Going for Gold is a British television game show that originally aired on BBC1 between 12 October 1987 and 9 July 1996.
It was presented by Irish broadcaster Henry Kelly, and its defining concept was that it featured contestants from different European countries who competed against each other to answer questions (all in English) to win a prize.
The 1996 series featured competitors from the United Kingdom only and was moved to an earlier time slot, immediately before the 1.00 pm news.
The show was revived and produced by Talkback Thames and aired on Channel 5, premiering from 13 October to 19 December 2008.
The new version featured only contestants from the UK and Ireland, was broadcast live and hosted by newsreader John Suchet.
The set questions involve many clues to an item or person, and the phone-ins were notorious for taking up significant amounts of time during the show.
These questions would usually take the form of a 20 to 30-second description of an object, person, animal or place (usually beginning "Who am I?
In the final, every question was worth between four (five on ‘’One to Win’’ and on the Channel 5 revival) and one points depending on how quickly they were answered.
Again, the questions pertained to a famous person, place, thing, fictional character or event.
A graphic of a timer was shown in the middle of the viewers' screen which showed the four (or five) time zomes in which a player could buzz in.
The Grand Final episode would start with a "First-to-Two" Elimination Round amongst the remaining five contestants and play as normal to the Head to Head where the winner would receive the star prize holiday (as described in every episode) and the runner-up would get a consolation prize (e.g. a colour television, or a gold-plated Going for Gold plate).
Run for the Money would have been played with four contestants (one a returning champion) starting with the Beat the Buzzer round.
The winner of each episode received $5,000, and any contestant who won five consecutive games retired undefeated and had their winnings increased to $50,000.
The programme has been adapted in France, where it became a very famous game show Questions pour un champion, which still airs today on France 3, is hosted by Samuel Étienne since February 2016, replacing long-time fixture Julien Lepers (November 1988 – February 2016).
The Channel 5 quiz One to Win was a half-hour show whose format was effectively based on the latter three rounds of Going for Gold, repackaged and with a different host (initially, Paul Roseby, who was soon replaced by Robin Houston, known as the 'voice of the computer' on another Channel 5 quiz show, 100%).