Bullseye Image sourced from Bullseye Facebook page
By Tyler Ody
Hey everybody it’s Tyler here. I am doing a deep dive into the legendary TV game show Bullseye.
Bullseye is a British darts-themed television game show created by Andrew Wood, and comedian Norman Vaughan who came up with the idea after researching game shows with mass appeal.
The logo for Bullsye was an animated mascot named Bully who was a brown bull wearing a red and white shirt.
Bullseye was centred around darts and had three contestants - one to answer the questions and one to throw the darts.
At the beginning of part two, a professional darts player would throw nine darts at the matchplay board. Bullseye donated one pound to charity but if the score is higher they would donate two pounds.
From series five to series thirteen the professional who could record the highest score in the charity interlude would win a bronze bully. Winners include the late Eric Bristow better know as the Crafty Cockney, and Kevin Painter.
There were five different types of dart boards throughout Bully’s category board, Pounds for points, Charity Interlude, Bully’s prize board, and Bully star prize gamble.
For the prize board the contestant had to go in the red and stay out the black to win a prize, and if the contestant gambled they could win Bully’s special prize, which could range from a speedboat to a holiday.
It was first broadcasted on ITV on 28 September 1981 with Jim Bowen as the host, and it aired on a Monday night.
In 1982 up until 1993 it moved to a Sunday afternoon and brought in new co host Tony Green to keep track of the scores which helped achive 17 million viewers.
Bullseye also broadcasted Christmas specials which ran from 1982 through to 1992.
For Comic Relief 1993, a special cross-over between Bullseye and BBC’s Snooker programme Big Break was planned, however it never came to be.
Bullseye was moved from a Sunday afternoon to a Saturday afternoon slot in 1993, up until it finshed in 1995. A fifteenth series was due to be made but was later canceled ending after fourteen series.
After an eleven year hiatus in 2006, Bullseye was revived for the digital TV channel Challenge, produced by Granada Yorkshire. Jim never returned and was instead presented by Dave Spikey but Tony Green returned as co host.
The 2006 revival was broadcasted form April 17 to September 22 2006.
2021 saw Alan Carr present an epic gameshow which included Bullseye which I think was a bit rubbish and I did not watch it to be honest.
Dave Spikey did an amazing job at presenting the programme, but you can not beat a bit of Jim Bowen as he was the original, and made it his own show. I think he is the best host of the show.
All series of Bullseye are still being repeated on Challange which you can watch at 5pm until 6.30pm and again from 11pm to 11.30pm.
Bullseye is one of my favourite game shows as it is something different. My favourite host has to be Jim Bowen but I don’t mind Dave Spikey. Bullseye is A “Super Smashing great” TV game show.
As the catchphrase goes “You Cant Beat A Bit Of Bully.”