Whodunnit? is a British television game show that aired on ITV from 15 August 1972 to 26 June 1978. It was devised by Jeremy Lloyd and Lance Percival, and originally aired as a pilot with Shaw Taylor as host. It then became a full show, with the first series being hosted by Edward Woodward, before Jon Pertwee took over hosting duties from the second series until the show's end.
Format Each week it featured a short murder-mystery drama enacted in front of a panel of four celebrity guests who then had to establish who the murderer was. One week there was a smuggling mystery and no murder. The panel members could interview the remaining characters, with the proviso that only the guilty party or parties could lie. Each panellist could also request to see a short replay of one section of the initial drama, which would often include events as they occurred and flashbacks as seen and narrated by individual suspects. For series 1, the entire audience also took part in guessing who was guilty (with the winner winning a prop from the set). For series 2 and 3, four members of the audience formed a panel, but did not question the suspects, with the winner taking away a 'Whodunnit?' trophy (a magnifying glass in a frame). For series 4 and 5, the audience panel was dropped and a TV Times competition winner formed part of the main panel (taking away a prop from the set if they won the game). For series 6, they were dropped entirely. At the end the compere would reveal the guilty (usually a murderer) with the catchphrase "would the real 'Whodunnit' please stand up?". Whodunnit? originally adopted a conventional panel-game studio layout, for series 2 some episodes would use the murder scene for the panel part of the show, with this being fully adopted for series 3 onwards.
Transmissions Series Start date End date Episodes Pilot 15 August 1972 1 1 25 June 1973 30 July 1973 6 2 24 June 1974 29 July 1974 6 Special 26 December 1974 1 3 14 July 1975 15 September 1975 10 4 28 June 1976 9 August 1976 7 5 27 June 1977 25 July 1977 5 6 3 April 1978 26 June 1978 12
Episode guide Pilot (1972)
Series 1 (1973)
Series 2 (1974)
Christmas Special (1974)
Series 3 (1975)
Series 4 (1976)
Series 5 (1977)
Series 6 (1978)
DVD releases All six series of Whodunnit? have been released on DVD by Network.
DVD titleDiscsYearEpisodesRelease dateComplete Series 121972-19736 (+ pilot)31 January 2011Complete Series 221974613 August 2012Complete Series 331974-197510 (+ special)4 June 2012Complete Series 421976725 March 2013Complete Series 511977527 April 2015Complete Series 6319781220 November 2017The Complete Series131972-19784820 November 2017
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