The audience and the host shout out the names of the prizes, especially in later series, allowing the contestants to carry away large numbers of items.
Another feature o|f the 1999-2000 Davidson series was that if a contestant correctly recalled a Phantom prize, they would be gunged with that item.
It featured married couples playing silly games within a certain time to win prize money.
Its theme song "Life Is The Name Of The Game" was written and sung by Forsyth, and later released on record.
[citation needed] In the mid-1970s London Weekend Television recruited Forsyth to host The Big Night on Saturdays.
Alan Boyd, producer of The Generation Game at the time, remembers that there were many proposals as to who should take over, with Bill Cotton having a brief discussion with his favoured choice, Cilla Black, who would not consider the move; other names mentioned included Jimmy Tarbuck and Kenneth Williams.
It worked, as The Big Night failed to beat The Generation Game in viewing figures and was off the air within three months.
[citation needed] In 1980, a junior version was considered, to be titled The Younger Generation Game, with two young siblings of different ages in place of older contestants.
[6] The Generation Game returned in September 1990 with the original host, Bruce Forsyth, and his new hostess, Rosemarie Ford.
The show became more lively and chaotic during the Davidson era, introducing characters such as Mr Blobby, comedy sketches, and gunge similarly seen on Tiswas, with appearances from the Phantom Flan Flinger.
[10] Graham Norton hosted a one-off special at Christmas 2005 featuring celebrity contestants Kelly Holmes, Davina McCall, Rupert Grint and James Fleet; this was titled Generation Fame.
This version was a retrospective of earlier editions, similar to the digital channel's Wogan and Jim'll Fix It revivals around the same time.
[citation needed] On 20 April 2014, it was announced that comedian Miranda Hart (who appeared on the 2011 charity special) was in "early talks" with the BBC about hosting a revived version of the show.
[11] A pilot episode was filmed before Christmas that year, but the controller of the channel, Charlotte Moore, revealed in August 2015 that the project was "very much on hold" due to Hart wanting to concentrate on her acting and writing career.
[12] On 11 May 2017, it was reported that Mel and Sue were linked to host a reboot for the BBC as part of a package for not staying with The Great British Bake Off after its move to Channel 4.
[14] However, on 7 February 2018, two episodes instead of the planned four were confirmed, with the BBC saying "During the production process it's not unusual for a new series to change length as the format evolves".
[16] It received generally poor reviews from TV critics: Gerard O'Donovan from The Daily Telegraph gave it one star, writing: "...There's little to say other than that it was a shameless carbon copy of memorable moments from The Generation Game of the 1970s or 80s."
Sam Wollaston of The Guardian was more positive, giving it three stars and writing: "Somehow, it manages to be both a little bit glorious and groansome to the max at the same time.
When she was absent on maternity leave, actress Jenny Lee Wright stood in for a number of shows.
In 1975, Strawberry Fayre and Denys Fisher published a board game (simply called Generation Game with host Bruce Forsyth on the cover) featuring a three-dimensional diorama of the set, a working countdown clock and the famous sliding doors.
In 2008 a South African version of the show was made, hosted by comedian Barry Hilton together with actress/presenter Cindy Nkabinde on channel SABC 2.