Sport Question

As Jim Bowen used to say: ‘You can’t beat a bit of Bully?’

He was right. We loved it! Every Sunday evening, back in the dark ages of TV, before YouTube and streaming platforms, we’d sit patiently for the catchy theme tune to start and the next moment we were floored by Bowen’s one-liner which had been refused as a dud by the Christmas Cracker Company.

In fairness, I think the stand-up comedian come TV host was told to find the worst kind of humour. It was probably the reason they hired sidekick Tony Green. He had a connection with Sid Waddell ‘The Voice of Darts’ whose Geordie accent was synonymous with the game. You may remember the BBC showing the World Professional Darts Championship at the Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey.

I’m pretty sure Bullseye was built on the back of that!

Back in the days of popular television, Bullseye was a phenomenal success. Created by Andrew Wood and Norman Vaughan, it was a great hit with viewers from 1981 – 1995. At its peak, Bullseye attracted a weekly audience of 10 – 15 million viewers. ITV broadcast the first year, but thereafter by Central Television. Every Sunday the populous were eager to watch.

The live audience looked to have an average age of 80. I’ve never seen so much blue-rinse hair and men in slippers.

However, they loved Bowen’s corny jokes and winning format.

The show’s mascot was an animated Bull named Bully. He wore a red and white striped shirt and blue trousers. The intro to the TV programme (with brilliant theme music sounding something like Chas and Dave) saw him jump from a pub sign, walk into a pub which has a dart’s competition. The cartoon like intro in the first series of 1981 was quite risqué with braless women in tight-fitting tee-shirts and heavyweight men with beer bellies standing at the bar drinking ale. A blue cat pops its head into shot. The next thing Bully hits a cracker of dart bang in the bullseye.

The show starts…

Ladies and Gentleman would you welcome your host for the evening, Jim Bowen…

It was a genius concept.

The game show was based on three sets of two contestants – a dart player and someone to answer the questions. Players would win by hitting a question category with a defined prize. After one of the pairs was knocked out of the competition the winning player’s score would be given in points profit if a question was answered correctly. In the final round, both players threw three darts each at a prize board to win a selection of goods – the bullseye offering the best swag. The contestants had the choice whether to chance their prize money and prizes for a tilt at the grand prize. In the final, they had six darts (three each) to score a total of 101 or more to pocket a secret prize. Sometime it was a car, exotic holiday and rather bizarrely a speedboat!

Whether contestants won of lost, they received their prized Bendy Bully and either a silver drinking tanker for the men and a goblet for the women.

As Jim would say: ‘Your charity money is safe!’

The dynamics of the game were something to behold. Often you didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at what you were watching. Some almost professional standard dart players while others could barley hit the board.

One of the contestants who took part in 1989 – John Copper – later turned out to be a convicted murderer. He was known as the ‘Bullseye Killer’.

Bowen had a list of popular catch phrases:

‘Super, smashing, great!’

‘You can’t beat a bit of bully!’

‘Let’s have a look at the board!’

‘Keep out of the black and in the red, nothing in this game for two in a bed.’

‘Look at what you could have won!’

There were a total of 354 episodes spanning 16 series. The show was dropped in 1996 after the TV network demanded Woods modernise the show.

One of the best parts of the show came before the final round when a professional dart player was invited to throw 9 darts for the contestants chosen charity. If the player scored over 301 the prize was doubled.

The professional with the highest score in that series took home the legendary Bronze Bully. Honestly, I think this was more prized than the World Darts Championship Trophy. It was hotly contested with all the famous darts players of the time. It ran from series 5 – 13 (1985 – 1995). True legends of the game took part.

In a rather unusual quirk, the highest score for the charity play came in 1984 (before the Bronze Bully Trophy) by Alan Evans with a score of 401 (to be fair he was unlucky not to score higher as his first three darts totalled 180, followed by another 180, then the wheels fell off (probably after seeing Bowen’s face and screech of Green’s high octane voice) he scored a paltry 41.

Still amazing to watch that example of fine dartsmanship to this day.

Unfortunately for Evans, the Bronze Bully Trophy started in 1985.

Here is a list of the top scores:

1985 – 86: John Lowe (380)
1986 – 87: Lionel Smith (365)
1987 – 88: Ray Farrell (340)
1988 – 89: Mike Gregory (380)
1989 – 90: Eric Bristow (380)
1990 – 91: Bob Anderson (380)
1991 – 92: Mandy Solomans (363)
1992 – 93: Mike Gregory (340)
1994 -Kevin Painter (380)

Bullseye was a great TV show. It was loved by millions and remembered fondly to this day.

As Jim Bowen said: ‘You can’t beat a bit of Bully!’

References:

Bullseye intro 1981 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoZgF0KNQN8

Alan Evans Bullseye https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBowkrRq0G0