"Going for Gold" (1987) TV series 1987-1996

User Rating:

8.7/10   

Genre:

Game-Show

Plot:

European quiz show.

Cast

Henry Kelly

...

Himself - Presenter (1987-)

Runtime:

25 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Grundy Productions

Quotes:

Presenter: Olaf, you're playing catch up.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "On the Waterfront: (#2.7)" (1989)

Silly and cheesy daytime TV

A quiz that drew it's contestants from across Europe. It started with a large group answering general knowledge questions as a group, as each reached a set number of points they went through to the next round with the last to reach it being eliminated. Other rounds featured questions asked against a clock of diminishing points and solo rounds.

This was once a lunchtime favourite and indeed the idea was repeated in another game show years later (I forget the name) expect without the European element. It was all very entertaining but the European thing made it feel very cheesy. The grand prize was always grand but so very far away in terms of number of shows you had to go through to get it. The rounds idea was clever but it didn't really have anything special and was never able to climb out of being a daytime TV show to be prime time.

Henry Kelly was a so-so host with one major flaw - his accent. It's difficult enough for me (from Northern Ireland) to get every word he says in his thick Irish brogue, but for contestants from all over Europe to have to come to Britain and understand him made it extra difficult for those not from GB. Any European who won deserved it because they were doing it in their second or third language and working past the accent as well! I think UK TV did it deliberately just so someone English could be on TV and win - of course they didn't anyway!

Overall, just another daytime TV game show that came and went - cringe-worthy sometime due to the cheesiness of the host and the ability of our European brothers!