We Are the Champions (British TV series)

We Are the Champions
GenreChildren's game show
Created byAlan Russell
Ron Pickering
Presented byRon Pickering (1973–90)
Gary Lineker (1991–92)
Linford Christie (1993–94)
Judy Simpson (1995)
Paddy McGuinness (2010)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series16
No. of episodes104 (inc. 13 specials)
Production
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkBBC1
Release13 June 1973 (1973-06-13) –
12 March 2010 (2010-03-12)

We Are the Champions is a children's game show that ran from 13 June 1973 to 25 July 1995. It was originally presented by Ron Pickering but, when he died in 1991, Gary Lineker, Linford Christie and Judy Simpson took over as presenters of the remaining one-off specials.[1]

The programme was formatted around a traditional British school sports day, where children would compete in various athletics and swimming competitions. Each programme concluded with Pickering shouting to the children ""Away Y' Go" at which point they would all run and jump/dive into the swimming pool as the titles ran.

In March 2010, We Are the Champions was revived as part of the BBC's Sport Relief programming. It was hosted by Paddy McGuinness with team captains Tim Henman, Amir Khan, Dame Kelly Holmes and Mark Foster.[2]

Transmissions

Series

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 13 June 1973 25 July 1973 7
2 4 June 1974 2 July 1974 5
3 4 July 1975 1 August 1975 5
4 10 August 1976 21 September 1976 7
5 7 July 1977 4 August 1977 5
6 27 June 1978 8 August 1978 7
7 1 June 1979 13 July 1979 7
8 26 June 1980 7 August 1980 7
9 2 July 1981 13 August 1981 7
10 28 July 1982 8 September 1982 7
11 30 June 1983 11 August 1983 7
12 21 June 1984 2 August 1984 7
13 27 June 1985 8 August 1985 7
14 3 June 1986 15 July 1986 7
15 2 July 1987 13 August 1987 7
16 8 March 2010 12 March 2010 5

Specials

Date Entitle
18 August 1983 Disabled Special
15 August 1984 Disabled Special
15 August 1985 Disabled Special
22 July 1986 Disabled Special
20 August 1987 Disabled Special
18 August 1988 Disabled Special
7 September 1989 Disabled Special
9 August 1990 Disabled Special
5 September 1991 Disabled Special
10 September 1992 Disabled Special
9 September 1993 Disabled Special
6 September 1994 Disabled Special
25 July 1995 Disabled Special

References

  1. ^ Newsham, Gavin (7 November 2003). "The 10 funniest sports shows". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  2. ^ Barney Ronay (15 March 2010). "We Are the Champions returns to our screens | Television & radio". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 August 2012.