Give Us a Clue

Give Us a Clue is a British televised game show version of charades which was broadcast on ITV from 1979 to 1992. The original host was Michael Aspel from 1979 to 1984, followed by Michael Parkinson from 1984 to 1992. The show featured two teams, one captained by Lionel Blair and the other by Una Stubbs. Later versions of the programme had Liza Goddard as captain of the women's team. Norman Vaughan stood in for Blair for a short spell in 1980. Originally, the teams consisted of the captain, two celebrities and one member of the public. The public participation was dropped and another celebrity was added in their place. On one infamous edition of the programme, the male member of the public was handed the title he had to mime on a card by host Michael Aspel, but rather than read the mime, he read the wrong side of the card on which his name was printed. He thus mimed his name to his team mates. Lionel Blair later wrote this incident led to the dropping of the public participants.
A revived version was broadcast by BBC One in 1997 over 30 episodes, hosted by Tim Clark. Teams were captained by Christopher Blake and Julie Peasgood and the show introduced a lateral thinking puzzle (which the host could "give clues to"). "Give us a Clue" returned for a special Comic Relief episode in March 2011 with Sara Cox, Christopher Biggins, Lionel Blair, Una Stubbs, Holly Walsh, Jenni Falconer and David Walliams.
Format.
The game was based on charades, a party game where players used mime rather than speaking to demonstrate a name, phrase, book, play, film or TV programme. Each player was given roughly two minutes to act out their given subject in front of his/her team, and if the others were unsuccessful in guessing correctly, the opposing team would have a chance to answer for a bonus point.
Transmissions.
The first series was not networked. Following the launch of morning programming on ITV in September 1987, the last five series of the original run moved from peak-time to daytime slots. The Thames series ended in October 1991, but a one-off special was broadcast on 4 May 1992. Series 18 was made for the BBC.
Theme music.
The original theme tune was called "Chicken Man", which was also the theme tune of "Grange Hill". However, while "Grange Hill" used the original recording, "Give us a Clue" used a less dynamic custom arrangement more in keeping with the style of light entertainment programming.
In 1981, David Clark took over as producer/director and commissioned a new theme tune, followed in 1988 by a theme song written and composed by Alan Braden, which remained in use until the end of the Thames series in October 1991. Uniquely, the Braden theme song featured separate lyrics for both the opening titles and closing credits.
Trivia.
The programme has been repeated on satellite TV and is also still parodied in British comedy. It was frequently referred to by Humphrey Lyttelton, chairman of BBC radio's long-running "antidote to panel games", "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue", during a round of Sound Charades — usually with a gay innuendo-laden gag at the expense of Lionel Blair.
Other versions.
A licensed New Zealand version of "Give Us a Clue" was first broadcast on TVNZ during the early 1980s and hosted by Australian journalist Les Thompson. Teams were captained by Peter Rowley and Jenny Maxwell. The show was revived in 1993 via TV3 with Brian Edwards as host and Gary McCormick and Belinda Todd as team captains, and again in 1999 via TVNZ with Marcus Lush as host and Gary McCormick and Alison Wall as team captains.
SVT in Sweden broadcast their own version with the title "Gäster med gester". Dutch Public broadcasting organisation KRO aired the program from 1983 till 2003 and one series in 2010 under the name "Hints" ().