Through the Keyhole

Through the Keyhole is a British panel game, hosted by Sir David Frost where panellists are given a video tour of a mystery famous guest's property and attempt to identify them.

History
Through the Keyhole originally started as a segment on TV-am, first being broadcast on its launch day on 1 February 1983. The idea was created by David Frost as a chance to look around some of the most influential homes with Loyd Grossman at the helm as the tour presenter. Grossman was mistakenly given the job after some got him confused with a journalist. Throughout 1983 it became a regular feature of TV-am.

In 1987 Frost transferred the concept to Yorkshire Television and produced a full half-hour programme where a celebrity panel tries to guess who's house it being looked at. From 1996 it was produced by Frost's own production company, Paradine Productions, at The Leeds Studios when it moved to Sky1 from one series in 1996. It was then moved to BBC One in 1997 until 2008 when it was axed.

The rights to the series were bought in 2011 by FremantleMedia, with plans for Vernon Kay or Paul O'Grady to present the series, but was not given the go ahead. However in 2013 ITV agreed with FremantleMedia about producing an updated series, which is set to return in April 2013, on its original broadcast channel, ITV, with Keith Lemon taking up the role of presenter.

Format
At the start of each episode, Frost introduces a panel of three celebrities, with the catchphrase "And what a panel they are...." and some gently humorous or mocking descriptions. He then hands over to the location presenter who gives the panellists a guided tour of the property, noting particular items, though, there is typically a large amount of misdirection involved as the items pointed out by the presenter are not necessarily the most pertinent clues to the person's identity. Items not specifically mentioned may provide much more useful clues. Once completed, Frost reveals the identity of the guest to the audience, and the panel are given turns at guessing their identity. The audience participate with varying degrees of clapping according to the accuracy of the panellists' guesswork.

The panellists are either successful at identifying the guest, or Frost has to reveal their identity, after which they are interviewed and given a key-shaped trophy as a memento. Starting during Catherine Gee's reign as location presenter, the geographic spread of the properties was extended with one of the properties on each show being located in the US and one in Europe. When Stefanie Powers took over her role in 2007, she was based in the US and conducted the US property tours, whilst UK based Lisa Snowdon conducted the European property tours.