The original UK version, which ran for five seasons, is popular with fans of the show for its near-campiness, frenetic pace, glamour, and the endearing presentation skills of its host, not for its cheaper prizes (which were forced on it by the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s prize limits). Its format was nearly identical to that of CBS’s daytime show in the United States.
It initially used the Big Wheel to decide who would go through to the Range Finder but the IBA forced the production company to abandon this because of the lack of pricing skill involved. While the show had to go off air for a while during its first season due to an electricians’ strike, the format was adapted to fit into a much more tightly regulated UK broadcasting environment.
After this ruling was made, the show replaced the Big Wheel rounds with a game called “Supermarket”, a game loosely based on the American version’s “Grocery Game” pricing game.
The Crowther version later replaced Supermarket and the Big Wheel called with the “Showcase Showdown”, where all six on-stage contestants played a series of estimated-guess questions and the person farthest away from the actual prize was eliminated. This was done until the last two contestants were left, and they then advanced to the Showcase.
From the very first episode of The Price is Right in the UK, the audience is in a frenzyHere’s your host…Leslie Crowther!The first pricing game is Race Game. Same rules as in the US.The big curtain opens and the models wheel out the 4 prizes.This lady rushes about, giving the price tags to the models2 right, 2 wrong. One correct change for the win with plenty of time on the clockOops! Wrong way…and only 4 seconds left on the clock!She rushes to make just one more changeTime has expired and she’s won 2 of the 4 prizesThe barbecue is hers at £78As is the washer at £150!She seems very excited, having won a washing machineThis is a “timer” meant to tell the local channels when to start the tape for the 2nd half of the showThis lady is playing Take Two. She must pick two prizes whose prices add up to £300. Those prizes are……a bunch of stuff. The prize package includes a watch, clock, lighter and evening bag.The clock is £125. Is something there £175?Well, it isn’t the watch.Leslie explains to her that she can keep one of those and pick another or take the other two prizes. She opts to keep the watch and take the lighterWinner!And there’s a reveal of all of the pricesWilliam G. Stewart stayed through all 100 episodes of Leslie’s Price is RightMr Goodson gets a plug at the endLeslie and your winner for the night! (she played Race Game)The ident logo at the end of the showIn the early days of TPiR, they had a big wheel. No pointer though…the space “in play” was lit up from inside. This woman just hit the 100 and Leslie is explaining how the bonus spin works.On Leslie’s show, spinning 100 (one one or two spins) netted you £500. In the bonus spin if got 5 or 15 they won an £250 more. But if they landed on the 100 again they got £1000 for £1500 in total! That’s a LOT of money for the early 80s.The wheel was “hidden” in a wall ala the German version.In late 1988, they changed the opening spiel and titlesCouldn’t they have found words that rhymed with “right”?This would be followed by the logo “The Price is Right!”Can you guess the game here?A light comes onShe guessed the price of the decanters wrong and she gets another choiceAnother lightWrong again. Have you figured the game out yet?She lost. Did you figure out it’s their version of Penny Ante called “The Penny Drops”?The right price was £78. Notice how two were only £6 apart?This game is a little like Add Em Up. She’s shown a prize and £150 goes into the bankYou then have to add 3 more amounts to get the bank to equal the value of the prizeLooks like this woman is about to smack Leslie for getting fresh!It’s Pick A Pair! Pick a pair of prizes that have the same price and you win those prizesHmm…it isn’t the toaster and lampThe Race Game setup looks like the Aussie version (about 10 years earlier)These 4 prizes (a picnic basket, Mickey Mouse phone, oven and coffee maker) are wheeled out for……the first incarnation of Race Game. It uses the same clock as The Clock Game. It is very much like the US version. 45 seconds and you can see the handle on the right-hand side of the clock.Leslie shows off the run down of the pricesNo stands in this game, the models hold the price tagsThe only thing to note here is the Big Wheel sticking out of the wallShe only had 1 right but there is plenty of time on the clockAfter the first series, the TV commissions said the wheel was too much a game of chance so they replaced the wheel with Supermarket.The contestants had 15 seconds to select 4 of 6 grocery products. The one who picked 4 whose total was closest to £20 (over or under) advanced to the showcase.The model is there to escort this contestant away after Leslie announced she had spent £25It’s 5 digit Squeeze Play!She’s playing for a jewelry box and a TVDoes she think the price is £3,159? Nope.She still has to remove another digit to make a 3 digit priceDo we have another winner?You wanna believe it!The show was taped in the Anglia region of the UKHere we see the game board for 3 in a row. This is not played like Secret X. Behind each number is a questions that is about one of……these nine prizes. To earn a square, she has to answer correctlyAnother winner!The logo of the first ever version of TPiR in the UKThis was a weekly version airing on SaturdaysThis particular show is the 5th (and final) series premiere in 1988There were 5 models who were introduced at the top of the showHere he is..Leslie Crowther!The first item up for bids tonight is a set of Mahogany library stepsThose steps are £120! Peter wins them with his £95 bidHe could win a hair dryer, clock radio with tape deck, fondue set and a pair of mugs……and a moped!His game is Switcheroo. Notice that the moped is only about 3 times as much as his one-bid prize!Are you happy? 10 seconds left out of 30Three are right. He has another 30 seconds to make any changes if he wants. Leslie gives him the time anywayHe made changes getting only 2 right. They reveal the prices (starting from the bottom) by sliding the name card. He’s won the moped and fondue set!It’s Cliffhanger!Ann, you don’t want the mountain climber……to go beyond this point “into the abyss below”Keep him safe and you win patio furnitureGood heavens! She missed the first prize by £16He’s gone over!! If you thought Hans’ crashing was scary, this mountain climber screams as he falls!There is an announcer but it’s Leslie’s job to call the contestants to Come On DownJohn and Leslie check the envelope to see if his £100 is there for making a perfect bidJohn could win either a stereo system, refrigerator or a “military chest”Most Expensive. More like Easy As 123! He has to order the items from least expensive to most expensiveHe has them in order. If he’s right, he wins only the most expensive prize of the lotJohn wins the chest of drawers!Leslie invites us to come back and see who the next 3 winners will be. The showcase showdown happens after 6 pricing games have been playedI’m not sure why, but each person called to Come On Down is given a medallion to wearWhy does Leslie have an odd look on his face? Maggie has an “interesting” giggle. She’s been giggling all through the showMaggie, where did you go?!She can win a wine cabinetHer game is Secret XShe gets three prizes to win 2 more Xs. She got a free X but are the walkie-talkies £30 or £39?Did you guess correctly?Best possible situation…Another winner!What’s she pointing at? She wants the “little teapot” that was the 3rd prizeThe young man can win a dishwasherCan he figure out which digit is which playing One Away?He thinks the price is £285Wrong. Leslie gestures to the digit he missedThe final contestant could win a coffee maker, dryer and portable color tvClock Game by any other name is Time Play. To win all three prizes she has to guess their prices in 30 seconds…without stopping. Once she gets one price right, they move straight to the next prizeThe coffer maker is £70 and she won that. Going straight to the dryerTime is winding down as she hones in on the dryer priceThey gave her the dryer anyway because she “just about did it.” Leslie is tired out from their voyage of discoveryThe dryer was £105. They even showed the TV price of £159, even though she didn’t bid on itThe contestants are in place for the showcase showdown!No, that isn’t Holly. It’s Maggie, the nights big winner. Why is her total important? The show is donating that amount of money to the week’s charity, which is a premature baby unit at a local hospitalWhy is Maggie giggling now? Look to her right and you’ll see that the show is giving her the teapot anywayThe showdown is based on “average expenditure.” The contestants bid on a consumer item based on government surveys of the average amount spent by Britons for that item. The person eliminated after each of 4 rounds is the person farthest away from the actual amount. It’s kind of like how the teams are chosen on GreedThis item is the amount spent per week on tobacco productsAnn was farthest away from the average amount charged to credit cards per yearMaggie and John are in the showcase final!The first showcase, presented to John, begins with the world’s largest fruit salad! (No, it’s really a weekend holiday in Devon)And this Vauxhall Nova 2 door saloon!John is bidding (of course) meaning poor Maggie must be getting an all-furniture showcaseHer showcase contains a portable picnic table, picnic basket and Moet champagneThe big doors…..reveal……a new Metro 4 door hatchbackShe bids £4150Actual Retail Price is… £4667For a difference of £517Actual Price of John’s showcase is £4843Which gives a difference of £468! John wins by about £50Everyone squeezes in, including John’s wife Pat for a review of what John & Maggie have wonThat’s all for this week. See you once again to Come On Down…The Price is Right!The evening’s winnerHere we are, backstage at The Price is RightFor the final, and 100th, show they changed the opening a littleHow many shows did they do I wonder?Who wouldn’t want to Come On Down for their birthday?The lovely cake done up for their final showThe audience sings happy birthdayA rousing round of applause from the modelsIn the 2nd series, the wheel was brought back to determine who would have the option of bidding on the first showcase or passing itThe studio lights were darkened to show off the lighted wheelAround and around it goesYou can see on the scoreboard he got 75 as the young lady steps toward the wheel to take her turnThis on-screen graphic shows their respective scores after one spin.They both spin again and he adds 20 to his score for a total of 95Oh ho! She got 55 giving her 105. BUT, they have to have a spin off. There is no rule against going over. Whoever is closest to 100, over or under, is the “top winner”60 isn’t a bad score for just one spinBut she nailed the 100! For doing that, £400 went to charityLeslie is delighted to be making a donation and……now she has a chance to win a bonus £100 by answering a “consumer related” questionHere’s Master Key. I don’t know why there’s 2 sets of hooks on the propThe old feller won the 3rd prizeIt was a cordless phone. He also won a radio of some sortThe same game with the extra hooks removedThis “oddity” involved picking numbers from a board and trying to match the prizes hidden behind them (kind of like the 2nd $ale of the Century bonus round)You saw the prize table a page (or so) back but this is the game board. This oddity didn’t involve the prices of the items.Here she won only one prizeIn their version of Money Game, they had to pick the 3 digits in the price of a prize before finding filling the NOsHe was given the last digit free and won finding the first and 2nd digitsTemptation is similar to the US version only scaled back a littleHere’s Trade Up. This is played exactly like Trader BobSo far so goodWell done dude! A big thumbs up to you for winning!This prize package of TPiR merchandise will be raffled off for charity. Included is William the Teddy bear (named for producer William G Stewart)Looks a lot like our versionGwen and Les have a chatHere’s a washer and curio cabinetWaaay back in 1984, before Time Play, was The Clock Game. 30 seconds to win both prizesA shot of the clock ricking off the seconds sits in the corner as she guesses at the priceThat only took 11 seconds. It leaves 19 to win the cabinetDone with only 2 seconds to spare! Even Leslie looks impressedThis lovely patio set is the next prize on offerThe game is 3 Strikes. Leslie has already placed a 1 in the bag. He holds up the 2 and a 3 can be seen in his other handThe dreaded strike. Only 1 went in the bag. An idea more than a decade ahead of its time!As Leslie mixes the discs up, you get a look at the 3 Strikes boardOoh. Not good at all.Doing better, his next pick pulled out the 1 and he placed it correctly as the 2nd digit in the priceOuch! Be careful now, don’t draw the 3rd X or the game is overThe young lad drew the 2 out, and place it in the wrong spot. The 2 goes back into the bag.This is it. After pulling the 2 again and placing it in the right spot the game will end with this pick. Either he gets the 3 and win the £312 patio set of the picks the 3rd XOh! What a pained expression by LeslieThe 3rd strike is lit up. No patio furniture for youUp for grabs is a dishwasherLeslie’s Price is Right has Side By Side too but it was played a little differentlyShe could also win this tea setand set of glass barwareThere are a row of 5 prices. Her job to to pick which pair of prices, that are side by side, match the prices of the tea set and barware.Of the choices, she went with £38 and £45. If she’s right, she’ll win the lotAnother winner!She’s a happy clamYou gotta love when someone hit the play button too soon and we see a behind-the-scenes gem like thisThis gentleman is playing Danger Price. Notice the hybrid of old and current USPiR Danger Price designs. This is from a 1984 episode.An on-screen graphic keeps the Danger Price of £185 in mind. This prize was only £52, so he stays safe.Is this floral arrangement anything but the Danger Price?Nope. Even the model seems sad that he lostTheir version looked a lot like the US versionLooks like that last prize is going to have to be an expensive one…Escalator is the same as our Walk of FameThe punchboard was one of many games on Leslie’s version. Here though, the top prize was £500
Any fan of any UK version of The Price is Right can’t go without visiting UKGameShows.com for more info.
Golden-Gallery.net 