Family Fortunes: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Family Fortunes is a British television game show based on the American game show Family Feud. The programme ran on ITV from 6 January 1980 to 6 December 2002 before being revived by the same channel in 2006 under the title of All Star Family Fortunes. The game involves two families providing answers to 'everyday questions' that were surveyed by 100 members of the British public before the show (e.g. 'Name something usually done in the dark') to win cash prizes (and sometimes mystery prizes for giving a correct answer). The top answers to the surveys are displayed on a large electronic board, originally known as "Mr. Babbage", which famously sounds a wrong answer "Duh-uhh" sound effect and its accompanying X to signal the strike, as well as a "ding" for a right answer).

Family Fortunes was first hosted by comedian Bob Monkhouse (1980–83) then by singer and entertainer Max Bygraves (1983–85). After being rested for the whole of 1986, the show returned on 27 June 1987 with Les Dennis as presenter, and had a consistently successful run for the next 15 years. It was then moved out of peak time and became a daily daytime show, hosted by Andy Collins, but it only had a short run in this format before being axed.

In 2006, the series was revived with Vernon Kay as host, and was renamed All Star Family Fortunes, as each team consisted of a celebrity and four family members. The show was also transmitted back to peak time. Prize money goes to a charity of the celebrity's choice, and contestants being either celebrity families, or a group of actors famous for playing a fictional family. Several Christmas specials of All Star Family Fortunes have aired as well.

Series details

• Title: Family Fortunes
• Format: Game Show
• Language: English
• Premiere date: 1980-01-06
• Final broadcast date listed: 1989-12-22
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: ITV1
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 59 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 8267
• TVDB ID: 258905

Cast and credited roles

• Bob Monkhouse — Host
• Les Dennis — Host
• Max Bygraves — Host

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1980-01-06; final listed air date 1980-07-06.
• Season 2: premiered 1981-01-09; final listed air date 1981-07-11.
• Season 3: premiered 1981-12-12; final listed air date 1982-06-05.
• Season 4: premiered 1983-01-01; final listed air date 1983-06-25.
• Season 5: premiered 1983-10-14; final listed air date 1984-04-01.
• Season 6: premiered 1985-01-18; final listed air date 1985-05-17.
• Season 7: premiered 1987-06-27; final listed air date 1987-12-19.
• Season 8: premiered 1988-09-25; final listed air date 1989-03-19.
• Season 9: premiered 1989-09-01; final listed air date 1989-12-22.

Source and licence

Adapted from Family Fortunes on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.