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Channel 5 persevered with It's A Knockout,
broadcasting a second season, which was revamped compared to its first year. It
was critically better received, but sadly, the audience figures did not recover
sufficiently from the poor showing in 1999. The writing was on the wall for the series and
unfortunately, Channel 5 would subsequently drop It's A Knockout from their 2001 schedule.
The
series had a tragic coda in 2001 when the costume designer for the 1999 and
2000 series, Elizabeth Sherlock (who worked on the series under the name of
Liz Nicholls), was killed while chasing thieves in London. Liz had been
enjoying a coffee with her husband in a Euston Station cafe on Easter Monday
2001, when a thief grabbed and made off with her handbag. She gave chase and
clung to the bonnet of the thieves' car as the female thief and her boyfriend,
a fellow heroin addict, tried to make a getaway. Tragically, Liz slipped under
the wheels in front of horrified passers-by. Rather than stop, the thieves
callously drove over her with the front and rear wheels. Liz sadly died as a
result of her injuries a few hours later. The criminals were apprehended and
brought to court, where the driver was sentenced to life imprisonment for
murder and his girlfriend to three years in prison for theft. A shocking and
completely unfair end for a talented and popular woman.
On the continent in Spain, Grand Prix del Verano
continued thriving, entering its sixth series. For one year only it relocated
from its then regular recording venue at the studios of Televisión Española to
the bullring in the Móstoles suburb of Madrid. Over the next few years it
would be one of the few JSF-related programmes that was still being broadcast.
The junior version of Grand Prix del Verano entitled
Peque Prix, continued into 2000 for its final seasons. It was contested by
children representing different schools (rather than towns) and ran for six
seasons between 1998 and 2000, comprising 78 episodes in total. The programme
format followed the main Grand Prix programme's for the most part, with
small differences. They even re-used some of the games from the main show.
by Alan Hayes
with grateful thanks to Tony Smith |
