Sale of the Century (British game show)

The ITV and Challenge versions followed the rules of the original American version. Three contestants start off with £15 (£10 in the earliest series). Questions are worth different values starting with £1, increasing to £3 after the second instant bargain, and finally £5 after the fourth; by the final two ITV series, the values started at £3 but increased to £5 after the fourth instant bargain. The question is asked and players can buzz in at any time. Correct answers add the money to their score and incorrect answers subtract the money from their score with only one player allowed to buzz in on each question. If a contestant runs out of money at any time, they are eliminated from further play, but may remain in their seat for the remainder of the show.

The Sky Channel version had rules that were based on Australia's 1980–1988 format and America's 1983–1989 format, with better prizes than before.

In this format, each player started with £20, and each question was worth only £5.

There were only three "Instant Sales" (renamed Gift Shops), and only the player in the lead could buy.

The biggest change was the "Fame Game": Here, a succession of increasingly larger clues were given to the identity of a famous person, place, or event. In this round, players could buzz-in and answer at any time, with the player shut out for the remainder of the question if they gave an incorrect answer.

If one of the players buzzed-in and answered correctly, the contestant chose from a game board with nine squares. If all three contestants failed to come up with a right answer, then nobody got to pick. Once chosen, the space selected would be spun around to reveal either a relatively small prize (typically appliances or furniture valued at around a weekly wage) or a bonus money card, which added to the player's score.

There were £10, £15, and £25 bonuses added each round; in addition, in the third round was a "Wild Card", which offered the choice of £100 or a chance to pick again.

The game ended with the Speed Round where the host would ask as many questions as possible within 60 seconds. The player with the most money when time ran out won the game.

If there was a tie for the lead after the Speed Round, another question was asked of the tied players. Answering this question awarded £5 and the win; missing the question deducted £5 and lost the game.

The winning contestant would be given the opportunity to spend their cash total on at least one of four grand prizes at the "Sale of the Century" which almost always included a new car. Originally, champions could buy prizes totaling no more than £1,000 (£2,500 in the late 1970s). From 1981 to 1983, any champion who won the game with £140 or more could choose to purchase one of the lesser four prizes or correctly answer a possible four of five questions, with no risk, to win a car.

On the 1989–1991 and 1997 versions, there were a series of six prizes (five in 1997) and as the contestant's score built up, it applied to the next highest prize, with a car again being the top prize, which was available for £585 (£500 in 1997). Like the Australian and American versions, they could buy the prize and leave or risk it and come back. However, unlike the Australian and American versions, there was no cash jackpot available or the chance to buy all the prizes on stage.

On all versions, losing contestants kept the money and prizes earned.

The series was one of the most consistently high-rating entertainment shows of the 1970s, gaining peak viewing figures of 20 million. This original version of the show was restricted in the prize amount through then national agreements, meaning that the featured cars had to be below set limits. The producers hence preferred to engage with foreign manufacturers to provide better value prize, often including top of the range Ladas.

On 22 December 1978, an all-out strike at the BBC meant that 21.2 million viewers watched the programme, the highest ever rating for a game show produced by ITV.

By the time the original version ended, it had awarded 500 contestants over £500,000 in prizes.

Celebrity special aired occasionally from 2 January 1981, with prizes won going to charities.

The show is often famed as having been the place that record producer Simon Cowell made his television debut. The video (of his appearance on the 1989 version) is available on YouTube and extracts of it were shown during the National Television Awards in Cowell's VT before receiving the Special Recognition Award from Andrew Lloyd Webber. Cowell appeared on 2 episodes (winning his first game) and won only £20 worth of cooking utensils.

The show's theme tune, composed by Peter Fenn, was entitled "Joyful Pete", in tribute to the show's original producer, Peter Joy.[2]

The theme music for the Sky One revival would later be used as the theme music for the German adaptation Hopp Oder Topp.

• Sale of the Century at UKGameshows.com