His Holiness, Holness - Blockbusters

Advantages: Fast paced quiz action

Disadvantages: none

I really miss this show. As you will read from some of my other reviews, I enjoy a good, well put-together quiz show. 

I reckon this was one of the best. I really liked the format. Not only were the contestants battling against each other in terms of actually answering questions, but they had to 'block' each other on a honeycomb game board, in a manner not unlike Chinese Chequers. 

The game board would be filled with a selection of letters, within hexagons and the players would make a choice of a letter from which to answer a question - hence given rise to the hackneyed phrase "I'll have a P please Bob". As time brought the program nearer to the MDMA generation, asking "I'll have an E please, Bob" had a particular resonance. 

So for example, someone might say "I will have a K please Bob" 

So Bob might say "What Chinese Ceremony is a Chinese Ceremony of abasement" 

To which the contestant might answer Kuma Satra - and then go on to cringe with embarrassment - either because she mispronounced Kama Sutra, or because she remembered she was a sixth former on telly and shouldn't have known such things. (True check it out on Youtube!) 

But you get the idea... 

One team would have two players, the other only one, though they got the easier route through the honeycomb maze of letters. Whichever team won the match, would go through to the Gold Run - This time you were in the dramatic spotlight, and had to get across the board in sixty seconds. This time if you got a question wrong, you blocked yourself and had to work around this block to get to the other side of the board. The hexagons had a series of letters from which the answer would be a phrase. 

There were also some rather nifty prized involved for the Gold run winners. 

Now why did I like this program so much? 

It was on just as I got in from work. 

I would be mentally and physically tired. So I could flop straight onto the settee, but I could also let my brain wind down (it takes me a while to get out of 'work mode'). 

I really miss this program. I hear it has been remade on Sky?? And hosted by Lisa Tarbuck. Aside from giving Sky my money, I will be giving this a wide berth - even though I don't rate Lisa Tarbuck as a presenter, there is only one Bob Holness.

Summary: Excellent and sometimes humourous quiz show

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