Blast from the past: Why Bullseye hit the mark on TV

There was also Bullseye, the darts-based ITV gameshow which was an unsophisticated mix of darts, rudimentary questions and shoddy household goods.

The theme tune, a honky tonk piano and ramshackle ragtime arrangement, invoked the ambience of a convivial boozer. By the time Tony Green interjected with "It’s a Bullseye!", you knew you were in for a televisual treat, which dispensed such wisdom, such as ‘Stay out of the black and into the red, nothing in this game for two in a bed’.

Hosted by ’super, smashing, great’ host Jim Bowen and ‘Bully’ the show’s mascot, a portly, glove-wearing bull in a stripy shirt, millions of us tuned in to watch people win carriage clocks, 14-inch portable tellys and electronic knitting machines. But the best bit was when they lost and the camera panned to their crestfallen expressions as Bowen declared ‘this is what you would have won’.. a speedboat or a Talbot Samba with economic motoring and electronic ignition’.