3-2-1

I used to watch 3-2-1 on Saturday evenings during the 1980's and it was usually the prime time show on ITV. It was much better that the rubbish that is now shown on Saturday evenings.

Three couples competed against each other and the first to go was at the first round, a quiz. The other two went on for the acts and a member of the act bought back an envelope with a rhyme, along with an object as a clue to what the prize could be. The contestants then had to pick one of these, hoping it would be Dusty Bin as all they would win if that was the last one at the end was a brand new dustbin. The prizes were usually cars or holidays. Every couple also taken home with them a ceramic Dusty Bin.

This show was hosted by the late Ted Rogers and one of his female assistants for a few years was actress Caroline Munro (The Spy Who Loved Me).

I use to enjoy this on a Saturday evening and was a shame it finished.

I naturally wasn't a regular watcher of this show but from what I saw of it, it seemed it had a resident group of failed comedians performing a sketch, one of the comedians would go over to the contestants and recite a cryptic poem which made no sense which invariably they failed to understand and they'd then be told by host Ted Rogers that they'd rejected a brand new Austin Metro or a holiday in Jamaica. Like a lot of 1970s and early 1980s TV this show seemed like a load of rubbish and I never understood it.

As a mere lad in the 1970s, I recall 3-2-1 seeming to last all night, but on seeing it recently on a game show channel it was only an hour long! Helmed by Ted Rogers (with his legendary quick fingered countdown) and assisted by the slightly mechanised Dusty Bin, the show was a curious hybrid of quiz, sketch and variety show, with initial rounds of questions to reduce three couples to one, who then moved on to the final clues round and had to watch (or endure!) various sketches after which a performer from said sketches would deliver and read out a baffling clue that represented a prize (from holidays and fridges to a speed boat!), but the couple had to beware as one prize was the dreaded bin! The choosing of the clues was invariably just pure guesswork as they were truly abstract and pretty much unsolvable through the use of any kind of logic, and as the series progressed the Chris Emmett-fronted comedy sketches (always according to a theme) gave way to guest star turns (including Bernard Bresslaw and Frankie Howerd) and then more club-like variety acts (although one did include an early appearance of Mark Heap). Of the latter stage, one episode's theme was 'Saturday Night,' which is, I think you will agree, a bit vague. However, of this period I do remember an 1980s alternative comedy troupe whose (I thought hilarious) surreal act concluded with the camera cutting back to a clearly totally bemused Ted Rogers. So, in some respects it was a bizarre spectacle (although some episodes did feature the glorious Caroline Munro), but it was certainly an original approach to the TV quiz show.

This was a show that you could win prizes but only if you could work out the riddles. If you picked the right one you won the prize but if you picked the wrong one you won a dustbin or as on the show Dusty Bin. The person who was the host was a man who's claim to fame was doing three, two, one with his fingers very fast and a catch phrase of 'Don't go away now.'

3-2-1 occasionally crops up in these list shows broadcast by Channel 4 . It's interesting to see that it's not well regarded thirty years down the line when it was highly popular during its broadcast . The reason for its popularity was probably down to the fact that it contained the most expensive prizes being given away , things like a brand new car or an expensive holiday with the danger of choosing the legendary booby prize dusty bin

What is striking in hindsight is how terminally thick some of the contestants were and it's in these list shows we're treated to a pair of couples who are asked what composer is famous for his water music :

" Oh Handel's water music " replies one couple

" So the composer is ? ... " asks compare Ted Rogers

" Schubert " comes the reply , which is the wrong answer so Rogers hands the question over to the other couple who reply :

" Beethoven "

Having said that not even the likes of Albert Einstien or Stephen Hawkings would be able to decipher the clues on the final part of the show where the winning couple try and figure what the prizes are via a series of riddles . This part of the contest is more of a guessing game best summed up in a spoof sketch on THE RUSS ABBOT SHOW

" We mentioned a garage and what would you keep in a garage ? A bin perhaps ? We also mentioned car keys what would you put car keys in ? A bin perhaps ? Yes you've won the booby prize dusty bin "

More of a guessing game than a contest