Whodunnit? (British game show)

Whodunnit? was a British television game show that aired on ITV from 15 August 1972 to 26 June 1978.[1] The show originally aired as a pilot and was hosted by Shaw Taylor.[2] It then became a full show, with the first series being hosted by Edward Woodward and then Jon Pertwee took over hosting duties from the second series until the show's end.[3][4][5][6]

This article is about the British game show. For the 1979 American adaption of the show, see Whodunnit? (American game show). For other uses, see Whodunit (disambiguation).

Whodunnit?
GenreGame show
Created byJeremy Lloyd
Lance Percival
Written byJeremy Lloyd
Lance Percival
Presented byShaw Taylor (1972: Pilot)
Edward Woodward (1973)
Jon Pertwee (1974-78)
Theme music composerSimon Park
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series6
No. of episodes48
Production
Running time45 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production companyThames
Release
Original networkITV
Original release15 August 1972 (1972-08-15) –
26 June 1978 (1978-06-26)
Related
Whodunnit?

Development

The armchair detective gameshow was devised by Jeremy Lloyd and Lance Percival.[7]

Multiple panelists (Joanna Lumley, Mollie Sugden, Robin Nedwell) and suspects (Christopher Biggins) would later appear as characters in the 1990 game show Cluedo, heavily inspired by Whodunnit?.

Format

Each week it featured a short murder-mystery drama enacted in front of a panel of four celebrity guests who then had to establish who the murderer was.[8] One week there was a smuggling mystery and no murder. The panel members could interview the remaining characters, with the proviso that only the guilty party or parties could lie. Each panelist could also request to see a short replay of one section of the initial drama, which would often include events as they occurred and flashbacks as seen and narrated by individual suspects. For series 1, the entire audience also took part in guessing who was guilty (with the winner winning a prop from the set).

For series 2 and 3, four members of the audience formed a panel, but did not question the suspects, with the winner taking away a 'Whodunnit?' trophy (a magnifying glass in a frame). For series 4 and 5, the audience panel was dropped and a TV Times competition winner formed part of the main panel (taking away a prop from the set if they won the game). For series 6, they were dropped entirely. At the end the compere would reveal the guilty (usually a murderer) with the catchphrase "would the real 'Whodunnit' please stand up?".

Whodunnit? originally adopted a conventional panel-game studio layout, for series 2 some episodes would use the murder scene for the panel part of the show, with this being fully adopted for series 3 onwards.[9] The panelists included regular members such as Patrick Mower, Anouska Hempel,[10] Liza Goddard, Alfred Marks and Magnus Pyke as many well known celebrities such as Honor Blackman, Sheila Hancock, author Jackie Collins, Billie Whitelaw, Barbara Windsor, Joanna Lumley, Terry Wogan, Lindsay Wagner, Lynsey de Paul and George Sewell.[11]

Critical reception

The Sydney Morning Herald wrote "all the actors look sour and suspect and have dialogue that is bitchily smug", adding that "the acting is corny, but forgivable thanks to the red herrings that lurk behind every remark."[12]

Transmissions
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
Pilot15 August 19721
125 June 197330 July 19736
224 June 197429 July 19746
Special26 December 19741
314 July 197515 September 197510
428 June 19769 August 19767
527 June 197725 July 19775
63 April 197826 June 197812

DVD releases

All six series of Whodunnit? have been released on DVD by Network.

DVD Title Discs Year Episodes Release date
Complete Series 1 2 1972-1973 6 (+ pilot) 31 January 2011
Complete Series 2 2 1974 6 13 August 2012
Complete Series 3 3 1974-1975 10 (+ special) 4 June 2012
Complete Series 4 2 1976 7 25 March 2013
Complete Series 5 1 1977 5 27 April 2015
Complete Series 6 3 1978 12 20 November 2017
The Complete Series 13 1972-1978 48 20 November 2017

Adaptation

A U.S. version of the show ran on NBC from April 12 to May 17, 1979, with Ed McMahon as host.[13]

References
  1. "Whodunnit? - UKGameshows". www.ukgameshows.com.
  2. "Whodunnit? [Pilot] (1972)". BFI. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020.
  3. "Did He Fall or Was He Pushed? (1973)". BFI. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022.
  4. "BFI Screenonline: Pertwee, Jon (1919-1996) Biography". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  5. @woodg31 (24 June 2019). "6.40:Whodunnit?" (Tweet). Retrieved 16 March 2023 – via Twitter.
  6. "1978-12-16-B.jpg (image)". 3.bp.blogspot.com. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  7. Reynolds, Stanley (26 June 1974). "Whodunnit?". The Times UK. p. 14.
  8. "Whodunnit? (TV Series)". Radio Times.
  9. "Whodunnit ?". 28 March 2022.
  10. Circus, Holborn (28 July 1975). Daily Mirror: Issue 22239 July 28 1975. Graphic Communications Group.
  11. "Whodunnit? – Nostalgia Central". nostalgiacentral.com. 4 February 2016.
  12. "The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, New South Wales, Australia on October 23, 1978 · Page 16". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  13. "The Game Show Pilot Light". www.usgameshows.net.
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