How 2

History

The program first aired in 1966 under the title How, gaining popularity during the 1970s. Its purpose was to answer questions that started with the word "how." At the start of every episode, the hosts would raise one hand and say "How" together, a gesture that played on a stereotypical depiction of a Native American greeting. The show covered subjects like science, history, math, and basic puzzles. It ended in 1981 after Southern Television lost its ITV franchise, but was brought back as How 2 in 1990 by TVS. TVS produced the first two series, but on 16 October 1991, when TVS lost its franchise to Meridian, several ITV companies showed interest in taking over production. Scottish Television won the rights and handled the show from series 3 onward. After a year at the Maidstone Studios, taping moved to STV's Glasgow Studios for series 4 through the final series 15. Two special episodes were made: a comedy special for CITV's Comedy Week in February 1997, and a Christmas special later that year filmed in Lapland. The final series aired in 2006, after a delay of over a year. After that, series 14 and 15 were repeated regularly on CITV until the end of 2012. A later CITV show called The Big Bang, hosted by How 2 presenters Gareth Jones and Violet Berlin, focused more on science and simple experiments. Another similar British series was Don't Ask Me. Fred Dinenage was the only host to appear in both the original How and How 2, presenting for a total of 31 years. On 6 January 2013, as part of CITV's Old Skool Weekend, the first episode from the 1995 series was shown. Before that, a How 2 segment appeared in the 30 Years of CITV documentary on 29 December 2012, featuring interviews with Dinenage and Jones. In 2019, How 2 became available on Amazon Prime Video in the UK. That same year, CITV commissioned another revival of the format. Fred Dinenage returned for a third time, joined by new hosts Vick Hope, Sam Homewood, and Frankie Vu.