Kick Start (TV series)

Kick Start is a British motorcycle trials game show that aired on BBC1 from 6 August 1979 to 17 August 1992. It was originally hosted by Dave Lee Travis from 1979 to 1980 and then it was hosted by Peter Purves from 1981 to 1992.

Kick Start
Also known asJunior Kick Start
GenreGame show
Presented byDave Lee Travis (1979-80)
Peter Purves (1981-92)
Narrated byMax King (1979-80)
Mick Andrews (1980-84)
Jack Stites (1984-90)
John Lampkin (1991-92)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series9 (Original)
9 (Junior)
No. of episodes34 (Original; inc. 1 special)
36 (Junior; inc 2 specials)
Production
Running time25 minutes
Production companyBBC Birmingham
Original release
NetworkBBC1
Release6 August 1979 (1979-08-06) –
17 August 1992 (1992-08-17)

Format edit

Trials were run against the clock. Riders on off-road motorcycles were required to run over obstacles such as logs, oil drums, rockeries, water troughs, walls, steep banking, cliff-faces and often a VW Beetle. Time penalties were incurred for putting a foot on the ground while tackling an obstacle or touching or knocking over specified parts of an obstacle (such as the "bunny hop").

Transmissions edit

Original edit

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 6 August 1979[1] 20 August 1979[2] 3
2 4 August 1980[3] 18 August 1980[4] 3
3 17 August 1981[5] 20 August 1981[6] 4
4 3 August 1982[7] 24 August 1982[8] 4
5 6 September 1983[9] 15 September 1983[10] 4
6 28 August 1984[11] 31 August 1984[12] 4
7 27 August 1985[13] 30 August 1985[14] 4
8 1 September 1986[15] 4 September 1986[16] 4
9 5 April 1988[17] 8 April 1988[18] 4
Special 1 June 1988[19] 1

Junior edit

Series Start date End date Episodes
Specials 29 December 1980[20] 26 December 1981[21] 2
1 26 December 1982[22] 4 January 1983[23] 4
2 5 July 1984[24] 26 July 1984[25] 4
3 24 December 1984[26] 28 December 1984[27] 4
4 23 December 1985[28] 27 December 1985[29] 4
5 22 December 1986[30] 26 December 1986[31] 4
6 30 May 1989[32] 2 June 1989[33] 4
7 29 May 1990[34] 1 June 1990[35] 4
8 2 April 1991[36] 5 April 1991[37] 4
9 10 August 1992[38] 17 August 1992[39] 4

Other media edit

A video-game inspired by the series called Kikstart was released for the Commodore 64 in 1985 by Mastertronic.[40] It was also released for the Commodore 16 / Commodore Plus/4 and Atari 8-bit computers. According to the game's programmer, Shaun Southern, "The C64 version's name at least, was a shameless rip-off of the TV series."[41]

References edit

  1. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 6 August 1979". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 20 August 1979". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 4 August 1980". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 18 August 1980". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  5. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 17 August 1981". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 20 August 1981". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  7. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 3 August 1982". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 24 August 1984". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 6 September 1983". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  10. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 15 September 1983". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  11. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 28 August 1984". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  12. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 31 August 1984". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  13. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 27 August 1985". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  14. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 30 August 1985". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  15. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 1 September 1986". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  16. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 4 September 1986". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  17. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 5 April 1988". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  18. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 9 April 1988". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  19. ^ "Kick Start – BBC One London – 1 June 1988". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  20. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 29 December 1980". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  21. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 26 December 1981". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  22. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 26 December 1982". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  23. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 4 January 1983". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  24. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 5 July 1984". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  25. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 26 July 1984". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  26. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 24 December 1984". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  27. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 28 December 1984". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  28. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 23 December 1985". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  29. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 27 December 1985". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  30. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 22 December 1986". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  31. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 26 December 1986". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  32. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 30 May 1989". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  33. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 2 June 1989". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  34. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 29 May 1990". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  35. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 2 June 1989". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  36. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 2 April 1991". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  37. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 5 April 1991". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  38. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London – 10 August 1992". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  39. ^ "Junior Kick Start – BBC One London -17 August 1992". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  40. ^ "Kikstart – Commodore 64 Game / C64 Games, C64 reviews, downloads & SID tunes". Lemon64.com. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  41. ^ "Kikstart". Archived from the original on 17 August 2008. Retrieved 10 June 2010.

External links edit