Runaround

RUNAROUND was a quiz show for kids . It had a rather nifty theme tune that went something like WAA WAA WAA WAA WAA WAA WAA WA WA WA WHEEE , very irritating and catchy in equal measure , unlike the child contestants who were just plain irritating . Normally TV kids would have to open their mouths to irritate on these types of shows ( A good example being WHY DON'T YOU ? ) but not here .

Why did I find them irritating ? Simply because they're on a TV quiz and they obviously aren't erudite or confident enough to have earned the right to appear on one . They probably only got selected for the show because they spent their schoolterm grassing up their mates to the teacher: " Miss , Miss , Theo swore Miss - Well done Tarquin . You will be going forward to RUNAROUND where you'll get the opportunity to win a chopper bike . Theo come out here for six of the best "

The format is simple . Three stands lie at the far end of the studio wall . The contestants are given a choice of three answers to a question by Mike Read : " Where do the Bay City Rollers come from is it Scotland Wales or Ireland ? . G-g-g-g-g-gooooooo "

So the contestants run over to the stand they think the correct answer is but this is where RUNAROUND is so earth shatteringly radical . Mike Read says " Runaround now " and the contestants can change their minds and leap to another stand where the answer is revealed a few seconds later . If you got a correct answer you pick up a yellow ball which counts as one point , if you're the only person to get the answer you get a red one for two points and if you get the wrong answer you get consigned to the dungeon until no one answers correctly in which case you're allowed back into the game .If that sounds exciting in any way I'm probably describing another quiz show

What I found really frustrating is that sitting at home I'd often get answers no one else would get . I'm telling you if I had ever got invited onto the show the brand new chopper bike would have been mine , but not being a teacher's pet who spent their school life grassing everyone up I never got the chance to compete

Before he was Frank Butcher in Eastenders and somewhere around the same time as Yus My Dear and The Comedians on ITV. Mike Reid became known to a generation of kids through Runaround with his catchphrase Gggggggg go!

Runaround was a quiz show with aspirations to educate and entertain.

Kids would be given three answers to a question and they run to an answer. They would then have a few seconds to change their mind and jump to another answer. I presume this was done to throw people off the scent when they first ran to the answer. In short give people the runaround.

In the between the questions there would be people who turn up to talk about their profession. It could be a confectionery rock maker, a blacksmith, a sidecar motorbike racer, someone working with traction engines. The following question would then be linked with the person who just appeared.

There would also be a pop group that would perform a song and Reid supplied the jokes.

As this was shown on ITV the prizes were much better such as a television. There was no Crackerjack pencil to be seen here.

It was all a bit too stop-start. You get a few questions and then someone on a horse or a steam engine appears for a bit of a chat. Reid was a bit too old for a show like this but he was game. I noticed that both the boys and girls looked all alike. No chance for anyone getting Yew-treed.

I think Runaround eventually got overtaken by the more fun Cheggers Plays Pop on the BBC.