Fifteen to One

infobox television
show_name = Fifteen to One


caption = New "15 to 1" Logo
format = Game Show
runtime = 30 minutes (inc. Comms)
creator = John M. Lewis
presenter = William G. Stewart
country = flagcountry|United Kingdom
network = Channel 4
first_aired = 4 January 1988
last_aired = 19 December 2003
num_series = 35
num_episodes = 2265 |

Fifteen to One was a popular general knowledge quiz show broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. It ran from 4 January 1988 to 19 December 2003, and had a reputation for being the toughest quiz on TV. Throughout the show's run it was presented and produced by William G. Stewart. Some 30,000 contestants appeared on the programme, which was notable for having very little of the chatting between host and contestant that is often a feature of other television quiz shows.

The basis of the show was devised by John M. Lewis, a former sales manager for British Telecom. He submitted the idea to Regent Productions who developed the programme into a 30 minute format. Originally, there were 20 starting contestants but the figure was cut down to 15 in order to fit the available running time. The number varied in other countries: in Poland, the number is 10 as the questions are longer in Polish. “Jeden z dziesięciu”, The Polish version of Fifteen to One, continues to be broadcast on channel TVP (Telewizja Polska) and is firmly established as the channel's top rated quiz show [http://www.jedenzdziesieciu.tvp.pl/] . Also, the German version on Sat.1 used 10 contestants. A version of the programme called "Vem vet mest?" (Who knows the most?) began to be transmitted by Sveriges Television in Sweden on 25 August 2008. The Swedish format is transmitted every week day on SVT2 with the Friday edition being a final of the week's top contestants. The Swedish version has 12 contestants.

At the start of the grand finale of the 35th and final series, William G Stewart provided some statistics about the show, stating that nearly 350,000 questions had been asked to 33,975 contestants in a total of 2265 programmes.

Layout

The 15 contestants stood in a semicircle with a podium in front of each. The design varied slightly over the years, but the essential elements were: a number on the front of the podium, a name badge either on top of the podium or worn by the contestant, and three green neon lights to represent the lives of the contestant. The numbers were allocated by drawing lots from a bag before filming. Once a contestant was eliminated, the spotlight on them went out and they had to sit down.

A separate podium was moved in place for the third round, with the semicircle behind it no longer lit.

Over the course of the first two rounds, 12 contestants had to be eliminated.

Round 1

Each of the 15 numbered contestants began the quiz with three lives. Each contestant was asked a general knowledge question in numerical order and given a period of three seconds to give a correct response. If they failed to answer the question correctly, they lost one of their three lives. After all of the 15 contestants were asked a question, another round of questioning began in the same manner. If any player who had got their first question wrong failed to give a correct answer to their second question, they lost both remaining lives and were eliminated from the competition. Stewart's succinct explanation of round 1 was "Two questions each: one correct answer from you to survive."

Round 2

At this point, each contestant had either 2 or 3 lives remaining. As per Round 1, questions were asked to contestants 1, 2, 3 etc. in turn with one life lost for an incorrect response. As soon as one player answered correctly, the player could begin nominating. This meant they called out the number of the next player to face a question. If the nominated player did not give a correct answer he/she lost a life and the player who made the nomination had to nominate again. If the nominee answered correctly, they became the new nominating player. When a contestant lost their final life they were eliminated from the competition and had to sit down. Towards the end of the show's run, a rule was introduced that forbade contestants from nominating the contestant who had nominated them. When only three contestants remained, the first phase of the quiz was over and the programme paused for a commercial break.

There was no fixed length to Round 2 in terms of time or number of questions, so it could vary considerably. Sometimes, after a difficult first round, there might only be five contestants left standing, leading to a very short round 2. Other times, nobody got dismissed in the first round at all, and round 2 would be quite long. On a few occasions just 5 contestants remained, but Round 2 still ran on for quite a while, as they all proved to be quite evenly matched. There was never a case when only 3 (or fewer) contestants remained from Round 1, although William G. Stewart once jokingly said that if this happened he would give a talk on the Parthenon Marbles to fill the time. Stewart is an outspoken supporter of returning the Marbles to Greece, and once presented a Fifteen to One special on the subject.

Round 3

The end game (usually referred to as the final) was played for points. However, before it began in earnest, the three contestants were restored to the full set of three lives and (after the first few series) the number of lives that each player had remaining at the end of Round 2 also becomes part of the player's score. Thus those contestants who had 3 lives left started the second phase with a score of 3 points etc. This serves to give players who had not lost a life in the first phase of the game a small advantage.

Before the round started, a brief introduction to each of the three players was made by the voice-over, giving their occupation and hobbies or interests (the introductions often being lengthened or shortened to accommodate for an unusually short or long game).

In the end game, a maximum of 40 questions were asked with the number of questions remaining displayed on the bottom right hand corner of the screen. A wrong answer cost one life (three lost lives leading to elimination - regardless of score), while correct answers scored 10 points. The first question was open to all players to answer on the buzzer. Once one of the players answered 3 questions correctly they were given the opportunity to answer the next question themselves or nominate one of the other two players to answer.

From this point on, after each successfully answered question the host asked - "Question or nominate?" If a nominated player failed to answer a question correctly, the player who made the nomination again had a choice of "Question or nominate?". If a player chose to answer a question themselves and failed to answer it correctly, the next question was asked on the buzzer. Once all 40 questions were asked, or the last remaining player lost all of his/her lives, the game was over. The player who survived longest was declared the winner. In the instance where two or three players survived until the end of 40 questions, the player with the higher or highest score (regardless of lives left) was the winner. Any lives that remained were added to the winning player's score with a value of 10 points each.

Again, round 3 could vary considerably in length. Thus, the programme was structured in such a way that it could be shortened or lengthened easily. For example, if the recording was running short, Stewart could show the finals board to the viewers at the end, or show the trophies for that series. If it were running long, the contestant introductions before round 3 could be cut short.

Finals Board

The Finals Board was the table of the fifteen highest scoring winners so far in that series. It started empty and as winners got sufficiently high scores they would be displayed on it: the first fifteen winners of a series were therefore guaranteed a slot on the board. If someone tied with the person in 15th place, both would be removed from the board and displayed to one side, with position 15 left empty.

Grand Final

At the end of the series those people whose names remained on the finals board competed in the grand final. An unscreened playoff took place immediately before the Grand Final if there were still people on the sidelines tied for 15th place.

The format of a grand final differed in two ways from the format of a regular episode. Due to the high standard of the competitors, and to allow time for presentation of the trophies, the running time was 45 minutes. Also, in Round 3, after the first few series, all the questions were played on the buzzer. Presumably this was to prevent any individual player from hogging the limited number of questions available.

A report of the last episode of Fifteen to One, the Fifteen To One Series 35 Grand Final can be read here.

Prizes

There was no actual prize for winning an individual episode. This meant that a lot of players would win one of the daily shows but would not post a winning score to trouble the high score board for a place in the grand final. All winning players were invited back for the next series. Some players became so regular that in the last few series Grand Final winners would not get such an invitation. Initially, players who did not win were generally not permitted to compete again. However in the year 2000 the rule was altered to allow players who had previously played a while ago and had not got as far as the grand final to apply to be on the show again. See discussion notes for an example.

The series prize tended to be a classical artefact (for example a Greek vase), and was presented to the winning contestant by the regular voice-over artist, Laura Calland (who married Stewart in 1997). Calland's voice-overs were occasionally provided by other presenters, usually Philip Lowrie, but only Calland was seen on screen, when she presented the prize. In later series the highest scoring person on the finals board also received a minor trophy.

The grand final of the first series of 2003 saw the first and only series tie. It was one of only four real ties in the show's history, as normally when contestants finished on equal points, the winner was decided by the usual "remaining lives = 10 extra points each" formula. Only when two contestants were level on both points "and" lives remaining, would a tie be declared. No provision had been made for a tie breaker so the presenter offered to buy a prize of equal value for the two winners.

Records

A maximum end game score of 433 could be achieved if a player started the second phase with all three lives intact and correctly answered all 40 questions. The player scored 3 points for retaining 3 lives from the first two rounds,400 points for answering 40 questions correctly and 30 points for retaining 3 lives from the end game. The maximum score was achieved only once by Bill McKaig, a minister from Glasgow. He did this in April 1999 (Series 25).

The feat of answering all 40 third round questions correctly was also achieved by Daphne Fowler in May 2000 (Series 28). Michael Penrice achieved a score of 423 in April 2002 (Series 32), having been beaten to the buzzer for one of the questions at the start of the final. Matti Watton achieved a score of 412, after attempting all 40 questions but incorrectly answering one in the process. Incredibly, this was in the same series as Michael Penrice achieved his 423 score, so a masterful performance was not rewarded with a finals board trophy. Watton did however atone for this by winning the subsequent Grand Final.

The highest number of people to ever go out of the first round is 11, leaving just 4 contestants for Round 2. This happened in September 2000 (Series 29) The lowest number is 0, which also happened on a few occasions, but was very rare, and even in Grand Finals it was rare despite the much higher standard level of competitors, even though the questions weren't thought to be much harder in the Grand Final as opposed to normal heats.

In Series 32, Matti Watton set the record for the highest score in the final of the Grand Final, of 222 (not including the points for the remaining lives). A close second is Nick Terry with 221, set in series 25. He also holds the record for the lowest score in a Grand Final, of 52 in series 26 (September 1999). This came after the other 2 finalists, Eddie Collins and Martin Ewers, had lost all three lives. Terry has four Grand Final titles.

In the final series, in late 2003, Gwyneth Welham achieved a perhaps unwanted feat of the highest winning score which failed to make the Grand Final, with the score being 211. Worse, she was told by William G Stewart, as one of his common phrases when a high score had been achieved, "I'll see you in the Grand Final." She was knocked off the Finals Board with 8 shows remaining in the series when Barry Smith scored 232. Wil Ransome and Andrew Dickens were joint 14th, with a score of 221. Their participation in the Grand Final was under threat as a result, despite a very high score. Two scores of 201 had also been posted in the series. Andrew Auger's score of 203 failed to make the Grand Final in series 27 (early 2000), as did Dennis Collinson's score of 201 in series 25 (1999), and Alan Gibbs' and Nick Terry's scores of 202 in series 27 and 29 respectively.

In the Grand Final, several people have achieved an excellent feat of not getting a question wrong in the first two rounds. People who have done this are Mike Kirby (series 7), Stanley Miller (series 13), Leslie Booth (series 14), Matti Watton (series' 28 & 29), Olav Bjortomt (series 32) and Debra Carr (series 33). Only 2 of these went on to win the Grand Final however

The lowest score to lift the finals board trophy is 202, set by Thomas Dyer in series 4. In the same series, a score of 111 made the Grand Final (although a play-off was required).

The rules of the series also state that if a losing contestant achieves a score that would otherwise have given them a place in a Grand Final, they are given a second chance. In 2001, two contestants achieved scores of 272 (the highest losing score in the series' history) before going out on the penultimate question. The first, Liam Maxwell, a teacher from Rhoslea, County Fermanagh appeared in the next series Grand Final with a score of 223 (series 30). The second, Alan Gibbs achieved a winning score of 202 when he returned a year later in series 32, but failed to make the Grand Final after his name was displaced from the board with three episodes remaining.

Trevor Montague

The show somewhat unexpectedly hit the headlines in 1998 when one of its former contestants, Trevor Montague, was sued by Regent Productions. Montague broke the rule which states that losers on the programme cannot take part again. Having been knocked out in 1989, he entered again in 1992 under the name Steve Romana. When a viewer saw a repeat of the series on Challenge TV, they noticed the same appearance between Montague and "Steve Romana" and contacted Channel 4.

Behind the Scenes

The shows were filmed at Capital Studios in Wandsworth, South London. Only in the first few series was there a live audience. William G. Stewart decided to abolish the studio audience after audience members audibly whispered answers to questions on too many occasions. After that, the audience sounds were pre-recorded, and the only real audience was any contestants who had already been knocked out and one guest per contestant (for the last few series however the contestants' guests were also barred from the studio, due to a change in the layout of the filming and production equipment)

chools Series

In the summer of 1999, Channel 4 broadcast the one and only schools version of the show, in which 108 schools from across the UK took part. Instead of 15 individuals, each episode featured 3 teams of 5 players per school. Round 1 consisted of questions to each player in turn (no conferring) worth 10 points each. In round 2, each player was asked further questions worth 10 points each if they answered themselves, or 5 points if they opted to confer with team-mates. In the final buzzer round, the captain of each school went head-to-head over 30 questions. The 9 highest-scoring schools played in 3 semi-final episodes.

Series champions were Audenshaw School, from Audenshaw in Tameside, who claimed victory after a hard-fought Grand Final episode. Audenshaw scored 270 points (plus a nominal 20 for 2 remaining lives) and triumphed over Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School from Elstree in Hertfordshire (250 points), and Westbourne High School from Ipswich (245 points).

Winners of Fifteen to One

*Montague lost his prize in a court case. William G. Stewart was tipped off by an eagle-eyed viewer that Montague had previously appeared on the programme in disguise and under a different name to avoid the programme's strict rules that losing players could not re-enter unless invited.

Famous Episodes

In one show, in the 15th series in 1995, William G Stewart famously dropped his cards whilst explaining the rules of the first round. The questions had to be wasted. A notable contestant on this show, and clearly seen in the outtake as he was standing at position 7, was Ingram Wilcox, who later won the top prize on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?".

In the grand final of series 29 shown in December 2000 (where Matti Watton won), one contestant, who was standing at position 4, could not be identified for legal reasons, so all traces of this contestant participating in the show had to be removed. Several measures had to be taken, including not showing the contestants at the start of the show, neither showing William G Stewart walking in front of the players at the start. In round one, his two questions were edited out, and the camera jumped from contestant 3 to 5. The contestant was eliminated in the first round.

Transmissions

External Links

* [http://www.ukgameshows.com/index.php/Fifteen-to-One UK Gameshows Page: "Fifteen To One"]
* [http://www.ukgameshows.com/index.php/Weaver%27s_Week_2003-12-13 UK Gameshows' article on the axing of "Fifteen to One"]
* [http://www.capitalstudios.com Capital Studios]