Double Your Money
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
quiz show
Quiz Show
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film produced and directed by Robert Redford. Adapted by Paul Attanasio from Richard Goodwin's memoir Remembering America, the film is based upon the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s...
hosted by Hughie Green
Hughie Green
Hughie Green was the host of numerous British television shows.-Early life:Hugh H. Green was born in London; his Scottish father was a former British Army Major who made his fortune supplying tinned fish to the Allied forces in World War I, while his mother Violet was the Surrey-born daughter of...
. Originally broadcast on Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
, it transferred to ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
in 1955, a few days after the commercial channel began broadcasting. It was produced by Associated-Rediffusion
Associated-Rediffusion
Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion, London, was the British ITV contractor for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 1954 and 29 July 1968. Transmissions started on 22 September 1955.-Formation:...
until 1964 and then by Rediffusion London, and it finished in 1968 when the company lost its franchise. There were 260 thirty minute episodes.
Throughout its run the show was one of the most consistently popular programmes on British television. The quiz format was similar to The 64,000 Dollar Question
The 64,000 Dollar Question
The $64,000 Question is an American game show broadcast from 1955-1958, which became embroiled in the scandals involving TV quiz shows of the day...
, with prize money approximately doubling at each question up to £1000, and multi-part answers being required at the harder stages. When contestants hit the £1,000 Treasure Trail, they were placed in sound-proofed 'isolation booths', where the fans were turned off and the temperature grew, making contestants sweat and look nervous.
The 8th November 1966 (air date) show came from The House of Friendship, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
where Monica Rose and Natasha Vasylyeva were both hostesses and because the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
would not allow money to be given away, the big prize was a television set.
The Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
version of this quiz was "Wielka Gra" (The Big Game, 1962-2006).
Female hostesses on the show included 18 year old Valerie Drew and an elderly cleaner named Alice Earley who was taken on by Green after first appearing as a contestant. Nancy Roberts (1961 - 1965), Julie de Marco (1963 - 1965) and Monica Rose
Monica Rose
Monica Rose was a British TV quiz show hostess on Double Your Money and The Sky's the Limit both hosted by Hughie Green. Originally a contestant on Double Your Money, she was invited to become a hostess on the show by Green, impressed by her cockney charm and manner, and stayed for three years...
(1963 - 1968), a former accounts clerk from White City, London
White City, London
White City is a district in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, to the north of Shepherd's Bush. Today, White City is home to the BBC Television Centre and BBC White City, and Loftus Road stadium, the home of football club Queens Park Rangers FC....
was a chirpy and popular teenage contestant who was also recruited by Green. She then went on to host his next show The Sky's the Limit
The Sky's the Limit (game show)
The Sky's the Limit was a UK game show first broadcast on the 10th July 1970, being a travel-themed version of Double Your Money. The contestants had to answer questions based on geography, with every correct answer increasing their prize fund. The top prize was 21,000 miles and £600 spending money...
.
A feature of later shows was a section called "Beat Blackman" where viewers challenged previous contestant Roy Blackman on obscure sport trivia such as naming entire football squads in specific games, prompting Green to ask: "Who painted the goalposts?" Television's Greatest Hits (1993)
Directors included Eric Croall (1960 - 1962), Don Gale (1963 and 1964), Jim Pople (1965 and 1966) and Peter Croft (1967 and 1968). Robin Richmond played the organ from 1960 to 1967.
- 1960, shown 7.30pm on Friday night, the show ran for 15 weeks.
- 1961, shown 7.30pm on Thursday night, the show ran for 23 weeks.
- 1962, shown 7.30pm on Thursday night, the show ran for 40 weeks.
- 1963, shown 7pm on Thursday night, the show ran for 37 weeks.
- 1964, shown 7pm on Thursday night, the show ran for 38 weeks.
- 1965, shown 7pm on Thursday night, the show ran for 32 weeks
- 1966, shown 7pm on Tuesday night, the show ran for 37 weeks.
- 1967, shown 7pm on Tuesday night, the show ran for 18 weeks.
- 1968, shown 7pm on Wednesday night, the show ran for 29 weeks.