British version of American hit Password

Alan Carr and Daisy May Cooper are being lined up to front a new gameshow for ITV.

The pair are hosting a pilot episode of Password, based on the long-running US show of the same name.

The game features celebrities and members of the public trying to  convey mystery words to each other. and producers say: ‘Expect lots of laughs as our plucky contestants attempt to get on the same wavelength as their celebrity teammates to win big money.’

Created by Bob Stewart, the same producer who came up with The Price Is Right, the show first aired on the CBS network from 1961 and has subsequently been revived by rivals ABC and NBC and run to thousands of episodes.

The most recent version aired on NBC in 2022, hosted by Scream Queens star Keke Palmer and executive produced by Jimmy Fallon. Here’s a clip featuring Fallon and Mad Men’s Jon Hamm:

Several British versions have previously been made, the most recent fronted by The Krypton Factor’s Gordon Burns in the mid-1980s. Esther Rantzen, Tom O’Connor and journalist Brian Redhead have also hosted it.

The new pilot – which won’t be broadcast – is being taped at  Television Centre in London at the end of March, and is made by Talkback, the production company behind Never Mind the Buzzcocks, QI and Alan Carr's Epic Gameshow

Earlier this month it was revealed that Carr is to present his first Saturday-night quiz show for the BBC, Picture Slam – which was seen as a sign he was ‘defecting’ from ITV.

However, his involvement in Password suggests the comic is still keen to maintain links with the broadcaster.

Carr had been tipped to replace David Walliams as a judge on Britain's Got Talent – a role that actually went to Strictly’s Bruno Tonioli instead, in what was interpreted as a snub.

Free audience tickets to the pilot recording are available from Lost In TV.

Published: 26 Feb 2023