Alan Carr to front Play Your Cards Right revival

Wednesday 8th August 2018, 3:17pm

  • Bruce Forsyth classic game show Play Your Cards Right is being revived
  • ITV producers are working on a new version of the hit series
  • Alan Carr has been lined up as the programme's potential new host
The Price Is Right. Alan Carr

Alan Carr is to host a revival of TV game show Play Your Cards Right.

According to newspaper reports, ITV have signed up the comedian to front a new version of the show made popular by Bruce Forsyth.

It follows Channel 4's attempt to revive another Forsyth series, The Price Is Right, also with Carr hosting, was canclled after just one episode.

The Sun cites a source saying: "It's very early days but [producers] have begun work on what the comeback would look like and everyone is excited. They're treading very carefully as they know it's an iconic format, and was fronted by a legend, but Alan is a great fit and is one of the very few current stars with the personality and skills to hold a show like this.

"Channel 4 and the BBC have both failed in their efforts to do a Brucie classic justice, but ITV bosses are hopeful of cracking it."

Play Your Cards Right was first launched in 1980. Inspired by an American series, Card Sharks, it ran for 16 series over three different iterations of the format, ending only in 2003. All 248 episodes were hosted by Bruce Forsyth, in between stints as host of the hit BBC comedy entertainment show The Generation Game.

The Generation Game was itself the subject of another seemingly ill-fated revival. Four episodes of a revived version of the programme hosted by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins were recorded late in 2017, but only two were deemed to be of broadcastable quality. They aired at Easter 2018 to critical derision. Audience figures for both episodes were in the multi-million figures, but BBC bosses are understood to have erred away from any further resurrection of the format.

A trial episode of Alan Carr's new version of Play Your Cards Right is expected to be filmed in the coming months.

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