The Big Debate: Which is the all-time greatest game show?

Matt Panter: You can't beat a bit of Bully

The best quiz or game show on TV? Now that’s something of a Countdown conundrum because there have been some great ones.

Bob Monkhouse was a master of game shows when I was growing up, with anything from Family Fortunes, Bob’s Full House, The $64,000 Question and Bob Says Opportunity Knocks. Who wants to be a Millionaire? took quiz shows to another level and now I enjoy The Wheel, Pointless, The Chase and 1% Club.

So you could Take Your Pick – not the Des O’Connor quiz – on what’s the best. But, ultimately, there’s one which remains the king of the quiz shows for me. Yes, You can’t beat a bit of Bully! Bullseye was – in the words of host Jim Bowen – ‘Super, smashing, great’.

For a nostalgic me, Bullseye always reminds me of Sunday tea-time at my Auntie Muriel’s house with the family.

Bowen’s phrases like ‘You win nothing but your BFH… Bus Fare Home,’ ‘Stay out of the black and into the red, nothing in this game for two in a bed’ and ‘Let’s see what you could have won!’ were highlights of the show.

It was always exciting to see whether Eric Bristow, John Lowe, or Jockey Wilson would make an appearance and then, of course, there were the prizes. As Peter Kaye says in a famous sketch, the special prize – ‘A speedboat! Where do they live? Tamworth! 200 miles to the sea!” Bullseye was a classic.

Dan Morris - Spin the Wheel Of Fortune

While I can’t help but agree with my learned colleague that Bullseye was something pretty special (after all, what landlocked Midlander doesn’t want to win a speedboat?), as a 90s kid there was one game show that, for me, reigned supreme.

With Scottish BBC Radio statesman Nicky Campbell leading the charge, Wheel Of Fortune was a beautiful game of words that even as a young ‘un had me hooked.

Campbell was joined in the line-up by Jenny Powell (also now a radio star in her own right), and the charisma of the pair made for some truly top telly.

Based on the American show of the same name, contestants competed to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes.

The hallmark of any great game show, Wheel Of Fortune was a delicious one to play along with at home - the tell-tale click of the wheel itself being almost as iconic as the chimes of the Countdown clock.

After Campbell’s tenure as presenter, a store of TV frontmen including Bradley Walsh, John Lesley and Paul Hendy stepped up to the plate to keep the wheel spinning.

Following a run that had begun in 1988, Wheel Of Fortune finally disappeared from our screens in 2001, though did in fact return for a special limited run earlier this year.

More of this please - teatime telly at its absolute finest!