RUNAROUND was a quiz show for kids . It had a rather nifty theme tune that went something like WAA WAA WAA WAA WAA WAA WAA WA WA WA WHEEE , very irritating and catchy in equal measure , unlike the child contestants who were just plain irritating . Normally TV kids would have to open their mouths to irritate on these types of shows ( A good example being WHY DON'T YOU ? ) but not here .
Why did I find them irritating ? Simply because they're on a TV quiz and they obviously aren't erudite or confident enough to have earned the right to appear on one . They probably only got selected for the show because they spent their schoolterm grassing up their mates to the teacher: " Miss , Miss , Theo swore Miss - Well done Tarquin . You will be going forward to RUNAROUND where you'll get the opportunity to win a chopper bike . Theo come out here for six of the best "
The format is simple . Three stands lie at the far end of the studio wall . The contestants are given a choice of three answers to a question by Mike Read : " Where do the Bay City Rollers come from is it Scotland Wales or Ireland ? . G-g-g-g-g-gooooooo "
So the contestants run over to the stand they think the correct answer is but this is where RUNAROUND is so earth shatteringly radical . Mike Read says " Runaround now " and the contestants can change their minds and leap to another stand where the answer is revealed a few seconds later . If you got a correct answer you pick up a yellow ball which counts as one point , if you're the only person to get the answer you get a red one for two points and if you get the wrong answer you get consigned to the dungeon until no one answers correctly in which case you're allowed back into the game .If that sounds exciting in any way I'm probably describing another quiz show
What I found really frustrating is that sitting at home I'd often get answers no one else would get . I'm telling you if I had ever got invited onto the show the brand new chopper bike would have been mine , but not being a teacher's pet who spent their school life grassing everyone up I never got the chance to compete