Treasure Hunt is a UK game show, based on the format of the French show , created by Jacques Antoine. It appeared on Channel 4 between 28 December 1982 and 18 May 1989 and was revived by BBC Two between 16 December 2002 and 2 August 2003.

Presenters and crew

In the original version, the presenter was former BBC newsreader Kenneth Kendall and the "skyrunner" was broadcaster Anneka Rice. In the first series, Kendall was joined briefly in the studio for the handover of the first clue by the original clue-setter, Ann Meo. She would later rejoin the contestants if they had been successful in finding the treasure to offer her congratulations. If they had been unsuccessful, she would be heard as a voiceover explaining where they had gone wrong.

From the second series onwards, this role was expanded with the adjudicator being present throughout the episode, giving the contestants information on how they were doing against the scheduled time, and providing additional information about the locations visited. In series 2, this was Annette Lynton ("Nettie") who is married to Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. From series 3 onwards, TV-am weather girl Wincey Willis took over this role.

In 1988, Rice left to have a baby, and her place was taken by tennis player Annabel Croft. In this series, the set was revamped due to a move to Thames Television's facilities (the original studios were at Trilion in Soho, London, and then Limehouse Studios on Canary Wharf in Docklands, East London which was later earmarked for demolition to make way for One Canada Square), and Willis was promoted to sharing main billing with Kendall. Croft was billed as "Guest Skyrunner" for the first episode of the series, and it was stated at the time that Rice would return after giving birth, but it turned out to be the show's final series and the "Guest Skyrunner" credit was dropped.

In the BBC's 2002–2003 version, newsreader Dermot Murnaghan presented, the "skyrunner" was Suzi Perry, and there was no adjudicator. Advances in broadcasting technology meant that this new version could come from a much greater range of locations; however, the new version was short-lived.

Keith Thompson of Castle Air Charters was the usual helicopter pilot in both versions, though for overseas editions a local pilot was often used. There was always a "chase" helicopter which relayed radio signals back to London and, although this could never be used tactically by the contestants, it was not hidden from the viewers. This communications helicopter had dark green with gold stripe livery, registration G-SPEY.

Both helicopters were usually Bell 206 JetRangers; the helicopter usually used by the skyrunner was registration G-BHXU, which later ditched and sank in the English Channel in 1995 due to what is believed to have been an engine/gearbox failure – the pilot and engineer on board were both safely rescued after around 30 minutes in the water.

The contestants would win a cash prize of £1,000 (£2,000 in the revived version).

Broadcasts

When first shown on Channel 4 on 28 December 1982, Treasure Hunt was one of the earliest major series on the then-new channel. The unusual format earned extra publicity for both the programme and the channel, which was striving to justify itself with new and different programming.

The 1982–1989 series were repeated on terrestrial television several times, and during the 1990s appeared on the Challenge satellite and cable channel, as well as Sky Travel. The first episode was repeated on 30 October 2007 on the digital channel More4 as part of Channel 4's 25th anniversary celebrations. This was a one-off and there are no current plans to repeat the TV show.

On 21 November 2013, Challenge announced that they re-acquired the first two series. The first episode was repeated again on 28 December 2013 as part of Challenge's First Ever Episodes weekend. Challenge confirmed that the re-run of series 1 and 2 would air on Saturdays and Sundays from 8 February 2014. The Saturday episode was screened at 6pm and the Sunday episode aired at 5pm (times varied afterwards).

The original run of the first series was watched by up to 900,000 viewers; however, by the mid-1980s, ratings were some of the highest for Channel 4 at around seven million.

Two charity editions of the show were produced, one locally in the London area for the Thames Television telethon in 1985 and another broadcast across the UK as part of the ITV network's Telethon '88. The show was also featured in an edition of the BBC children's aspiration show Jim'll Fix It, in which a young viewer joined Anneka Rice in the famous helicopter over the county of Surrey for a scaled down version of the show, in The Paul Daniels Magic Show (BBC) and in The Krypton Factor (Granada for ITV).

For all the UK series, the programme was a Chatsworth Television independent production in association with Tele Union Paris.

Spin-offs An eponymous board game based on the show was published in the UK. It involved moving pieces around a map of England and Wales.

There was also a computer game released for some home computer formats in 1986, including for the BBC Micro, published by Macsen Software. This game featured very basic graphic layout and was text-driven, and had the options of four locations to find clues in.

BBC Three Counties Radio aired Treasure Quest each Sunday from 9am to 12 noon. Andy Gelder was in the studio and varying assistants in the radio car help two contestants to solve clues over the three-hour period. This format has now changed to Saturday mornings and now hosted by Jonathan Vernon-Smith, sharing with BBC Radio Northampton, with two runners running simultaneously in the two radio areas during the same programme. It aired from 9am until 12pm, and later 10am to 12pm. The show ended on 15 July 2023 after almost 10 years on air.

BBC Radio Norfolk began their own version of Treasure Quest in 2008, on Sunday mornings from 9am to 12 noon. David Whiteley presents in the studio, with Sophie Little in the radio car. On 6 September 2009, Wincey Willis stood in for the then clue hunter Becky Betts, and on 14 February 2010, Anneka Rice took part in the programme, appearing at the fifth clue location, Norwich Castle, and then teaming up with Betts to find the treasure.

On London's talk station LBC, presenter James O'Brien hosted The Treasure Hunt on Wednesday lunchtimes as part of his weekday show. In this format, callers rang in and requested things they had been trying to get hold of, hoping that other listeners had the required items. Although otherwise unrelated to the original concept, the programme opened with the Treasure Hunt television series theme tune, and in August 2007, Anneka Rice recorded a voice-over lead-in for it.

BBC Radio Shropshire presented their own version of Treasure Hunt on Sunday mornings with presenter Ryan Kennedy reading out a set of clues to various locations. Prior to the first COVID-19 lockdown, the answers gave directions with a colleague driving to that location in the county. From the start of the first lockdown until Ryan's departure from the station in March 2023, the quiz operated as a virtual tour with the answers providing locations both in the county and worldwide.

Cambridge 105 Radio have also presented their own version called 'Where's Flossie Live!'. Flossie is name of the station's outside broadcast vehicle. This would air on a bank holiday weekend. Clues would be set around the city of Cambridge and a presenter, usually on a bike, accompanied by a sound/broadcast engineer would have to solve each clue at a different location to be able to move on to the next location. Flossie would be located at the final destination. The starting point was typically the station's studios on the Gwydir Street Enterprise Centre in Cambridge.

Transmissions Original Series Start date End date Episodes 1 28 December 1982 10 March 1983 11 2 5 January 1984 22 March 1984 12 3 27 December 1984 5 April 1985 13 4 27 December 1985 20 March 1986 13 5 12 February 1987 14 May 1987 14 6 18 February 1988 19 May 1988 14 7 16 February 1989 18 May 1989 14

Specials Date Entitle 17 March 1983 Series 1 Highlights 29 March 1984 Series 2 Highlights 30 October 1985 ITV Telethon Special 29 May 1988 ITV Telethon Special

Revival Series Start date End date Episodes 1 16 December 2002 20 December 2002 5 2 14 April 2003 2 August 2003 10

List of episodes

1982–1989 version Series Start date End date Episodes1 28 December 1982 10 March 1983 11Episode 1 BaliEpisode 2 SpeysideEpisode 3 SuffolkEpisode 4 PowysEpisode 5 LothianEpisode 6 WiltshireEpisode 7 LondonEpisode 8 Isle of MullEpisode 9 GloucestershireFeaturing contestant Christopher BoardEpisode 10 Lake DistrictEpisode 11 2 5 January 1984 22 March 1984 12Episode 1 BurgundyEpisode 2 KentEpisode 3 Guernsey Episode 4 North YorkshireEpisode 5 BirminghamEpisode 6 MallorcaEpisode 7 Northern IrelandEpisode 8 CambridgeshireEpisode 9 CornwallEpisode 10 Episode 11 GwyneddEpisode 12 Merseyside3 28 December 1984 5 April 1985 13Episode 1 Episode 2 Warwickshire Episode 3 South Glamorgan Episode 4 NorfolkEpisode 5 French RivieraEpisode 6 West SussexEpisode 7 SomersetEpisode 8 ShropshireEpisode 9 CorfuEpisode 10 Ayrshire Episode 11 Isle of Wight Episode 12 DerbyshireEpisode 13 London4 27 December 1985 20 March 1986 13Episode 1 FloridaEpisode 2 ClwydEpisode 3 OxfordshireEpisode 4 SurreyEpisode 5 Lake District Episode 6 BedfordshireEpisode 7 DevonEpisode 8 Stirlingshire Episode 9 DorsetEpisode 10 North YorkshireEpisode 11 NottinghamshireEpisode 12 PembrokeshireEpisode 13 Cheshire5 12 February 1987 14 May 1987 14Episode 1 Episode 2 JerseyEpisode 3 CornwallEpisode 4 HampshireEpisode 5 WiltshireEpisode 6 HertfordshireEpisode 7 Episode 8 BuckinghamshireEpisode 9 LancashireEpisode 10 GwyneddEpisode 11 NorthumberlandEpisode 12 KentEpisode 13 West HighlandsEpisode 14 North Yorkshire6 18 February 1988 19 May 1988 14Episode 1 SydneyEpisode 2 SuffolkEpisode 3 LincolnshireEpisode 4 West SussexEpisode 5 West YorkshireEpisode 6 BuckinghamshireEpisode 7 Scottish BordersEpisode 8 WiltshireEpisode 9 StaffordshireEpisode 10 DevonEpisode 11 CotswoldsEpisode 12 County KerryEpisode 13 County DurhamEpisode 14 Clwyd7 16 February 1989 18 May 1989 14Episode 1 Episode 2 WorcestershireEpisode 3 DevonEpisode 4 Lake DistrictEpisode 5 West BerkshireEpisode 6 PerthshireEpisode 7 East SussexEpisode 8 BuckinghamshireEpisode 9 ShropshireEpisode 10 HumbersideEpisode 11 SomersetEpisode 12 GwentEpisode 13 South LancashireEpisode 14 Derbyshire

2002–2003 version Series Start date End date Episodes8 16 December 2002 20 December 2002 5Episode 1 Folkestone, KentEpisode 2 Canterbury, KentEpisode 3 The Weald, KentEpisode 4 Dover, KentEpisode 5 West Kent, UK9 14 April 2003 2 August 2003 10Episode 1 San FranciscoEpisode 2 Mexico CityEpisode 3 RotoruaEpisode 4 Alice SpringsEpisode 5 MelbourneEpisode 6 ArizonaEpisode 7 TasmaniaEpisode 8 New OrleansEpisode 9 ChristchurchEpisode 10 Gold Coast

International versions

Country Local title Presenters Channel BroadcastFrance(original format) Philippe Gildas (1981–1982) and (1982) and Elsa Manet (1982–1984) Antenne 2 15 March 1981 – 2 December 1984 Patrick Chêne and France 2 1994 Sylvain Augier (1996–2005), (2006) and Nathalie Simon (2007–2009)Cyril Féraud (2018–present) France 3 6 August 1996 – 31 August 200925 April 2018 – present Germany with, in the field, Günther Jauch or Bernhard Russi Das Erste 22 July 1982 — 3 April 1983 Italy Lea Pericoli, Brando Quilici and Jocelyn Hattab Rai Uno 26 June 1983 — 17 October 1984 Netherlands VOO 30 October 1982 – 1983 Portugal Catarina Furtado SIC 1994 Spain (studio)Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo (skyrunner) TVE1 8 January – 13 May 1984 DenmarkNorwaySweden Skattjakt (judge)Knut Bjørnsen (studio) (skyrunner) DR1NRK1TV2 8 September – 30 December 1983

References

External links Episode guide — with exhaustive location, clue and crew listings plus helicopter registration letters