Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon
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Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon was a seven-episode special event aired in 2005 on Britain's ITV1, as part of a celebration of ITV's 50th Anniversary. In it, hosts Ant & Dec presided over recreations of seven classic game shows that had been seen on the network. Six celebrity contestants competed in a series-long tournament, receiving a donation to their favourite charity for their participation. In addition, home viewers were given the opportunity to win the cash and prizes each episode's winning contestant "won" via telephone. ITV1 has confirmed that there will be another series in 2007 with Vernon Kay and Tess Daly.
The programme is produced by Granada Productions and talkbackTHAMES
The shows recreated were:
| Show | Run on ITV (at time of broadcast) | Date |
| The Price Is Right | 1984-1988, 1995-2001 | 17 September 2005 |
| Take Your Pick | 1955-1968, 1992-1998 | 24 September 2005 |
| The Golden Shot | 1967-1975 | 1 October 2005 |
| Sale of the Century | 1972-1983 | 8 October 2005 |
| Play Your Cards Right | 1980-1987, 1994-1999, 2002 | 15 October 2005 |
| Bullseye | 1981-1995 | 22 October 2005 |
| Family Fortunes | 1980-2002 | 29 October 2005 |
The celebrity contestants were Eamonn Holmes, Vernon Kay, Patsy Kensit, William Roache, Carol Vorderman and Ruby Wax, with Vorderman the eventual winner of the series. The Golden Shot was broadcast live like the original show, and Sale of the Century had a dedication at the end to comedian Ronnie Barker, who had died a few days earlier.
Following the series, several of the shows were revived; Bullseye returned on the game show channel Challenge, followed by The Price Is Right and Family Fortunes on ITV, the latter hosted by one of the Gameshow Marathon celebrities, Vernon Kay.
The format was later sold to the United States, where CBS aired its own Gameshow Marathon in June 2006. This featured The Price Is Right, and the original US versions of Play Your Cards Right (Card Sharks) and Family Fortunes (Family Feud).
In August 2006 France 2 aired a French version called "Le Marathon des Jeux TV". It featured "Que le meilleur gagne" ("Everybody's Equal"/"Whittle"), L'academie des 9 ("Hollywood Squares"), Fa Si La Chanter ("Name that Tune"), "Questions pour un champion" ("Going for Gold") and La Famille en Or ("Family Feud"). Clips were shown of each show - of particular note was that L'academie des 9 was originally hosted by Jean-Pierre Foucault, better know as the presenter of the French version of "Who Wants to be a millionaire", and that several US Family Feud clips were shown, dubbed by the announcer. French radio and TV presenters Nagui (formermly of "Que le Meilleur gagne") and Pascal Sellem (formerly of "La famille on Or" were the co-hosts; no prize delivery was done as the show was a one-off, with studio civilians winning prizes depending on how their celebrity partners did.
A German version for Sat.1 is in the works.
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