Call My Bluff

Call My Bluff is a British panel game show based on the short-lived US version of the same name. It was originally hosted by Robin Ray and later, most notably, by Robert Robinson. Its most prominent panellist was Frank Muir. The theme music for the show was "Ciccolino" by Norrie Paramor.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Format

The game comprised two teams of three (a captain and two guests) who would compete to earn points by identifying the correct definitions of obscure words. The teams took turns to give three definitions, one true and two bluffs, while the other team attempted to determine which was correct. If the correct choice was made the team earned one point, if not, the bluffing team earned one point. Both teams took turns bluffing and determining definitions.

Examples of words used in the show, taken from a 1972 book published in connection with it, include queach, strongle, ablewhacket, hickboo, jargoon, zurf, morepork, and jirble. The word queach was defined by the contestants as "a malicious caricature", "a cross between a quince and a peach" and "a mini-jungle of mixed vegetation" (with the last definition being the true one).

Broadcast history

Call My Bluff originally aired on BBC2 from 17 October 1965 to 22 December 1988.

Robert Morley and Frank Muir captained the teams. Morley was later succeeded by Patrick Campbell, and Arthur Marshall took over in 1981 following Campbell's death. Various celebrities also stood in as team captains, including Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams and Alan Melville. The original series finished after Marshall's death, although a general change in the tone and atmosphere of broadcasting at the time may also have affected its temporary demise. For the majority of this run (from 1967 onwards) the host was Robert Robinson.

The show was resurrected in 1996 after an eight-year rest (apart from one special edition on 16 April 1994 for BBC Two's thirtieth birthday, which still featured Robert Robinson, but this time with Joanna Lumley as a team captain opposite Frank Muir), now as a daytime series on BBC1. It began airing on 13 May 1996 with Alan Coren and Sandi Toksvig as the team captains and Bob Holness replacing Robinson as chairman.

In 2003, Toksvig was replaced by the journalist Rod Liddle, and newsreader Fiona Bruce took the chair. The series finished again on 18 June 2004.

Call My Bluff returned for a special during the BBC's 24 Hour Panel People in aid of Comic Relief 2011, with Alex Horne, Roisin Conaty, Russell Tovey, Tim Key, Sarah Cawood and David Walliams participating. The host was Angus Deayton.

Transmissions

BBC2

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 29 June 1966<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 37
2	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 14 April 1967<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 26
3	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 7 July 1968<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 39
4	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 28 May 1970<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 59
5	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 25 January 1971<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 20
6	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 7 February 1972<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 34
7	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 7 May 1973<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 26
8	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 28 January 1974<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 22
9	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 24 March 1975<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 26
10	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 12 August 1976<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 16
11	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 12 August 1977<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 16
12	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 2 August 1978<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 18
13	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 15 May 1979<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 20
14	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 30 March 1980<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 12
15	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 4 September 1980<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 10
16	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 26 July 1981<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 20
17	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 17 June 1982<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 20
18	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 4 September 1983<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 20
19	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 20 August 1984<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 29
20	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 21 December 1984<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 10
21	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 31 December 1985<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 10
22	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 28 May 1987<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 20
23	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 10 December 1987<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 14
24	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 16 June 1988<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 9
25	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 22 December 1988<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 8
One-off	16 April 1994<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 1

BBC1

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 31 May 1996<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 14
2	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 10 January 1997<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 80
3	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 17 July 1997<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 58
4	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 3 April 1998<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 143
5	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 1 April 1999<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 64
6	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 17 December 1999<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 75
7	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 12 July 2000<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 20
8	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 14 September 2000<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 9
9	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 19 January 2001<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 13
10	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 31 May 2002<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 40
11	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 1 July 2003<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 30
12	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 18 June 2004<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || 9

Book

• Call my Bluff by Frank Muir and Patrick Campbell, published by Eyre Methuen, London, 1972.

References in other works

• An episode of the early-1980s LWT sketch-comedy series End of Part One parodied the show as Scrape My Barrel, where panelists had to figure out the meaning of the word working class.
• The show (and in particular its host, Robert Robinson) was the subject of a sketch by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie in the second series of A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
• In the "Europe" episode of QI (series E), a segment was featured entitled "Call My Euro Bluff", featuring stories about laws in the EU. The panel then had to decide whether each story was true or a "bløff" (Stephen Fry pronounced it "blerff"). Fry frequently drops into the impersonation of Robinson that he used in the sketch from A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
• In the Doctor Who episode "Bad Wolf" Call My Bluff is mentioned as one of the games hosted in the game station.
• In May 2014 the quirks of the show were lampooned by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse in BBC Two's satirical Harry and Paul's Story of the Twos, where the show was given the name "Speech Impediment" and the word chosen for the panel was paedophile.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0216460

 | title/{{#if: {{#invoke:ustring|match|1=0216460|2=^tt}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | tt0216460/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345|from=}}
   | title/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D&s=tt
   }}
 }}{{#ifeq: {{#invoke:If any equal|main|Q618779|Q67325957|Q33999|value=Template:Wikidata}} | yes 
     | {{#switch: Template:Wikidata 
       | Q618779 
       | Q67325957  = awards Awards for
       | Q33999  = fullcredits Full cast and crew of
       }}
   | {{#if: Template:Wikidata 
     | {{#switch: Template:Wikidata
       | Q63032896 
       | Q66763446  = fullcredits Full cast and crew of
       | Q107974527 
       | Q482994  = soundtrack Soundtrack of
       }}
     }}
   }} Template:Trim] at {{#if: | IMDb | IMDb }}Template:EditAtWikidata{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb title with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | 3 | description | id | link_hide | qid | quotes | title }}{{#switch: {{#invoke:String2|matchAny|^tt.........|^tt.......|tt|.........|source=0216460|plain=false}}| 1 | 3 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning| 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning}}{{#if: 0216460 {{#property:P345}} || Template:Preview warningTemplate:Main other }}{{#switch: Template:Wikidata 

| Q21191270 | Q21664088 | Q50062923 | Q50914552 | Q99079902 | Q123186929 | Q55422400 | Q61220733 =Template:Preview warning | Q3464665 =Template:Preview warning }}{{#ifeq: Template:Wikidata | Q21191270 |Template:Preview warning }}{{#if: 0216460 | Template:WikidataCheck }}

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0364153

 | title/{{#if: {{#invoke:ustring|match|1=0364153|2=^tt}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | tt0364153/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345|from=}}
   | title/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D&s=tt
   }}
 }}{{#ifeq: {{#invoke:If any equal|main|Q618779|Q67325957|Q33999|value=Template:Wikidata}} | yes 
     | {{#switch: Template:Wikidata 
       | Q618779 
       | Q67325957  = awards Awards for
       | Q33999  = fullcredits Full cast and crew of
       }}
   | {{#if: Template:Wikidata 
     | {{#switch: Template:Wikidata
       | Q63032896 
       | Q66763446  = fullcredits Full cast and crew of
       | Q107974527 
       | Q482994  = soundtrack Soundtrack of
       }}
     }}
   }} Template:Trim] at {{#if: | IMDb | IMDb }}Template:EditAtWikidata{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb title with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | 3 | description | id | link_hide | qid | quotes | title }}{{#switch: {{#invoke:String2|matchAny|^tt.........|^tt.......|tt|.........|source=0364153|plain=false}}| 1 | 3 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning| 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning}}{{#if: 0364153 {{#property:P345}} || Template:Preview warningTemplate:Main other }}{{#switch: Template:Wikidata 

| Q21191270 | Q21664088 | Q50062923 | Q50914552 | Q99079902 | Q123186929 | Q55422400 | Q61220733 =Template:Preview warning | Q3464665 =Template:Preview warning }}{{#ifeq: Template:Wikidata | Q21191270 |Template:Preview warning }}{{#if: 0364153 | Template:WikidataCheck }}

• Call My Bluff at BFI
• Template:UKGameshow