Bob’s Full House

1 9 8 4 – 1 9 9 0 (UK)
111 x 30 minute episodes

Bob Monkhouse presented Bingo on the Beeb as contestants competed against each other for the possibility of a superb holiday on this fast-moving comedy quiz show based on general knowledge.

Four contestants played through three separate games, answering questions to light up the squares on their bingo cards. ‘Four Corners’was fairly self-explanatory, before the ‘Monkhouse Mastercard’ had the contestants attempting to light up their middle line.

Finally, it was an all-out scramble to light the entire card in ‘Full House’, allowing the winner to go on to the Gold Card for the chance to win a holiday. If a player answered a question incorrectly, they were ‘wallied’ and missed a turn.

Bob’s Full House turned out to be much like any other quiz, but at least Bob Monkhouse’s jokes were better than those of his rivals.

The 1984 Boxing Day edition was played for charity and featured a nurse, a firefighter, a lifeboatman and a St John Ambulance nurse. All correct answers won the contestants money for their respective charities.

When Monkhouse left the show to go to ITV in 1990, it was revived (less successfully) a number of times: as One to Win (1991 – 1992) with Andrew O’Connor, as Lucky Numbers (1995 – 1997) with Shane Richie, and finally as the short-lived The Biggest Game in Town (2001) with Steve Le Fevre.