Cook, Build, Ask, Sell: British TV Genres Quiz

Answer: Quiz

The acid-tongued Anne Robinson was the presenter of the BBC TV quiz show "The Weakest Link". She also presented the US version.
The show featured 15 strangers who tried to build up a chain of correct answers to increase a money score. At the end of each round, the contestant voted off the colleague they believed to be the weakest link, until only two survived and they played head-to-head for the total amount all had raised. It ran in the UK from August 200 until March 2012. The format was picked up in other countries worldwide.

Answer: Property

They presented "Homes Under The Hammer" on daytime TV from 2003.
The show entailed each of the presenters looking at an empty property and discussing its potential, showing how the property was sold at auction, and interviewing the successful bidders. The show then allowed them to get on with their plans and returned to see what success, or otherwise, they had made of it.

Answer: Children's

"Magpie" was Independent Television's answer to the successful BBC children's show "Blue Peter". It ran from 1968 to 1980 and had a series of presenters. The show presented quirky stories and facts designed to appeal to an audience of youngsters aged from about eight to middle teens.

Answer: Cookery

"Masterchef" had simmered along quietly for many years as a worthy challenge for amateur cooks, then Wallace and Torode turned up the temperature and brought it to boiling point with a new look (did you see what I did there?),
It became an altogether tougher proposition. In early shows of each season, four amateurs would cook recipes against each other for Wallace and Torode to judge. For example, the first round always featured them making a two-course meal from scratch agaist the clock from set ingredients the judges provided. The show became a ratings hit.
Wallace was a professional supplier of vegetables to the restaurant trade before he joined the show, while Torode ran successful restaurants.
"Cooking does not get tougher than this" was a Gregg Wallace catch phrase.

Answer: Antiques

Dickinson was the first presenter of "Bargain Hunt", a show in which two pairs of members of the public were given a set amount of money to buy antiques. They then tried to sell them at auction. The pairing that achieved the highest aggregate price at auction won the show.
"Bargain Hunt" first aired on BBC One in 2000. The show gave Dickison his break and although he left it in 2003, he went on to present similar types of shows, for example "Dickinson's Real Deals".

Answer: Sports

Gary Lineker became the anchor for "Match of the Day", the BBC's venerable soccer highlights show. Hansen and Shearer were among the regulars who discussed and analysed each televised game. All three were retired professional players.
"Match of the Day" first aired in 1964 and was broadcast weekly in each season for which the BBC had television rights for top-flight English football.
Many others filled similar roles on the show over the years.

Answer: Property

Kevin McCloud was the presenter of the Channel 4 property show "Grand Designs". Each show featured couples or individuals who were trying to build their own homes from foundations up. Sometimes each show was filmed over a series of years and looked at the hurdles and successes that the self-builders had.

Many of the homes they built were at the cutting edge of design and technology. McCloud was there to talk to them at various stages and usually found that the projects cost more than the self-builders had budgeted and took longer than they had imagined.

Answer: Property

The California-based Anne Maurice was the resident expert in the Channel 5 show "House Doctor" from 1998 to 2003. Each show featured a family finding it difficult to sell their homes. Anne Maurice would move in with advice and work from her team. Her mantra was that people should remove most of their personal belongings (photographs, holiday souvenirs, collections of dolls and so on) and paint the house in neutral colours.

Answer: Quiz

They were presenters of "Mastermind", which first appeared on BBC One Television in 1972 with Magnus Magnusson asking the questions. It later transferred to BBC Two, with John Humphries the inquisitor.
"Mastermind" was, probably, one of the more erudite of quiz shows. It featured contenders - they were never contestants - answering questions on their own chosen specialized subject and then another round of general knowledge question. The aggregate of their correct answers decided the winner. Several funtrivia.com members have featured on the show.
"I've started so I'll finish" was a catchphrase used by Magnusson if a beeper sounded at the end of the allotted time while he was in the act of reading out a question.

Answer: Game show

OK, so I'm stretching it a bit to pigeonhole WLIIA as a game show. It featured four comedians who had to improvise comedy sketches to ideas suggested by the host, Clive James, or audience members. The host then allocated points, often seemingly in an arbitrary way, and each show had a winner who had to read out the end credits in a style chosen by the chairman.

In the UK it featured some of the sharpest minds on the comedy circuit, including John Sessions, Sandi Toksvig, Tony Slattery, Josie Lawrence, Greg Proops, Paul Merton and Ryan Stiles.

It was broadcast on Channel 4 from 1988 to 1998, although the show had begun on BBC Radio 4. Drew Carey presented the US version.