Winner Takes All

Winner Takes All was a popular game show that was produced by Yorkshire Television and ran for 13 years on the ITV network from 1975 until 1988 but returned in 1997 on the cable and satellite channel Challenge.

The original host of Winner Takes All was comedian Jimmy Tarbuck, who hosted the show from 1975 until 1986. For series 13 and 14, Geoffrey Wheeler replaced Jimmy Tarbuck as the host and the show went into a 5-day a week daytime show (twice a week for the 1987 series). Geoffrey also devised the format for Winner Takes All and was the voiceover reading the questions in the Jimmy Tarbuck era. The Challenge version (Series 15) was hosted by Bobby Davro with Calendar news journalist Gaynor Barnes as the voiceover reading the questions and was produced by Yorkshire Television for Challenge.

Gameplay
The two contestants started with 50 points each (30 points when it became a daytime show in 1987) and were asked multiple choice questions with six possible answers but each answer had some odds (Evens, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, 5-1 & 10-1) and after each question was asked, the contestants were asked how many points they would like to bet and then, they selected the odds that corresponded to the answer they thought was correct, if they got the correct answer, they won the points the odds were worth, if they gave a wrong answer, they lost the points, the contestant with the most points won through to the final while the loser left the show with nothing. In later series, the losers took home a filofax (except the 1988 series where they took home an encyclopedia). In the Challenge TV version, the losers took home a Winner Takes All T-Shirt. Then, they played again with two different contestants and the winner of that met the winner of the first game.

The two winners played for cash in the final with a maximum of £1,000 to be won but only the winner took the money home while the loser took home a consolation prize of £100, the winning contestant was given the option of returning on the next show to add to his or her winnings but if they returned and lost they would lose all but £100 of their winnings.

Production
From 1980 until 1986, Winner Takes All started with an alternative version of the Yorkshire Television ident where the chevron would spin toward the screen revealing the four contestants who appeared on that week's edition. The final ITV series in 1988 was a Television Techniques production for Yorkshire Television.

The Challenge version was recorded at the former TVS studios at Vinters Park in Maidstone, but was produced by Yorkshire Television.

During his run as host, Jimmy Tarbuck would at the start of some editions come out carrying a briefcase containing £1,000 in £1 notes which was the top prize on Winner Takes All.

In 1989, Iorworth Hoare was jailed for rape after being identified from a photo he submitted to the show when applying to be a contestant.

Transmissions
NOTE ****ITV stations Anglia Television, Grampian Television, Scottish Television, TVS and Thames Television started on Wednesday, 20th April and finished on Friday, 8th July 1988.