50%

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50% was produced by Rob Sprowson and was a rip-off of one of Channel Five's original programmes - 100%.

Three contestants sat on stools holding A, B, and C paddles. After a question was posed there would be a few seconds to think while a jingle was played before the response was held up on a paddle.

All shows had Rob as the question master, who was infact sitting only a few metres away from the contestants reading the preprepared questions from a monitor.

The quiz was broadcast live before the news, and because of its minimalistic set shared the same studio setup (bar the news desk itself) and crew to save time.

At total of seven episodes were produced.

Technical

It featured graphics from Rob's BBC computer.

Trivia

For early programmes in the series the three contestants had no microphones, and had to be reminded before being broadcast that the final question "would you like to return for the next 50%?" would have to be answered with a simple nod or shake. Later programmes, using Tim Hackett as sound engineer, used a mixture of tie microphones or a microphone hung from the lighting rig to capture verbal contestant responses.

One avid viewer, Jonathan Isaby, called in while show 1 was still being broadcast live to point out that question 45 had the incorrect answer: the central line does not serve Heathrow airport.

The jingle between questions was an original creation for the show by Paul Soulsby of Trademark fame.

YSTV Productions
Series • Events Coverage • One-offs