Connections

Connections is a British television game show. It was produced by Granada Television and aired on the ITV network from 1985 to 1990.

Hosts
The show was originally presented by Sue Robbie, with young adults as contestants, in a similar vein to another ITV quiz, Blockbusters, with which the show was alternated. The programme ran for several series, and another version with adult contestants was unveiled with Richard Madeley at the helm as part of ITV's new look daytime schedule in 1988. Simon Potter presented the final two series in 1989 and 1990. During the Richard Madeley period, a year after becoming the first female Krypton Factor champion, Marian Chanter co-hosted in a segment in which she would appear somewhere in the UK and viewers had to phone in and guess the person connected with that particular area based on clues given.

Gameplay
The game involved two contestants (three in the final series in 1990) trying to make connections by virtue of clues given by the host.

Connect the Clues
Contestants were asked questions, which they could answer by buzzing-in. Correct answers earned points, and revealed picture clues on a 3x3 gameboard (made up of 10 screens rather than 9 during Madeley and Potter's stewardships). Bonus points and the game could be won by spotting connections between the picture clues.

Find the Figure
The "Find the Figure" round was where a correct answer revealed either a number or a mathematical symbol. The sum went in a clockwise direction around the board, ending with an equals (=) sign. The sum was hidden behind the centre square. The contestants job was to buzz-in to give the answer to that sum to score.

The Bonus Game
The series had two bonus games.

Link the Letters
The winner played the "Link the Letters" end game. He/she got 50 seconds to answer eight questions. Each correct answer revealed a letter behind one of the screens (the first letter of the answer). After the eight questions, the winning player used whatever time he/she had left to identify the 8-letter word, arranged clockwise. It became hard to win if some of the letters were missing and without knowing where the word started. This changed in a later version of the show by having the eight letters arranged in circular form, but still without revealing where it actually started. Solving the 8-letter word won a grand prize.

Note: When Richard Madeley & Simon Potter took over, this bonus became the final round of the main game.

The Final Connection
Later in the series, "Link the Letters" was dumped in favor of "The Final Connection" game. Now the winning player was given the first & last pictures on the board. The object was to connect the first picture to the last (with the help of three clues on each).

Consolation Prizes
During the Sue Robbie era the losing contestants went away with a Connections camera and the points that they scored was turned into cash and donated to charity, when Richard Madeley became the host the losers left with a 'goody bag' and in the last 2 series with Simon Potter the losers left with a pocket TV.

Transmission Guide
The show was broadcast by all the ITV Companies, but was shown at different times:

Peak Time Transmissions
Peak time series was broadcast:


 * 1988: Tuesday, April 12 - 12 July. All Areas expect Scottish which broadcast it at a later date.
 * 1989:

1985
TSW: 8 July - ?? : Monday, Friday and Saturday. No completed.
 * Border, Central Television, Granada Television, HTV, Tyne Tees Television, Yorkshire Television and UTV: Broadcast 13 May - 19th July; Monday - Friday at 17.15pm:
 * Anglia Television, Grampian Television, Scottish Television, TVS,and Thames Television: 26 April - 24 July: Broadcast Wednesday - Saturdays at 17.15pm

1986

 * Border, Central Television, HTV, Tyne Tees Television, Yorkshire Television and UTV 3 March - April 29:  Monday - Friday 17.15
 * Thames Television, 3 March - April 29: Broadcast on Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat at 17.15.
 * Granada ?? - ?? Monday - Friday 17.15
 * Anglia Television, Grampian Television, Scottish Television, TVS: 3 May - 6 August . Broadcast Wednesday  - Saturdays at 17.15pm
 * TSW: Early morning during the Summer holidays, Not fully Broadcast,

1987

 * Border, Central Television, Granada Television, HTV, Thames Television, Tyne Tees Television, Yorkshire Television and UTV: Broadcast 24 January - March 25  Monday - Saturday 17.15.
 * Anglia Television, Grampian Television, Scottish Television and TVS; 17 April - 14 August; Broadcast Wednesday  - Friday at 17.15

1988

 * Border, Central Television, Granada Television, HTV, Thames Television, Tyne Tees Television, Yorkshire Television and UTV: Broadcast Monday, 8 February - 9 April. Monday - Saturday 17.15
 * Anglia Television, Grampian Television, Scottish Television and TVS; UNKNOWN:
 * TSW: 18 July - 16 September at 17.15 Monday - Friday.

1989

 * All companies: Monday, July 10, until Friday, September 01, 1989: Monday - Friday.

1990

 * All companies: Tuesday, 15 May - Friday 6 July:  Tuesday - Friday.

Presenters

 * Series 1, 2, 3, 4 presented by Sue Robbie
 * Series 5 Presented by Richard Madeley
 * Series 6 and 7 Presented by Simon Potter

Presenters

 * Series 1, 2, 3, 4 presented by Sue Robbie
 * Series 5 Presented by Richard Madeley
 * Series 6 and 7 Presented by Simon Potter