Taking over a role made famous by someone else can be fraught with danger but some game show hosts have made a career of it

JOHN Humphrys has yet to decide whether to adopt Mastermind predecessor Magnus Magnusson's catch phrase: "I've started, so I'll finish", when he asks the questions on the revived series.

Some viewers may prefer that he didn't start at all. It's nothing personal. Newsreader and Radio 4 Today programme presenter Humphrys will probably make a perfectly acceptable quizmaster. It's more that taking over a role made famous by someone else is fraught with dangers.

He has the unenviable task of following Magnusson when Mastermind, axed by the BBC in 1997 and revived briefly on the Discovery Channel two years later with Clive Anderson, is revived again on BBC2 this summer.

Like the black chair in which contenders sat while being quizzed, Magnusson is considered part and parcel of the programme. Not only is he gone, so has the chair - the original was given to him as a leaving present.

"Magnus Magnusson was brilliant. I'm taking over from an institution. It will be fun," says Humphrys. We'll have to wait and see, and there are precedents for such drastic changes working. A few years ago, for instance, most of us would have said Bamber Gascoigne was irreplaceable on University Challenge. But there's a healthy tradition in the quiz and game show arena for hosts to play musical chairs.

For 15 years, brainy Bamber was the voice saying "your starter for ten". Seven years after being axed by ITV, BBC2 revived the scholarly quiz that pits teams of university students against each other. Tough Newsnight interrogator Jeremy Paxman was brought in to ask the questions. His more aggressive treatment of contestants gave the competition a much-needed edge.

Some prime time series are resurrected, given a new presenter and stripped across the schedules five days a week in an effort to fill the daytime schedules. Call My Bluff, which began life on BBC2 in 1965, returns to BBC1 later this month. Not bad for a show that lasted a mere six months in its native America. What was once considered an upmarket wordplay quiz is now presented to keep students, housewives and the unemployed entertained in between lifestyle and debate shows.

Disdainful Robert Robinson is the best remembered chairman of Call My Bluff, although Robin Ray, Joe Melia and Peter Wheeler all did it before him. Jovial Bob Holness moved from Blockbusters to host the series in its new daytime position. Now it's returning with news presenter Fiona Bruce in the chair.

Going For A Song suffered a similar fate, with the antiques show returning in the daytime schedules in 1999 after two decades off air. Gone was Max Robertson as chairman, replaced by the more affable Michael Parkinson.

All-round entertainer Bruce Forsyth is an expert at changing places. Having made The Generation Game one of British TV's biggest successes, he left and was replaced by Larry "What a gay day" Grayson. His limp-wristed humour was different to Forsyth's good game, good game approach, but proved almost as popular with viewers.

When the BBC revived the series in 1990, Forsyth returned as well and put the show back on top. The latest presenter, comedian Jim Davidson, is an acquired taste whose comedy alienated too many viewers and ratings slipped badly. Hardly surprising that the BBC axed the show.

Forsyth went on to say "I'm in charge" of The Price Is Right on ITV. The US import, originally presented over here by Leslie Crowther, became Brucie's Price Is Right in recognition of its host.

Sometimes a change doesn't work. Masterchef dumped long-time presenter Loyd Grossman in favour of spiky-haired Gary Rhodes. The competition for amateur chefs lasted just one series in the new format, and hasn't been seen since. On the other hand, afternoon show Ready, Steady, Cook lost presenter Fern Britton but not ratings with Ainsley Harriot in charge. The jury is still out on the latest version of Treasure Hunt with Dermot Murnaghan as the new Kenneth Kendall and Suzi Perry replacing Anneka Rice (who was herself replaced by tennis star Annabel Croft).

Other shows just keep going no matter who's in charge. The game or the quiz is more important that the mouthpiece. Former Radio One DJ Nicky Campbell was succeeded by Bradley Walsh and John Leslie at the Wheel Of Fortune, as ever-smiling hostess Carol Smillie moved to Changing Rooms and was replaced by Jenny Powell.

Bob Monkhouse also called out "Bernie the bolt" in The Golden Shot, taking over from Jackie Rae. Norman Vaughan and Charlie Williams followed him in the role. Monkhouse also said "We asked 100 people..." before Max Bygraves and then Les Dennis took the helm of Family Fortunes.

Ratings have slumped so badly under current host Andrew Collins that Dennis' name has been linked with the gameshow again. Asked on ITV1's Today With Des And Mel show if he wanted to go back to the job, Dennis said: "It would be nice to think about it. It was a great show."

Published: 10/05/2003