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Opportunity Knocks (British TV series)

British television talent show (1949–1990)

Summary

British television talent show (1949–1990)

Field	Value
alt_name	Bob Says Opportunity Knocks (1987–89)
genre	Talent show
creator	Hughie Green
presenter	{{plainlist
country	United Kingdom
language	English
num_series	{{plainlist
num_episodes	{{plainlist
location	{{plainlist
* Wembley Studios (1956)<ref name	"Wembley"
* Didsbury Studios (1964–68)<ref name	"Wembley" /
* Teddington Studios (1968–78)<ref>{{cite web	url	https://www.tvstudiohistory.co.uk/itv-studios-in-london/teddington-early-film-days/	title=Teddington (Early Film Days, ABC, Thames)	publisher=TV Studio History	accessdate=19 December 2021}}
* BBC Television Centre (1987–89)<ref>{{cite web	url	https://www.tvstudiohistory.co.uk/bbc-tv-centre/the-programmes/	title=The programmes	publisher=TV Studio History	accessdate=19 December 2021}}
* BBC Elstree Centre (1990)<ref>{{cite web	url	https://www.tvstudiohistory.co.uk/itv-studios-in-london/elstree-clarendon-road/	title=Elstree – ATV & BBC	publisher=TV Studio History	accessdate=19 December 2021}}
runtime	50 minutes (BBC1)
company	{{plainlist
channel	BBC Light Programme
first_aired
last_aired
channel2	ITV
first_aired2
last_aired2
first_aired3
last_aired3
channel4	BBC1
first_aired4
last_aired4
related	New Faces

Hughie Green (1949–78)
Bob Monkhouse (1987–89)
Les Dawson (1990)
1 (BBC Light Programme)
18 (ITV)
4 (BBC1)
33 (BBC Light Programme)
472 (ITV)
48 (BBC1)
Wembley Studios (1956)
Didsbury Studios (1964–68)
Teddington Studios (1968–78)
BBC Television Centre (1987–89)
BBC Elstree Centre (1990)
BBC Radio (1949)
Associated-Rediffusion (1956)
ABC (1964–68)
Thames (1968–78)
BBC Television (1987–90)

Opportunity Knocks is a British television and radio talent show originally hosted by Hughie Green, with a late-1980s revival hosted by Bob Monkhouse, and later by previous winner Les Dawson. From its origin on BBC Radio in 1949 the show provided a platform to fame for acts such as Spike Milligan and Frankie Vaughan. One of the most popular shows on British television, in the 1960s and 1970s it had a weekly audience of 20 million viewers.

The original radio version started on the BBC Light Programme, where it ran from 18 February to 29 September 1949, but moved to Radio Luxembourg in the 1950s.{{cite web |access-date = 13 May 2007

Voting system

Unlike its rival New Faces, the winning acts on Opportunity Knocks were decided not by a panel of experts but by the viewing public. In the ITV version this took the form of a postal vote, the winner of which was announced the following week. The BBC revival was notable for being the first TV show to decide its winner using the now-standard method of a telephone vote. In both versions the studio audience reaction to each act was measured by a clap-o-meter, but this did not count towards the final result.

The programme was recorded the Friday before transmission, so votes had to be in by Thursday. They also, according to host Hughie Green, largely to ensure fairness, had to be in "your own handwriting".

Although Opportunity Knocks did produce a number of talented acts, the method of putting the contest to a public vote did sometimes result in victories for novelty acts, in particular those involving children or animals. On one occasion, the young Su Pollard was beaten into second place by a singing dog.

Famous alumni

Entertainers who appeared included Freddie Starr and the Delmonts, Su Pollard, Paul Daniels, Darren Day, Pete the Plate Spinning Dog, Los Caracas (later to become Middle of the Road), Mary Hopkin, Bonnie Langford, Les Dawson, Maureen Myers, Barry Cummings, Royston Vasey (later to find fame as Roy Chubby Brown), Little and Large, Bobby Crush, Berni Flint, Tony Holland (The Muscle Man), Millican & Nesbitt, Neil Reid, Peters and Lee, Lena Zavaroni, Frank Carson, Max Boyce, Pam Ayres, Juniper Green, Gerry Monroe, Debra Stephenson, Tammy Jones, Paper Lace, Michael Ward, Barry and Paul Elliott and Tony Monopoly. Several winners of Opportunity Knocks (notably Tammy Jones, Champagne, Tony Monopoly) later attempted to represent the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest, taking part in the A Song for Europe competition. Lee Evans appeared in 1986 but was rejected and did not make it past the initial audition. Kaz Hawkins appeared in the 1980s' revival as a child.

Influence

Today, most of the elements of this show are visible on the ITV talent search Britain's Got Talent, which was created by record company executive Simon Cowell. The method of deciding a winner by telephone is used on that show and many other similar programmes around the world.

A reference to the show can be heard on the Beatles' first live performance of "Yesterday" at Blackpool Night Out. George Harrison introduces the song, saying "For Paul McCartney of Liverpool, opportunity knocks!". This version appears on Anthology 2.

Transmissions

BBC Light Programme

Series	Start date	Final date	Episodes
1	18 February 1949	29 September 1949	33

ITV

Series	Start date	Final date	Episodes
1	20 June 1956	29 August 1956	11
2	11 July 1964	3 October 1964	13
3	3 July 1965	25 December 1965	26
4	2 July 1966	24 December 1966	26
5	29 April 1967	23 December 1967	35
6	16 March 1968	27 July 1968	20
7	21 August 1968	6 November 1968	12
8	25 December 1968	23 June 1969	27
9	8 September 1969	2 March 1970	26
10	15 June 1970	7 December 1970	26
11	15 March 1971	6 September 1971	26
12	8 November 1971	1 May 1972	26
13	7 August 1972	30 April 1973	39
14	6 August 1973	29 April 1974	39
15	5 August 1974	28 April 1975	39
16	29 September 1975	22 March 1976	26
17	27 September 1976	4 April 1977	28
18	19 September 1977	20 March 1978	27

BBC1

Series	Start date	Final date	Episodes
1	21 March 1987	20 June 1987	13
2	5 March 1988	4 June 1988	13
3	4 March 1989	3 June 1989	13
4	31 March 1990	2 June 1990	9

References

"Wembley Studios (Rediffusion)". TV Studio History.
"Teddington (Early Film Days, ABC, Thames)". TV Studio History.
"The programmes". TV Studio History.
"Elstree – ATV & BBC". TV Studio History.
"Opportunity blocked: how Hughie Green brought chaos to the EEC". The Guardian.
Bob Sharples obituary, ''The Guardian'', 9 September 1987 p. 34
(2014). "I Want to Change My Life: Can Reality TV Competition Shows Trigger Lasting Career Success?". Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
"When Will I Be Famous?".
"Simon Cowell and The Talent Show Story – British Television". Bella Online.
(2009). "Paul McCartney: A Life". Simon and Schuster.
Rybaczewski, Dave. ""Yesterday" by The Beatles.".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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