Face the Music (British game show)

Face the Music is a British panel game show revolving around classical music which originally aired on BBC2 from 26 December 1966 to 25 December 1979 and then moved to BBC1 from 17 April 1983 to 16 December 1984 with Joseph Cooper hosting the entire run.

The theme music for the show was the Popular Song from the Façade suite by Sir William Walton (who was a guest on the programme in his 70th birthday year). During its most popular period, the programme had a weekly audience of over 4 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Format

The programme, chaired by Joseph Cooper,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> took the form of a quiz about classical music, with a panel of three music-loving celebrities, but without scoring or any winner. Each week there would be a special guest, who would also have to answer questions, with the focus being on topics that related to the guest's life and career, so as to lead to amusing anecdotes. The questions to the panel were asked in a series of rounds, each with a theme, such as "The Face, The Music", in which the panel would have to identify a composer from their picture, as well as the composer of the music played along with it.

The most demanding round was the "Dummy Keyboard", in which Cooper would play a famous piece on a dummy (soundless) instrument, requiring the panel to identify it from hand movements alone.<ref name=indepobit>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> For the benefit of the audience at home, the music in question – which Cooper was hearing through earphones for the purpose of synchronisation – would be slowly faded in as the piece progressed.

Another round was "Hidden Melody", in which Cooper would perform a popular tune in the style of a famous composer, while including extracts of works by that composer to help the listeners.<ref name=indepobit/> Robin Ray, if a member of that week's panel, would typically identify the opus number of the quoted works.

For opera lovers, the panel were shown a filmed performance of one opera with the soundtrack of a different one, and asked to identify both.

Transmissions

Series

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
Pilot	26 December 1966<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>		1
1	3 August 1967<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	31 August 1967<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	5
2	16 September 1970<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	21 October 1970<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	6
3	22 March 1971<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	7 June 1971<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	12
4	14 February 1972<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	29 May 1972<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	16
5	14 May 1973<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	27 August 1973<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	16
6	6 May 1974<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	19 August 1974<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	16
7	24 September 1975<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	17 December 1975<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	13
8	24 October 1976<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	19 December 1976<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	8
9	5 August 1979<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	21 October 1979<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	12
10	17 April 1983<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	22 May 1983<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	6
11	28 October 1984<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	16 December 1984<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	8

Specials

Date	Entitle
26 December 1967<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Christmas Special
24 December 1972<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Christmas Special
25 December 1973<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Christmas Special
25 December 1974<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Christmas Special
20 December 1975<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Christmas Special
26 December 1976<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Christmas Special
2 January 1977<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	100th Episode
25 December 1979<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Christmas Special

External links

• Template:BBC programme
• Template:IMDb title
• Template:UKGameshow