A history of British gaming TV shows

Wouldn't you believe it? This year marks the 20th anniversary of the television series GamesMaster. To celebrate, I'll give you a history of the gaming-related TV shows that have aired in the UK from 1992 to the present day.


Source: tv-ark.org.uk

It was 7th January 1992 when GamesMaster made its debut on Channel 4. At the time, the rest of the TV channels didn't have a show like it. A show completely dedicated to gaming. If it wasn't for GamesMaster, we might never had the shows that came after it (and I probably wouldn't have posted this). Not only the show had reviews and previews, but the majority of the series had challenges. This was where celebrities (who were popular at the time) took part in playing various games, either against each other or a member of the public.


Source: techdigest.tv

The show was mainly presented by Dominik Diamond (which isn't his real name), but the face of the show was the GamesMaster, played by Sir Patrick Moore (who you can now see presenting The Sky at Night for the BBC). While Dominik presented the first two series, he was suddenly replaced by Dexter Fletcher for the third series. This was criticised by the viewers, so Dominik came back to present the last four series.

GamesMaster (sadly) came to an end on 3rd February 1998, after seven series. Surprisingly, the digital TV channel Challenge repeated the first series in 2003. However, the repeats didn't last because Challenge stopped airing it in 2004. The channel said it was "too dated".


Source: badinfluence.co.uk
A good several months after GamesMaster made its debut, ITV had a gaming show for children. It was called Bad Influence. It ran for four series from 1992 to 1996. Violet Berlin was one of the hosts, who later went on to do a different kids show called The Big Bang.


Source: whizzbang.tv

Violet later became the host of Game Pad, which aired on Bravo from 2001 to 2004. When Game Pad was finished, Dominik Diamond returned to our screens with a new series. This was called When Games Attack. It didn't follow a similar format like its predecessors. However, an element of GamesMaster was (sort of) brought over, where they had football players taking in a tournament of Pro Evolution Soccer. Caroline Flack (who later went to present the Saturday morning kids show TMI) had a brief segment, where she traveled to Japan. Sadly, the show only lasted one series.

Bravo then had a more traditional gaming show called Gamer TV. It had reviews, previews, news and features. Gamer TV spawned two spin-off series: "Gamer's Guide to..." and Gamer TV Extra. Gamer TV Extra featured more about the games they were shown in the main programme. After 283 episodes, Gamer TV ended on April 26th 2008. It was only a week later, on May 3rd, that it got replaced by its successor, Playr. Playr's format was done the same way as its predecessor.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

Playr also had two similar sister shows: Playr 2 and Playr Guide. On April 25th 2009, it ceased airing on Bravo. Thankfully, it made its return to our screens on Film24 on September 5th. Only one of its spin-offs was brought over, and that was Playr Guide. After the 22nd May 2010 episode aired, the show was forced off the air due to Film24 going into liquidation.

On June 5th 2011, Playr found its new home on obscure channel Showcase TV. I call Showcase TV obscure because hardly anyone watches it. Playr Guide was also brought over to the channel. I'm actually surprised that the show is still running today.



Source: kotaku.com

Over on Playr's original home, Bravo, two of Ginx TV's gaming shows were launched in 2009. Those were called GameFace, and Ginx Files. It was the first time in a few years where we got to see the presenter on-screen. The presenter of GameFace was Julia Hardy, who was previously presenting on a short-lived music channel called Rockworld TV. When the channel Bravo got the axe on New Year's Day 2011, GameFace and Ginx Files had no home on TV. Not long after Bravo was gone, both of Ginx TV's shows found a new home on Challenge.


Source: ggsgamer.com

A good few months after GameFace and Ginx Files settled in on Challenge, they were replaced by a new 1 hour-long show called The Blurb. Julia Hardy reprised her role as the host. The Blurb was (more or less) the same as its predecessors, but it had a plain white studio. When Julia presented the predecessor GameFace, she was just in front of a green screen. Obviously, the viewers at home saw some graphics running in the background instead of the green screen.

Just as The Blurb was getting really good, Ginx TV's deal with Challenge sadly ended on 27th August when one last episode of The Blurb aired. After the show's run on television ended, Ginx TV kept making episodes and putting them out on YouTube. I think the big problem for both The Blurb and its predecessors was the fact that it aired on Challenge in pretty bad slots. It originally aired at 11pm on Saturday nights, but later it was moved to a midnight slot. That's probably why The Blurb didn't have much of a success on Challenge. It's really a shame because it deserved a much better slot.

There you have it folks, that was the history of British gaming shows on television.

Since The Blurb disappeared from Challenge, there hasn't been another gaming show to take its place on the channel. I think it would be great if Challenge could start its own gaming show. It would fit perfectly with the viewing demographic who watch shows like TNA Wrestling (that includes me!). Challenge did say they were going to "research into it more". I've got my fingers crossed that we do get to see a new gaming show on Challenge pretty soon.