Beyond the Hub Pressure Pad Review by Mickie & Patricia Newton-Carline

Pressure Pad is a new week day afternoon BBC game show hosted by Torchwood’s very own John Barrowman. There are 25 episodes in all to be shown over 5 weeks. This isn’t John’s first outing hosting a game show as he hosted the BBC children’s game show ‘The Movie game’ back in the 90’s. But it is most certainly his first adult game show. So what is Pressure Pad?

This is a fast paced general knowledge game that puts it’s contestant under, as the title implies, pressure. We have two teams, pink and blue, of five headed by a team captain, who doesn’t take their place on the Pressure Pad until the final game. They are playing for £2,000 and the potential to go for the bonus round that is a further £1,000. This £1,000 rolls over to the next day if the Captain chooses not to gamble everything on the bonus. If they lose on the bonus, they lose everything. Each of the Captains four members has two lives when they enter into a game. If they lose both lives then they lose the chance to help their captain in the final game.  And each game doesn’t end until someone loses both lives. There are four rounds, each one being different from the previous - there are a number of varied general knowledge games that are alternated over the week so no two shows are identical other than the final game and the bonus round. Once the captain knows the game that is to come; they must choose one of their remaining team members to play the game. Here are a couple of game examples.

DEADLINE: A contestant from each team stands on either side of the Pressure Pad. Down the centre of the Pad is a line that will move. John tosses a pink and blue disc to decide which side goes first. The contestants take it in turns to answer a question and the other contestant doesn’t take a turn until the other answers correctly and until they answer correctly the line will move towards them. If it reaches them, they will lose one life of two only. This game continues until a contestant loses both lives and loses the chance to take part in the final game. When someone’s loses a life they start again, only they move one step closer to the line which means the line will reach them much quicker than it did previously.

BORDERLINE:  The Pressure Pad shows us a map of the UK and Ireland, with no country or county boundaries. Once again John tosses a double-sided pink and blue disc to see which team starts. At the start of the game the pad randomly divides the map into three sections; this is increased with each correctly answered question starting at three, then four, five and so forth. John then will ask a question to do with an area of the country. The team member must then answer the question by taking their place in the section of the map that applies to their answer. They have 10 seconds to answer and in that time they can change their mind as many times as they want. If they either A: fail to answer in the 10 seconds or B: answer incorrectly they lose a life. Also the map is reset to a three section division. If they answer correctly then the pad divides the map again increasing from 3 to 4 sections and the other contestant gets their chance to answer another UK related question. As they continue to answer correctly the sections increase and so reducing the size of each division.

ONE DIRECTION: This is nothing to do with the group! The pad creates four circles each containing an answer which relates to the others and the contestant must put them in the correct order, for example, ‘Tom Baker, David Tennant, Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy. Put these Doctor Who actors in the correct chronological order.’ The relationship between the answers tends to get difficult or obscure as the contestants get more and more correct!

THE FINAL ROUND: This round consists of four questions for each side and the answer is chosen by the team captain, although they consult with any remaining team members. The first answer is chosen from two possible answers, the second from three answers, the third from four choices and the last from five. The Captain makes their choice & the answer is ‘locked in’ as soon as they step on the answer pad. If it is correct, the next question is asked – if it is wrong then that team stands and the other team gets their chance. When and if they get stuck, the first team gets to try their last question again – this continues until one team has found all their correct answers and wins the £2000 prize. The captain is then given the chance of going for the bonus – which on 27^th November, not having been won for the nine previous shows, stood at £10,000! Only the captain can make this decision and cannot consult on the answer – and if they get it wrong, the team loses everything! The eight possible answers are displayed and the captain must try to work out what the question might be from whatever they think the answers relate to. On the 27^th, the captain looked at the answers and decided to take the risk – the question turned out to be the name of the cat employed at 10 Downing Street, the Prime Ministers residence, as mouse catcher – the captain guessed ‘Socks’ and got it wrong – the correct answer being ‘Larry’! (Needless to say his wife didn’t look very happy) The £10,000 bonus will rollover and the next bonus will be £11,000. We’ve watched it from the first programme and only seen it won once and that was £7000.

Pressure Pad is a great daytime programme, the format is good and the questions are moderately difficult and John, as always is entertaining, full of bounce and humour and makes everyone feel at ease and most importantly, keeps the programme moving at a fairly brisk pace. Even if we weren’t true Barrowman fans, we would happily watch it – it is intelligent, fun and entertaining – 5 stars, John!!!