Look At What You Could Have Won
What can the 80s TV quiz show Bullseye tell us about what we鈥檝e lost as a society and what we鈥檝e become? James McMahon reappraises the darts-based series.
Bullseye, the darts-based TV quiz show which started in 1981, regularly attracted 20 million Sunday teatime viewers.
Watching re-runs today 鈥� as many thousands still do 鈥� some may groan at the host Jim Bowen鈥檚 jokes, and chuckle as contestants gamble for the Star Prize, which might be a speedboat, a kitchen or a caravan 鈥渉iding behind Bully鈥�, the show鈥檚 cartoon mascot. Those who lost were famously invited to 鈥渓ook at what you could have won鈥�.
But for the writer and journalist James McMahon, who grew up watching Bullseye, the show has come to represent empathy, community, and kindness. Despite having had nothing to do with it, the connection he feels is deeply personal.
James looks back at those original episodes with people who went on it, people behind the scenes, people who loved it, and people who鈥檝e never seen it.
What can Bullseye tell us about what we鈥檝e lost, and what we鈥檝e become? Do we laugh at who we were - or reflect on what we could have been?
Photo; Steve Urquhart
Archive courtesy of ITV
Presenter: James McMahon
Producer: Steve Urquhart
A Far Shoreline production for 大象传媒 Radio 4
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