The 1980’s saw a huge change in

British Culture & Society

Approximately 3 million
people were put out of work

Britain was divided by wealthy and

poor, due to mass unemployment
and government policies; which
was the cause of riots & strikes.

The government encouraged the

wealthy to buy shares in new
companies such as; BT & British Gas.
 In the 1980’s as there was an increasing gap between the rich and
the poor, Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, it seemed to be and
era where the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The
philosophy of the time was that “Greed is Good”.

Some quotes from the time were;

“Greed is right”
“Greed works”
“Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of
the evolutionary spirit”
“Greed, in all of its forms – greed for life, greed for money,
for love, knowledge – has marked the upward surge of
mankind.”
 In 1982 a board game called Trivial Pursuit was
released, it is a game that rewards random general
knowledge; these are the kind of things that you
either know or you don’t know.
Trivial Pursuit sold over 30 million copies in its
first 3 years.
In this era, The Pub Quiz was born, which was also
known as the table quiz.
In the 1980’s almost everyone had a TV at home.

Channel 4 was the first new channel since 1964 and was
launched on 4th of November 1982.

The first programme aired on channel 4 was countdown.

At the end of the 1980’s the first British satellite broadcasters

launched.
The broadcasters were BSB and Sky, which then merged in
1990.
 Blockbusters was aired on ITV on the 29th of
August 1983 and stopped at 1993

It is based on an American series, however it was more

successful within the UK.

The Host of the show was Bob

Holness. The show usually
began 5:15 - 5:45 on weekdays.

The show has 6 contestants who are 6th form students. The winning
prize was for the students and their schools/colleges.
The idea of the game was to complete a path across
a grid of hexagons by answering trivia questions

Players would choose a hexagon

which contained a letter of the
alphabet. The answer to the
subsequent question began with the
chosen letter.

The winner of the match went on to play a Gold Run bonus

round.
 The set design is pretty basic, and was very family friendly
as the lighting is bright, this was also reflected by the host
as he was very nice and friendly, and a bit of a father
figure to the contestants.
The table was faced towards the camera, the table had a
score counter which is useful to the audience.

Although the
audience could be
heard, they couldn’t
be seen.

The contestants often

brought mascots, this
indicates that the show is a
very fun friendly family
show.