Finders Keepers (1981 game show)

Finders Keepers is a British children's game show television series that aired on BBC1 from 13 February 1981 to 1 March 1985, hosted by Richard Stilgoe.

Finders Keepers
GenreChildren's Game show
Presented byRichard Stilgoe
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series5
No. of episodes42
Production
Running time25 minutes
Original release
NetworkBBC1
Release13 February 1981 (1981-02-13) –
1 March 1985 (1985-03-01)

Format

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The show combined a quiz element with a computerised version of the game Battleships. Two teams of three primary school-aged pupils would compete against each other.[1] On scoring a "hit" at the Battleships game, the team had to answer a question to gain the associated points.[1]

Theme

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The show was notable for host Richard Stilgoe playing the theme on a synthesiser live in the studio at the beginning,[2] as well as the use of the phonetic alphabet to indicate the square on the battleship grid.[2]

Transmissions

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Series Start date End date Episodes
1 13 February 1981[3] 3 April 1981[4] 8
2 19 February 1982[5] 2 April 1982[6] 7
3 25 February 1983[7] 1 April 1983[8] 6
4 9 January 1984[9] 26 March 1984[10] 12
5 4 January 1985[11] 1 March 1985[12] 9

The series was a victim of the BBC's wiping of their children's programming in the 1990s. 28 out of 42 episodes survive in the BBC archives. The surviving episodes are:[13]

Series 1: Episodes 1 and 4; Series 2: Episodes 1–2 and 4; Series 3: Episodes 1 and 4–6; Series 4: Episodes 1–6, 8 and 10–12. Series 5 exists in its entirety

References

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  1. ^ a b Finders Keepers on Sausagenet – Access Date 25 April 2018
  2. ^ a b Finders Keepers on UK Game Shows
  3. ^ "Finders Keepers – BBC One London – 13 February 1981". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  4. ^ "Finders Keepers – BBC One London – 3 April 1981". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  5. ^ "Finders Keepers – BBC One London – 19 February 1982". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  6. ^ "Finders Keepers – BBC One London – 2 April 1982". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Finders Keepers – BBC One London – 25 February 1983". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  8. ^ "Finders Keepers – BBC One London – 1 April 1983". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  9. ^ "Finders Keepers – BBC One London – 9 January 1984". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  10. ^ "Finders Keepers – BBC One London – 26 March 1984". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  11. ^ "Finders Keepers – BBC One London – 4 January 1985". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  12. ^ "Finders Keepers – BBC One London – 1 March 1985". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  13. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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