The Golden Shot
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The Golden Shot was a British television game show produced by ATV between 1967 and 1975, based on the German TV show Der goldene Schuss.
The show involved a crossbow attached to a television camera, guided ("Up, up, up, left a bit, down a bit, left a bit, FIRE!") by a member of the public (sometimes remotely, by telephone), shooting a bolt at an exploding target embedded in an apple positioned on a topical backdrop. Contestants who successfully negotiated seven (later four) rounds of targets won a reasonable prize, those who missed got a negligible prize. In his autobiography, host Bob Monkhouse recounted the story of a person who competed on the show from a telephone kiosk while watching a television in a rental shop over the road. The show's catchphrase became "Bernie, the bolt!" — the instruction from the host to the armourer that the crossbow bolt should be loaded. Co-presenter Anne Aston — later replaced by Wei Wei Wong — was on hand to read out the scores achieved by the contestants.
The show's first host was Canadian singer and record producer Jackie Rae, who unfortunately proved unsuited for the format. Bob Monkhouse was a guest star on the tenth programme to be transmitted, and took over as host from programme fifteen. The Monkhouse era is regarded as the show's golden age — by programme 26 the viewing figures were up by 50%.
In 1968 Michael Grade remarked to his uncle, Lord Lew Grade, ATV's chairman, that the cinemas were full on Sunday afternoons because there was nothing to watch on television. The Golden Shot was promptly moved to the 4.40 p.m. slot on Sunday, coinciding with a move of the production from ATV's Borehamwood studios near London, to Aston in Birmingham. Audience levels peaked at 16 million. The studio facilities in Birmingham were rather run-down and unreliable as they dated from the start of ATV's franchise in 1956, and they were not well suited to a fast-moving live show like The Golden Shot, and technical failures were common, but Monkhouse was well able to cover for them through his quick-witted humour. From 1970 the show moved to the new ATV Centre in Birmingham.
In 1972 Monkhouse was spotted accepting a gift from Wilkinson Sword representative Bob Brooksby. The following week a Wilkinson Sword "his and hers" grooming kit was the bronze prize on the show. ATV's Production Controller Francis Essex smelt collusion and fired Monkhouse, although publicly it was announced that he "was being released to find opportunities for his abilities elsewhere". In fact the gift was a collectible book, The Shy Photographer and there was no collusion; however, the full story was not made public until Monkhouse's autobiography Crying With Laughter was published in 1993.
The next host was comedian and entertainer Norman Vaughan who, on paper, was an ideal host for the show. For some reason, however, the pressure of the live show seemed to overwhelm him, and he was never as confident a host as Monkhouse. Audience figures began to drop and in late 1973 he was replaced by comedian (and former footballer) Charlie Williams. Williams, of Jamaican ancestry, was rather a novelty on British TV at the time, being a black man with a broad Yorkshire accent. Unfortunately, although he had a bubbly personality, he proved unsuited for the pressure of a live TV show where things frequently went wrong. After six months, Williams was also replaced.
On 20 March 1974 Francis Essex met with Bob Monkhouse to invite him back onto the show. Monkhouse had no hesitation in accepting the offer, though his agent negotiated that he would only return if ATV took up an option on the American game show Hollywood Squares. This was agreed, and Monkhouse returned as host of the new season of The Golden Shot on 14 July 1974. Very soon it was obvious that the show was back at its peak, however the last edition of the show was transmitted on 16 March 1975 — ATV felt that the show had had a long successful run, and it was retiring various old shows to make way for new ones, including Celebrity Squares as their version of Hollywood Squares was known, which was to be hosted by Monkhouse.
On 1 October 2005, as part of their Gameshow Marathon, celebrating 50 years of the ITV network, Ant & Dec hosted a one-off revival of The Golden Shot.
