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Monday evening - back home from the first day of school after the weekend. Indeed, Mondays were the opposite to the Friday feel of Play Your Cards Right and LWT being on in the London area. Children's ITV was Tickle on the Tum (Granada), He-Man, Dramarama (probably Granada but mostly to be TVS) at al, and then Blockbusters, News at 5.45, Central News (not Granada) etc. However, it did meant a Granada triple bill of Coronation Street, World in Action, and yes, The Krypton Factor.
Cue silent blue Granada ident (minus "Colour Production" at the bottom from 1986 onwards), leading us (until 1985) to an animated eye, virtual assault course, and whatever resembles an Open University Physics programme. We then "meet" the contestants, courtesy of Granada announcer Charles Foster - three are men in their 20s or 30s, and one of them women (Marian Chanter was one of them) - so much for equality in those days. In 1986 The Art of Noise takes its place - cue someone's hands adjusting the logo to the official letter K position, thus making it light up.
We then "meet" Gordon Burns himself who back then looked as if he could pass for Brian Capron's twin brother. Burns wishes contestants the best of luck in their rounds to come, while the contestants were sat in black or brown leatherette chairs next to a screen with the programme logo on them and their name underneath, waiting for what comes their way to tackle head-on. They also wear the same coloured shirt or sweaters as their contestant colours, almost making it look as if they have a "uniform" on, a bit like the coloured sweaters worn on Supermarket Sweep. Then it was round one - Mental Agility.
Contestants try and put letters of a word into alphabetical order, or find out what day of the week it would be three months from now. Burns always said "WRONG" assertively and moves onto the next question until the time runs out. "No need to answer that", said Burns when the time ran out which meant one couldn't answer the question, Mastermind-style, if the buzzer went when it was asked. End of the round, and a camera shows the contestants' scores on a wall which became an on screen graphic in the latter part of the 1980s.
Round two, and in later series we got to see the contestants hilariously trying to do a "driving test" via Concorde, three of them crashing the plane into the runway into the process. One wonders whether Mr Public would have been killed if they had actually been travelling with a pilot on that plane. The theme of travel and holidays in Granada game shows seem quite prominent and deliberate when you think of other shows from the same company such as Busman's Holiday, Flying Start and Runway. Earlier series dealt with the contestants in their assault course tracksuits using a exercise bike moving towards the other end, where they had to find out whether the square pegs really did fit in the round holes or not. "And our leader with the Krypton Factor of 20 is forensic scientist, John Smith".
Continued in the next post.
Cue silent blue Granada ident (minus "Colour Production" at the bottom from 1986 onwards), leading us (until 1985) to an animated eye, virtual assault course, and whatever resembles an Open University Physics programme. We then "meet" the contestants, courtesy of Granada announcer Charles Foster - three are men in their 20s or 30s, and one of them women (Marian Chanter was one of them) - so much for equality in those days. In 1986 The Art of Noise takes its place - cue someone's hands adjusting the logo to the official letter K position, thus making it light up.
We then "meet" Gordon Burns himself who back then looked as if he could pass for Brian Capron's twin brother. Burns wishes contestants the best of luck in their rounds to come, while the contestants were sat in black or brown leatherette chairs next to a screen with the programme logo on them and their name underneath, waiting for what comes their way to tackle head-on. They also wear the same coloured shirt or sweaters as their contestant colours, almost making it look as if they have a "uniform" on, a bit like the coloured sweaters worn on Supermarket Sweep. Then it was round one - Mental Agility.
Contestants try and put letters of a word into alphabetical order, or find out what day of the week it would be three months from now. Burns always said "WRONG" assertively and moves onto the next question until the time runs out. "No need to answer that", said Burns when the time ran out which meant one couldn't answer the question, Mastermind-style, if the buzzer went when it was asked. End of the round, and a camera shows the contestants' scores on a wall which became an on screen graphic in the latter part of the 1980s.
Round two, and in later series we got to see the contestants hilariously trying to do a "driving test" via Concorde, three of them crashing the plane into the runway into the process. One wonders whether Mr Public would have been killed if they had actually been travelling with a pilot on that plane. The theme of travel and holidays in Granada game shows seem quite prominent and deliberate when you think of other shows from the same company such as Busman's Holiday, Flying Start and Runway. Earlier series dealt with the contestants in their assault course tracksuits using a exercise bike moving towards the other end, where they had to find out whether the square pegs really did fit in the round holes or not. "And our leader with the Krypton Factor of 20 is forensic scientist, John Smith".
Continued in the next post.
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