Crosswits
Two contestants and celebrity partners solve crossword puzzles for points.
Crosswits was a British game show that paired two contestants with celebrity helpers to solve simple crossword puzzles. Produced by Tyne Tees with Cove Productions and Action Time, it was filmed at Tyne Tees' City Road studios in Newcastle upon Tyne. The show premiered on 3 September 1985 with Barry Cryer as host for the first two series. Comedian Tom O'Connor then took over from series three until the final episode on 23 December 1998. Announcers included Tyne Tees continuity voices Judi Lines, Jonathan Morrell, and Bill Steel.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Game show
- Creator
- Jerry Payne
- Presenter
- Barry Cryer; Tom O'Connor
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Series
- 12
- Episodes
- 435
- Runtime
- 30 minutes (inc. adverts)
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Each team consisted of one celebrity and one contestant, solving words in a crossword puzzle from clues. Six words were to be solved, along with a clue word, all leading to a keyword. A correct answer kept control and earned one point per letter, plus a chance to solve the keyword for 10 bonus points. In the first two series, teams played for pounds; later, teams always took turns regardless of correctness. Special rounds included the Anagram round, where the first letter of each answer formed the keyword; the Mystery round, where finding a keyword from one clue without a clue word won a small prize such as a cordless phone or pocket TV; and the Song round, where all clues were lyrics to a well-known song. The team with the most points when time expired won and played the Crossfire round. The losing player received a dictionary and thesaurus. The winning team then faced a final crossword of 10 words with no master puzzle; solving all ten clues in 60 seconds or less won a holiday, otherwise a gold pen and pencil set.
Transmissions
The first series aired on Tuesday afternoons at 3 pm, except TVS which aired it on Thursday afternoons at the same time. The second series aired on Monday evenings at 6:30 pm in the Tyne Tees region, while other regions showed it on Tuesday afternoons at 3 pm. The third series aired Tuesday to Thursday afternoons at 2 pm, apart from TVS (Monday afternoons at 3 pm, not all episodes) and Channel (Monday, Wednesday, Friday afternoons at 3 pm). From the fourth through tenth series, the show aired Monday to Friday mornings at 9:25 am, just after TV-am/GMTV. The eleventh series aired Monday to Friday afternoons but was not networked; times varied by region: Carlton, Central, Tyne Tees, Westcountry and Yorkshire at 1:25 pm; Ulster at 1:55 pm; Grampian at 2:50 pm; Scottish at 2:20 pm four times a week; Border and Granada at 5:10 pm most days; Anglia and Meridian at 12:55 pm most days (Anglia continued until 24 January 1997); HTV at 2:25 pm for over half the episodes but did not complete the run. The twelfth series aired Tuesday to Thursday afternoons at 1:50 pm for the first 32 episodes from 6 January to 19 March, with the last three episodes airing from 21 to 23 December 1998.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who created Crosswits?
Crosswits was created by Jerry Payne.
How many episodes of Crosswits are there?
Crosswits has 435 episodes across 12 seasons.
More in Television Shows Produced by Tyne Tees Television
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