When I was younger, and when I see repeats today, this was, and still is from repeats, one of my most favourite game shows, it is quite disappointing that it is not still going on in any format. I may have watched the 2000s version with new presenters, Nick Weir (popular for falling down the stairs, once even breaking his leg), and ex-Blue Peter presenter Mark Curry (blonde with red-lined glasses), but for me and of course all other viewers it was the original host that made the show work. Roy Walker hosted the show from the start, 1983 until 1999, he was a really nice guy and as fitting the title he had many catchphrases, including sarcastically praising a wrong answer, "Say what you see", "Five seconds, here we go", "It's good but it's not right", "Your back in play" and "Riiiiiiiiiiight!". The mascot of the show, featuring in the opening titles, in many of the animations, and in the end credits, was the yellow robot-like man wearing the purple (or red) bandanna, Mr. Chips, often pointed out by Walker, saying "There's Mr. Chips and "What's he up to?". The game is a simple game where two players, always male and female, watch a piece of animation with characters, words and objects, and identify a familiar phrase, at first after a bell sound, then for The Ready Money Round without a bell. The game consists of one-off catchphrases to guess, and a main catchphrase hidden behind nine squares, slowly revealed to be guessed from the squares removed, this takes four rounds. The player with the most amount of money at the end of four rounds would be the one playing for a luxury holiday, the destination chosen at the beginning, correctly identifying five phrases hidden behind twenty five letters, A-Y, M always being the holiday answer, and completing a line of five horizontally, vertically and diagonally would be a win. It is great fun to play along at home, because you can identify the catchphrase yourself, and hope that they do too, a fantastic family game show. It should be noted one of the most memorable catchphrases, hidden behind squares, was "Snake Charmer", as it was slowly revealed it looked like Mr. Chips masturbating, and then doing something rude with a snake, it was broadcast, and is now considered an outtake. Very good!
Review of Catchphrase
