The Big Spell is a British game show which aired in January and February 2017 on Sky 1.
It features 20 children aged between 9 and 13 competing in a series of spelling-related challenges, and delves into both the spellings and the meanings of various words.
[1] The show is hosted by Sue Perkins and Joe Lycett, with newsreader Moira Stuart the pronouncer.
[2] Perkins stated that she only was interested in presenting the show if it was "nice" and avoided cynicism.
[5][6] The series was acquired by Sky 1 at the MIPTV Media Market event in 2016, and eight episodes will be produced by Remarkable Television, a subsidiary of Endemol Shine Group, who co-developed the original Australian format.
The aim of the game is to work out the word, buzz in to identify it then spell it correctly.
The seventh challenge is Spell Check, the semi-final round, with four pairs of two trying to outspell the others, and with only two teams going through safe.
The third elimination challenge is called Individual Speed Spell and this is just like the normal team speed spell with the same rules just that if a speller makes a mistake, the round ends irrespective of the time left in the round.
The first episode of The Big Spell aired at 5 pm on Sky One on Sunday 8 January.
It started by showing a preview of rounds to come as well as Sue Perkins talking about how the 20 spellers were chosen.
The second episode of The Big Spell was aired at the later time of 5:30 pm on Sky One on 15 January.
The team game for that episode was Spell Check, where the aim of the game is to identify the incorrectly spelt word from 6 on a big screen, buzz in and say which is misspelt, before spelling the word correctly.
The third episode of The Big Spell aired at 5:30 pm on Sky One on 22 January.
The team round for this episode was Show and Spell, and as all the words were nature themed, the set was transformed to look like a jungle, and even had an orangutan called Otto.
The green team did get the question correctly, meaning the Yellow Team went into the elimination, the Individual Speed Spell, rules explained in the Elimination Games section, where Kate and Zara left the competition.
The fourth episode started airing on Sunday 29 January at 5:30 pm.
If one speller is correct and the other one isn't, that player will win the head-to-head and will progress through to the next stage.
Scarlett, Nathan, Dan, Tam, Dexter, Jasmine and Sanskriti had to go to the elimination.
Similarly to Episode One, there was a traditional spelling bee, with Dan and Nathan going home.
The Semi-finals of The Big Spell aired on 19 February at 5:30 pm on Sky One.
Jeswin Ayushman Scarlett Caleb The Green team progressed first, followed by the Yellow team, and after an absolute thriller of a Spelling Bee, Jeswin and Jade progressed through to the final, leaving Caleb and Jasmine out of the competition.
The Grand Final of Series One of The Big Spell aired on 26 February 2017 at 5:30 pm on Sky One, and promised to be a cracking showdown to find the winner of Series One of The Big Spell.