Jeux sans frontières (; "Games Without Borders" in French) was an international television competition organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for thirty seasons, from 1965 to 1999, between members of the union who participated representing their countries. Broadcasters sent mixed teams that competed against each other in a series of games, usually funny physical games played in outlandish costumes though nonetheless technically difficult, with the most successful teams of the season from each country competing in a grand final. Each episode was hosted by one of the participating broadcasters at a location in its country and was themed around a specific topic.
The show was created for the EBU by Guy Lux and Claude Savarit from the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF) as an international version of their own show Intervilles, which was first broadcast in 1962 in France. In non-French-speaking countries, Jeux sans frontières has alternative titles in the corresponding local languages. It is also widely known in English as It's a Knockout, the title of the BBC's domestic version that was its national selection for the international competition. The show spawned a winter version held in ski resorts, and single-episode Christmas specials.
History The idea of the show came from French President Charles de Gaulle, whose wish was that French and German youth would meet in a series of games to reinforce the friendship between the two countries. In 1965, Guy Lux and Claude Savarit from the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF), and creators of Intervilles, spread this idea to other broadcasters within the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Teams representing France, West Germany, Belgium, and Italy took part in the first edition of the show held that same year with the title Inter Nations Games.
At the height of its popularity, Jeux sans frontières was watched by 110 million viewers across Europe. The original series ended in 1982. It was revived in 1988, with a different mix of countries taking part. In its later editions, it was typically hosted by smaller broadcasters, with the notable exception of Italy's RAI, which hosted three editions with a fixed location in 1996, 1998, and 1999.
Format In its original conception, teams from Belgium, France, West Germany, and Italy competed each week in head-to-head competition between two cities or towns from two of the four competing countries. There would be sports events, but also studio-based quizzes each week. Eventually, all teams would have competed against each other and the teams with the highest cumulative points for each country from the series would meet in two semi-finals, with the two winners meeting in the final. The first series in 1965 ended in a tie between Belgian town Ciney and French town St. Amand. A similar format followed in the longer 1966 series, with more towns competing from each of the four countries.
The more familiar format began in 1967, when teams from Great Britain and Switzerland joined the competition and towns only appeared once in the series heats, with each heat being hosted by one of the participant broadcasters in its country, culminating in a grand final. The quiz element was abandoned and the games became more comical (though none-the-less technically difficult), and began to be played in outlandish costumes (often large foam latex suits) with the contestants competing to complete bizarre tasks in funny games. The teams could not choose which of their members played each game. A draw was held to determine the game participants, who were then allowed to rehearse the game once ahead of the broadcast recording. Each of the teams received a score for each game, and the games were umpired by one or two "international" judges (supported by referees from the participant countries), with the winner of each heat being awarded a silver trophy. The two judges/referees who became synonymous with the series were Swiss nationals Gennaro Olivieri and Guido Pancaldi, who were together on the show from 1966 to 1982. Pancaldi returned for the revived series in 1988. Weather conditions Typically, the programmes were staged outdoors during the European summer months, although occasionally the competition took place indoors, such as the Dutch heat in 1971, staged at the Ahoy Sports Arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Historic market squares or the grounds of famous buildings were often used for the settings, although the surrounds of swimming pools or quay sides for lakes or the sea were very commonly used. The outdoor settings meant that bad weather could often have an impact on the competition, but the games took place regardless of hostile weather conditions. Infamously, a freak storm suddenly hit the 1970 Grand Final staged in the Verona Amphitheatre, leading to the unprotected audience having to flee from the torrential rain and the presenters being stranded without protection, but the show continued. Grand final The series culminated in a grand final, with the most successful team from each country in the series participating. Each finalist would qualify by winning their heat. If a country won more than one heat, the highest scoring winning team for that country would go to the final. Any country that had not won a heat would be represented by the highest scoring team that placed second. Occasionally, this meant that a team with a higher score, but who had finished lower than second, would be displaced by a lower-scoring team that had achieved a second place. In the rare event that none of the country's teams had achieved a win or second place in any heat (such as GB in 1967, France in 1968 or Portugal in 1979), the highest-scoring team regardless of place would participate in the final. Heats Each participating broadcaster hosted one heat of the games in its country, with a rotation as to which of them hosted the grand final. The winner of the grand final would receive a gold trophy, with the runner-up receiving silver and the third-placed team bronze. It was not uncommon for countries to win the grand final with a team that had not won their heat or indeed for countries to win that had not won any heats at all. The Swiss won the grand final in both 1972 and 1974, the Germans in 1977, the Italians in 1978, the Portuguese in 1980 and the British in 1981, all with teams that had finished second in their heats and with none of their teams winning any heats at all. Portugal won the 1980 series trophy without ever having previously won any heats at all in either of their two series to date. The Swiss were twice series winners in 1972 and 1974 despite not winning a single heat in any series for four consecutive series from 1971 to 1974. Changes in countries competing Only Belgium and Italy competed in the original series from start to finish (1965–1982). France participated in the 1968 series, but due to industrial action with French television, they were unable to broadcast any of the series domestically and had to cancel hosting their designated heat. West Germany hosted two heats that season in place of the French edition. With the strike action continuing, no French teams participated in the 1969 series. Liechtenstein participated in the series once, replacing the Swiss for the seventh and final heat in the 1976 series, designated as FL rather than CH for the episode. It had been agreed that, should the team from Liechtenstein win their heat, they would be allowed to compete in the Grand Final alongside the best Swiss team. This proved immaterial when Liechtenstein finished fourth of the seven teams in the heat. A team from Derry represented the UK in the German heat of the 1978 series and were designated as NI rather than GB for that episode.
Dutch TV (who joined the competition for the 1970 series) became the first broadcaster to permanently withdraw from the competition at the end of the 1977 series, having never won the series final. Flemish TV in Belgium carried all the series live, whereas Dutch TV recorded the episodes for later transmission (as did many others). Ratings were thus very low in the Netherlands as most viewers had already watched the show with Dutch commentary live from Flemish TV earlier. The Dutch were replaced in the series by Yugoslavia from 1978, who likewise were never the series champions. Portugal joined in 1979, but West Germany left the competition after the 1980 series due to falling ratings. It was agreed to end the contest before the commencement of the 1982 series, which ended with the first outright series win for original participant country Belgium, but it was later revived with a different set of competing countries in 1988.
Some episodes started being produced and broadcast in colour beginning in 1968, but it was not until the 1970 series that the entire series was produced in colour. However, some broadcasters, notably the French and Italians, continued to broadcast the episodes domestically in monochrome for many years, despite producing their own episode in colour. French TV began showing the entire series in colour in 1974, followed by Italy in 1976. Presentation and marketing Each heat was presented almost exclusively in the language of the host broadcaster, necessitating commentators explaining and describing the games and state of play to their domestic audiences. This format made the episodes difficult to sell outside of the participants, offering few opportunities to recoup the programme costs from international sales (although the format itself was licensed to many countries). From the late 1970s the BBC was charged with packaging the episodes for international sale including the English/British commentary. This encouraged sales in English speaking countries leading to broadcasts around the world. In some cases, the BBC would add a pre-show introduction from host Stuart Hall and would often trim the show's length from the broadcast version. Some episodes were occasionally cut to one hour editions for international sale. Scoring