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The era of the prize-winning quiz show arrived on British TV with the launch
of the commercial channel ITV in 1955, when it appeared in the form of Double
Your Money. The show was a variation on a Radio Luxembourg series which had
begun in 1954, also called Double Your Money and hosted by Hughie Green. It
offered contestants the opportunity to win cash prizes by answering increasingly
complex questions in the sphere of general knowledge.
A contestant first went through preliminary rounds, beginning at £1, leading
up to the £32 level, with each question worth twice as much as the preceding
one. At that point the contestant would exit and return the following week to
decide on entering the 'Treasure Trail', leading to the £1,000 jackpot prize.
Contestants could quit at any time and leave with their winnings. In order to
enable the contestants to concentrate completely, and to avoid any possible
answers shouted from the studio audience, all questions from £32 on up were
asked while contestants were sealed inside an isolation booth.
After years of quietly respectable BBC panel programmes such as What's My
Line? (1951-62) and Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? (1952-59), the appeal of seeing
ordinary people sweating through difficult questions to win what were then
considered huge sums of money was enormous, and Double Your Money - along with
its stablemate show, Take Your Pick (ITV, 1955-68) - became an overnight
sensation. It remained in the Top Twenty charts for 13 years, and spawned many
imitators in the cash prize sweepstakes; among them Beat the Clock (the game
show interlude in ITV's Sunday Night at the London Palladium, 1955-67), The
64,000 Question (ITV, 1956-58), Spot the Tune (ITV, 1956-62), and Criss Cross
Quiz (ITV, 1957-67).
Hughie Green made for a lively host, expressing puzzled wonder or
well-rehearsed bafflement in exchanges with contestants. Over the years his
co-hosts included East End teenager Monica Rose, the statuesque Nancy Roberts
and Sabrina (Norma Sykes), and 77-year-old former tea lady Alice Earrey.
Green signed his final contract to present the show in late 1967, keeping
Double Your Money running until Rediffusion came to the end of its franchise as
London weekday provider in July 1968. But he remained on the national screen as
host of the popular talent show Opportunity Knocks (ITV, 1964-70), a pet project
he had championed for many years.
Tise Vahimagi
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Complete edition (19:58)
