Blockbusters returns to TV tonight after an absence of more than a decade, with a new host and on a new channel. Fronted by Simon Mayo and airing on Challenge, the revived game show boasts one further change: nowadays contestants of all ages will be taking part, instead of the sixth formers who populated the studio during the late Bob Holness’s tenure.
And, who knows, maybe there’ll be a famous face of tomorrow among the new wave of Blockbusters contestants. After all, the show’s played host to some of British TV’s best and brightest over the years. People like…
Stephen Merchant
The lanky Extras star turned up on the revived Blockbusters hosted by Michael Aspel in 1997. Merchant claims that a friend of his who appeared on the original Blockbusters described the experience as “a debauched old time” and, naturally, fancied a week of subsidised decadence for himself too. Alas, by the time he’d registered to go on the programme it had been revamped to allow contestants of all ages, leaving a would-be naughty Merchant adrift in a sea of elderly women and middle aged bikers…
Konnie Huq
Blue Peter presenter-to-be Konnie appeared on Blockbusters in 1992, aged 16, as part of a team. While on the show, Konnie rather reluctantly confessed to an appearance on BP at the age of 14 and also unexpectedly revealed that she first met Bob Holness when she was four years old, having been sat on his knee at a fete.