In 1970, whilst visiting Dutch Television, the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment, Bill Cotton, saw the show and struck a deal with Mise Bouwman to bring it to the UK. The show was a huge hit and broke all TV ratings records in Holland. The show ended with the winning gameshow contestant sitting in front of a conveyor belt as prizes passed by and then going home with all the prizes they could remember. The idea that developed was for two teams of two contestants from the same family, but a different generation (an aunt and nephew or a grandfather and granddaughter), to compete with each other in a number of tasks, normally demonstrated by an expert first, which they then had to imitate, before a winner was chosen.Įen Van De Aacht was presented by Bouwman as a two-hour Saturday night show (although it often ran over its scheduled time) broadcast to a live television audience once a month, and featured celebrity talk-show guests and musical groups. Seen in Holland by television presenter Maria Antionette 'Mies' Bouwman, Beat the Clock's format was developed in 1969 during a brainstorming session with Bouwman, her husband, Leen Timp and VARA Television's Head of Entertainment Joop Koopman. Forsyth enjoyed a likeable and mischievous affinity with the contestants, and could make the most of even the slightest of comedy moments. The most popular period of Beat the Clock in the UK was during Bruce Forsyth's tenure as host of the London Palladium Shows.

With us anything in the way of personal embarrassment is absolutely out.' These simple games which would involve solving an anagram on a magnetic board or trying to pick up balloons with the contestant's hands tied behind their back had to be completed within a set time to win a cash prize, whilst a large clock counted down the vital seconds. The American's seem to like guying their contestants and think nothing of deluging them with hosepipes and half smothering them in custard pies. As Senior Studio Manager for ATV, Jim Smith, who would watch tapes of the American show every week explained at the time: 'Only 50 per cent (of the American games) turn out to be suitable for our shows. But when the show was adopted as a segment for London's Palladium Show the tasks were toned down even further, lest they seem very un-British. Beat the ClockĬreated by the prolific gameshow creators Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, Beat the Clock let ordinary members of the public attempt difficult, comical stunts, which by today's standards would seem very tame, and often involved whipped cream, mashed potatoes or water balloons.

The Generation Game, the most popular audience participation gameshow ever to air on British television, is rightly credited to have been inspired by a 1970 Dutch series, Een Van De Aacht (One From Eight), although its roots are firmly set in an earlier gameshow, Beat the Clock, which originated in 1950 in the USA, before being adapted as an integral part of ITV's Sunday Night at the London Palladium.

Beat the clock gameshow