play games

ITV Play is a 24/7 participation television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV plc.

ITV Play launched on March 31, 2006 at midnight on ITV1, with the first edition of The Mint. ITV2 also launched ITV Play on the same night with Quizmania (previously on ITV1). It was launched as a standalone channel on Freeview (taking on the slot which was previously occupied by the Men & Motors channel) on 19 April 2006 and started broadcasting on the Sky Digital platform on 24 July 2006.

ITV Play was created in response to and hoping to cash-in on the popularity of late night quiz shows on ITV1 and ITV2 such as Quizmania and The Mint. ITV Play also offers additional gambling services on their website.

It costs at least 75p to call ITV Play. This charge is made even if the caller is not put through to the studio. A free entry route is available through the website. Users are restricted to 150 calls/web entries in a 24 hour period.

Shows

Make Your Play

Make Your Play airs on ITV1 and ITV Play simultaneously from 1am on Thursdays - Saturdays. The prizes are greater than usually available on ITV Play (often exceeding £20,000), but as a result of this, callers are usually taken less often. Hosts include Alex Kramer, Ben Baldwin, Greg Scott and Zö Christien. The boss (pronounced 'bowss'), used to speak with a cockney accent and often insulted the presenters and demanded they give more money away via a phone on a circular desk. This, however, has been recently dropped from the format of the programme.

The Mint

Main article: The Mint (game show)

The Mint is a live, late night, interactive quiz show with celebrity guests in a large extravagant set designed to look like the inside of a mansion. The show is presented by various presenters including Brian Dowling, Kat Shoob, Craig Stevens and Cat Porter. According to some internet media websites, The Mint will finish on Wednesday 28th February to be replaced by a brand new show called "The Glitter Ball". This new show will be made by the same company that currently produces The Mint.

The Mint Extra

The Mint Extra is a spin off from the main show (The Mint). The presenters of The Mint Extra include Milo Macabe, Brian Dowling, Craig Stevens, Mark Rumble and Cat Porter.

Play DJ

Main article: Play DJ

Play DJ is a text based quiz show which is similar to ITV Playalong. Play DJ airs weekdays from 3pm - 8pm and on Weekends from 10am - 8.00pm. Play DJ will be showing between 22:00-01:00 daily in Quizmania's old slot for 3 weeks from Monday 15 January. Allowing players to to use the SMS service to contact the show or play the games. Play DJ allows viewers to play many different games these are Buzzwords, Izit and Cash Quiz. If you get onto the highscore table you can be chosen randomily to go through to the studio and play either a game of Skill or a game of chance You can also text in and vote for your favourite song to be played live on air. Presenters of the show include Nigel Mitchell, Ruth Frances, Amy Garcia, Emma Lee, Mark Ryes, Tim Dixon and Greg Scott

Playalong

ITV Playalong is a text based games with five main games: Space Wars, Izit, Buzzwords, Cash Quiz, and String em In. IF a high enough score is achieved playing these games, one is eligible to play the "Bonus Ball Bonanza" for a cash prize of up to £2000.

Defunct Shows

Quizmania

Quizmania was the first phone-in quiz show produced for ITV. The success of this show was one of the main reasons ITV decided to branch out and create a dedicated channel for interactive quiz shows. The show was axed, with the last episode shown on January 14, 2007. Presenters such as Greg Scott has confirmed this on his personal website, that Quizmania will not be returning to ITV Play or any other channel for the forseable future.

The Call

The Call is an interactive quiz show on ITV Play and Men & Motors. The presenters are Tim Dixon Dave O'Reilly, Zö Christien and Emma Lee. The show contains brainteasers and other ways to win cash. It also has a feature called the Phrase that Pays and a winner could be made simply by answering their phone. If they get called up they are only allowed to say: "ITV is the Place to Play" (the Phrase that Pays) and not anything else. Otherwise, they will not win the prize money. The games include gridwords, in which the answers are potentially more easy to guess, because as well as the theme you also have the word length and sometimes extra letters. A more familiar game played is a Wormword. The first series of The Call also ended on the 22nd December.

The Common Room

Main article: The Common Room

The Common Room, aired for half an hour in the early evenings. The Common Room's main presenters were Tim Dixon, Emma Lee and Zö Christien. The Common Room launched on ITV Play on Monday 31st July. Unlike the rest of the ITV Play games, this was more of a chat show rather than playing games and rather than cash prizes, other prizes where up for grabs, such as an ITV Play T-Shirt, Pen and slinky for best text and for best photo normally either a MP3 Player or a Digital Camera. The first series of The Common Room aired for it's last time on Friday 10th November 2006. It is unknown whether there will be a second series of The Common Room.

The Daily Quiz!

Main article: The Daily Quiz!

ITV Play showed The Daily Quiz!, which was also simulcast on Men & Motors in the afternoons every week day. One of The Daily Quiz's main presenters, Kat Shoob, is also a presenter on ITV Play's flagship programme, The Mint. The Daily Quiz! launched on the 13th March 2006.

On 19 May 2006, officers from the Fraud Squad raided the offices of BIG Game TV!, makers of The Daily Quiz! after a BBC Radio 4 investigation for the You and Yours programme found that receptionists were told to ignore all incoming calls for long periods of time while 150-200 calls per minute were clocked up at 75p a time. For this reason, The Daily Quiz! was dropped by ITV Play and is no longer in production.

Rovers Return Quiz

This Coronation Street inspired pub quiz, based on the fictional public house, the Rovers Return Quiz first started in the evenings From 7pm onwards. For reasons unknown the show moved to weekdays at 2 p.m. to 3.p.m. The show comprised of two teams taking on callers to the show in order to win a jackpot prize. The show differed from the other quiz programmes in that it allowed more than one caller to take part at any one time. Viewers played along at home and answered multiple-choice questions on their phones. The highest scoring people got into the 'snug' where one caller was randomly selected. They automatically won £50 and took part in the 'Newton or Ridley' jackpot game. They had to guess which word, Newton or Ridley, is behind bottles of beer. Prizes included an extra £500, £1,000, £2,000 and £10,000 for people with lots of luck. Rovers Return Quiz aired for the last time on Friday 13 October 2006. It was replaced by an extended version of This Morning Puzzle Book.

The School Run

The School Run aired everyday between in the early evening (and on Mondays at 9 p.m.) it was hosted by either Tim Dixon, Emma Lee or Lawrie Jordon. Unlike the other ITV Play shows The School Run featured a text service where you could chat to the presenter or to other viewers. This show aired for the last time on 30 July 2006. It was replaced with The Common Room which has reached the end of its current run.

Criticisms

One of the criticisms of ITV Play is that it costs 75p to call the premium rate number used by ITV Play and costs even more from mobile phones. This fee is charged even if the person does not connect through to the studio. Also, ITV has promised to make its programmes with higher production values than quiz programs on other quiz channels. However the history is not uncheckered and the performance and ethics of ITV Play is under question as many of the callers are kept on hold and unable to connect. ^[1].

Restrictions put on the number of attempts to call mean that in a 24 hour period BT callers can spend a maximum of £112.50 per day.