants; by the end of its run even the top cash prize seemed relatively small compared to those available on other game shows such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.The bonus star prize was always a family car between 1994 and 1998. From 1998 to 2002, contestants had the choice of either the car or a holiday for up to twelve people. The car suppliers were Honda in 1994, SEAT in 1995, and then Daewoo between 1996 and 2002. On the all-star specials, scoring 200 points along with all five top responses donated £5,000 to both teams.
However, this often led the show to an anti-climax, as having won the cash prize with one or more questions unrevealed, the game had to continue to see whether the bonus prize had also been won. If not, the show would end on a low point, despite the family having won the main prize.
During the programme's brief daytime run in 2002, the prize values shrank significantly. If the contestants scored over 200 points, they won £1,000 and if they found 5 top answers on top, it was increased to £3,000.
From the second series in 1981 onwards, spot prizes were available in the main game, turning up seemingly at random when certain answers were found. Typically, these were music centres, televisions or video recorders. Some were more unorthodox, such as a year's supply of beer, while the same short breaks away – an Agatha Christie Murder Weekend, a stay at a health spa or a canal holiday – were won on the show for many years. Notably, during Max Bygraves' era of the programme, if a music centre or Hi-fi system was won, he usually offered one of his LP albums as an add-on bonus. The actors showing the spot prizes in later series were Neil Hurst and Louise Cole.