''First Class'' is a British game show that originally aired as a regional programme for

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales i ...

from 3 October to 19 December 1984 with Louise Bachelor as host. It was then networked on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins ...

on Friday eveningsFirst Class Quiz Book by Donald W. Stewart, Philip Whitfield Aikman. from 8 January 1986 to 21 August 1988 with

Debbie Greenwood Debbie Greenwood (born 16 September 1959 in Liverpool) is a British television presenter and a former beauty queen who won the title of ''Miss Great Britain'' in 1984. Career Greenwood began her broadcasting career in 1984, presenting regional p ...

as host.

Format

The show was Two teams of three students (each team representing a particular school) would take part in a multi-format quiz featuring questions on both general knowledge and popular culture, as well as innovative

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

rounds. Rounds such as the "Spinning Gold Disc" made use of a simulated computer display similar to other game shows of the same era, such as ''Blockbusters'' and ''

Catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recogni ...

''. Other rounds such as "Word of Mouth" used a real computer display from a

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an empha ...

. This computer also provided the on-screen captions and scores and was nicknamed Eugene, after the show's original programmer Eugene Crozier. The competition was a

knockout tournament A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

; the eventual winners of the series would be presented with a computer (usually a

BBC Master The BBC Master is a home computer released by Acorn Computers in early 1986. It was designed and built for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and was the successor to the BBC Micro Model B. The Master 128 remained in production until 199 ...

) for their school. Celebrity episodes of the show were also aired, featuring cast members from ''

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical comprehensive school. The show began its run on 8 February 1978 on BBC1, and was one of the longest-running program ...

'' and '' EastEnders''. ''First Class'' was notable for its use of video games; such footage (of arcade games in particular) was a rarely seen on UK television at the time and the show aired several years before

GamesMaster ''GamesMaster'' is a British television programme which originally aired on Channel 4 from 1992 to 1998. In 2021, it returned for a new series on YouTube and E4. It was the first UK television programme dedicated to video games. Dominik Diam ...

. The designated contestant from each team would earn points by beating the other player's score; rounds would be either turn-based and head-to-head depending on the game / event. The games were often referred to by their events as opposed to their titles, for example the "spring and vault" round or the "clay pigeon shooting". The music used for the programme's titles was "Airborn" by

Mike Oldfield Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

, from his 1979 album ''

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

''.

Arcade games featured

Hyper Sports ''Hyper Sports'', known in Japan as is an Olympic-themed sports video game released by Konami for arcades in 1984. It is the sequel to 1983's ''Track & Field'' and features seven new Olympic events. Like its predecessor, ''Hyper Sports'' has t ...

(

skeet shooting Skeet shooting is a recreational and competitive activity where participants use shotguns to attempt to break clay targets which two fixed stations mechanically fling into the air at high speed and at a variety of angles. Skeet is one of the ...

and vaulting horse events) *

Paperboy A paperboy is someoneoften an older child or adolescentwho distributes printed newspapers to homes or offices on a regular route, usually by bicycle or automobile. In Western nations during the heyday of print newspapers during the early 20th ...

720° ''720°'' is a skateboarding video game released in arcades by Atari Games in 1986, in which the player controls a skateboarder skating around a middle-class neighborhood. By doing jumps and tricks, the player can eventually acquire enough point ...

Transmissions

Series

Specials

External links

* *

References

1986 British television series debuts 1988 British television series endings 1980s British television series BBC television game shows 1980s British game shows English-language television shows Student quiz television series {{BBC-tv-prog-stub