ITV and David Walliams to revive Blankety Blank this Christmas

Blankety Blank is to see a revival on ITV this Christmas.

 David Walliams will preside over a one-off edition of the iconic game show as part of ITV’s festive programming.

“I have some very big shoes to fill as presenter of Blankety Blank, I loved Terry Wogan and Les Dawson as a child, and Paul O’Grady was absolutely hilarious. I hope I can bring this much loved show to life for a new generation.” – David Walliams

The aim of the game is for two contestants to compete head to head to match the answers of six celebrity panellists on fill in the blank statements.  The winner goes through to the much-loved Supermatch game.

The show launched on BBC One in 1979 with Terry Wogan fulfilling presenting duties until 1983 before Les Dawson took over for the rest of the programme’s original run. Thirteen series aired in total up to 1990.

The show was revived by the beeb in 1997 with Paul O’Grady’s alter-ego Lily Savage as host, and ended again in 1999, before seeing a channel swap between 2001-2002 on ITV with Lily continuing to host editions.

A number of one off specials have since aired including for Children In Need, as part of ITV’s Gameshow Marathon in 2007 and Comic Relief’s 24 Hour Panel People in 2011 (below).

“Blankety Blank is a much loved classic game show and this Christmas special on ITV will delight fans of the original whilst bringing it to life for a whole new generation.  David Walliams is the perfect host for this, he’ll bring his comedic talents and warm personality to the show.” – Head of Comedy Entertainment at ITV, Peter Davey

Blankety Blank is a Thames Production for ITV.