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XYZ

Lame alphabet-oriented word effort with GEORGE MARSHALL. Contestants had to bandy around long perspex strips with letters on them, for no real reason. Lamentable catchphrasery (“Letters play!”). Produced by Jonathan Ross’ ever-loving Channel X.

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Des Elmes

    September 1, 2010 at 2:56 am

    Why did the contestants bandy around these long perspex strips with letters on them?

    They obtained a strip by selecting the letter on it from an “Alphabank” (did anyone on the show know there’s a bank in Greece with that name?) and answering a question whose answer began with that letter (yes, just like Blockbusters).

    With the strips they obtained, they had to make strings of letters with them, like A-B-C-D, or M-N-O-P. Cue another lame catchphrase from George, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t in a string.”

    Whoever had the longest string went on to play an almost impossible end game, in which they had just two minutes to “empty the Alphabank” – that is, obtain all the letters that they hadn’t in the main game.

    One other thing about XYZ is that, apparently, it was commissioned at short notice to fill the hole left in BBC1’s daytime schedule by the cancellation of Eldorado. Only around 30 episodes were made, though.

  2. Andy Parker

    March 22, 2014 at 12:44 am

    George Marshall would try to throw in his Sean Connery impression wherever he could.

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