Jeopardy! (British game show)

Gameplay

The British version of Jeopardy! has gone through several format changes over the years. The current version, hosted by Stephen Fry, follows the American model closely. It uses cash amounts of £25, £50, £75, £100, and £125 (or £150 in the 2024 series) for the first two rounds, followed by a Double Jeopardy! round with doubled values, and then Final Jeopardy!. There is one Daily Double in each of the first two rounds and two in the Double Jeopardy! round.

Earlier versions of the show were quite different. Because of restrictions on cash prizes from broadcast regulators, the game originally used points instead of money, with values of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 in the Jeopardy! round, and three Daily Doubles in each round. Champions earned a flat £500 per win and retired undefeated after five victories, receiving an extra £500 for a total of £3,000. Starting with Steve Jones as host, the top three scorers from each series competed in Master Jeopardy! for a holiday prize. During Jones’s run, points were replaced by pounds at some point, but later reverted to points when Paul Ross took over, with values increasing to 100–500 for Jeopardy! and 200–1000 for Double Jeopardy!. The number of Daily Doubles was also reduced to one in the Jeopardy! round and two in Double Jeopardy!. The current Fry version plays for cash with no limits on returning champions.

Under hosts Derek Hobson, Chris Donat, and Steve Jones, contestants could only see their own scores, learning their relative positions only at the end of each round. This made “runaways” less common, as players rarely knew if they had a guaranteed win. Additionally, under Hobson, Donat, Jones, and Ross, responses had to be grammatically correct as well as phrased as a question. A response starting with “Who is…” when “What is…” was grammatically correct would be ruled incorrect, and the contestant was penalized.

2024 revival

In February 2023, ITV announced another revival of the show, this time produced by Whisper Films, hosted by comedian Stephen Fry, and recorded at Dock10 studios in Salford. That April, Fry was also named host of an Australian revival for the Nine Network, which films in Salford using Australian expats as contestants. The new British run, originally set for October 2023, premiered on 1 January 2024. At Fry’s request, the revival closely followed the current American format, but added an extra round between Jeopardy! and Double Jeopardy! to fill an hour-long slot. The first series drew mixed reviews, with common complaints about the slow pace and Fry’s hosting. Slate, an American online magazine, compared it unfavorably to the half-hour American version, calling it “slower, sleepier, and irritatingly nonchalant,” noting low cash values, padding from the third round, and Fry’s tendency to comment on clues—contrasting his pace with Alex Trebek’s ability to deliver three questions in 30 seconds. The article also observed that Jeopardy! never achieved the same cultural prominence in the UK as in the US. Before series 2, Fry said the pacing would improve, emphasizing the importance of a rapid-fire rhythm for tension and excitement. To help fill the time, a seventh category was added to each round.