on: October 24, 2006, 14:43:13 PM
Source - Pipex
10. Going For Gold
Quiz show Going For Gold filled the lunchtime slot on BBC One for the best part of a decade - despite the fact nobody had a clue what was going on.
Presented by the consistently awkward Henry Kelly, contestants appeared from all over Europe - though it was never explained why this was the case.
Most of the players would be eliminated after about two minutes - but they would all cheerily return the next day to undergo the same humiliation yet again.
After several confusing rounds involving timers and Kelly repeatedly asking "who am I?" somebody would win.
However, nobody ever seemed to get a prize until the final when the winner would get something to do with "gold" such as a gold-mining trip to Australia.
The only saving grace was the very catchy theme tune.
9. Baywatch
As much as we love David Hasselhoff, Baywatch has to go down as one of the worst shows ever made.
It tried to present itself as a drama about LA lifeguards - but was actually just an excuse to show an hour of soft porn every Saturday teatime.
The female cast members were selected on the basis of their cleavage rather than their acting talents and approximately 42 per cent of each show consisted of slow-motion shots of girls running along a beach in a swimsuit with their assets bobbing up and down. This rendered the need for a script or a plot fairly redundant.
Some would call it genius. Some would call it the lowest form of entertainment. Most of us switched over to watch Noels House Party instead.
8. 3-2-1
3-2-1 was another baffling game show where the host - former Red Coat Ted Rogers - was constantly overshadowed by a robotic dust bin.
Contestants had to solve cryptic clues to win the star prize - but they had to avoid the clue that referred to Dusty Bin - the shows booby prize.
The clues would often be read out by a series of cringeworthy "variety" acts, while naff dance troupes became a regular fixture of the show.
One particularly awful performer was a female singer who sang pop songs badly, while her male partner sketched caricatures of famous people connected with the song on a flip chart.
The show is remembered fondly for its "3-2-1" hand movement, which became a playground favourite because it made a rude gesture if you got it wrong.
Modern quizzes have learned to avoid such bad gimmicks and the "variety" element. Thankfully.
7. RI:SE
Channel 4 tapped into the breakfast TV market with the hugely successful The Big Breakfast, but when that came to an end in 2002 it was replaced with the tragically terrible RI:SE.
They brought in "sexy presenters" like Mark Durden-Smith, Colin Murray, Kirsty Gallacher and Edith Bowman but viewers were unimpressed and the tabloids were soon mocking "the FA:LL of RI:SE".
Later, the format was changed until it was virtually a clone of The Big Breakfast with the two presenters sitting in front of French doors and lots of Big Breakfast-style games and competitions.
Former Big Brother star Kate Lawler was made a presenter, but was increasingly given less to do, such was her lack of talent.
The show was axed in 2003 and replaced with repeats of Friends.
6. Crossroads
Birmingham-based show Crossroads was the stereotypical bad soap opera - full of bad acting, wonky sets and incomprehensible storylines.
It was so bad that London station Thames Television refused to show it in 1968, but after pressure from devoted fans, the series was relaunched - six months behind the rest of the country!
The show was finally axed in 1987 - but was bizarrely resurrected for a brief run earlier this decade. The show increasingly became a parody of itself and the final episode in 2003 revealed the whole series to have been a dream!
At least the naff ending summed up the show as a whole!
5. The Black and White Minstrel Show
Quite how The Black and White Minstrel Show managed to stay on television for so long (it was broadcast for 20 years) is an absolute mystery to us.
Possibly one of the most racist shows ever to hit TV screens, it featured white people regularly "blacking up" to perform songs, musical numbers and comedy sketches.
The show was regularly criticised for its racist undertones and producers were forced to make a whiteface variant where the black faces were swapped for white masks. However, this led to a massive ratings slump.
The series was later spoofed by The Goodies, who suggested any programme could double its viewing figures by being performed in blackface.
4. Eldorado
The BBCs ill-fated soap Eldorado has gone down as one of the corporations most high-profile disasters.
Set in Spain, the show was mocked for its terrible acting (reportedly some of the cast did not even know what a "read-through" was) and their ludicrous attempts at foreign accents.
Instead of using studios, the show was often filmed in Spanish villas, leading to massive sound problems. The term Eldorado-Sound is still used today around the BBC to describe an out-of-place sound recording.
The shows original producer, Julia Smith, had a nervous breakdown and Eldorado was axed within a year.
3. Minipops
Minipops was a Channel 4 entertainment show in the early 1980s, where young children would star in music videos dressed as adults with raunchy clothing and flash make-up.
The children would often dance provocatively and sing songs with "adult" themes - making many viewers feel rather uncomfortable.
The Observer described it as: "Kiddiporn, a shop-window full of junior jailbait?" and twitchy TV bosses axed the show after one series.
However, it did prove to be extremely popular in Canada, where the stars of the show played concerts to sold out venues!
2. Celebrity Wrestling
Celebrity Wrestling was ITVs much-hyped "answer" to Gladiators last year, but quickly turned into one of the biggest disasters in telly history.
The concept saw Z-list celebrities like Leilani Dowding, Oliver Skeete and Jenny Powell reinvent themselves with ridiculous names such as Gentleman Jim (James Hewitt) and The Handy Man (Phill Turner).
The contestants would then "battle" each other in a series of challenges, while wearing skimpy outfits.
Each week a "mystery" celebrity joined in with desperate stars like Fatima Whitbread and John Fashanu wearing masks to conceal their identity.
The show was trounced in the ratings by Dr Who and was quickly taken off air after only a few weeks.
1. Naked Jungle
Naked Jungle is probably the most famous show in the history of Channel Five - possibly because it is the only thing any of us ever watched on the channel.
The concept was loosely based on action game show The Crystal Maze - but with one key difference - all of the contestants were naked.
And if that wasnt bad enough, rotund presenter Keith Chegwin also appeared in the buff throughout the show.
A nation gawped in horror at Cheggers wrinkly willy, the Daily Mail said the show "plumbed new depths" and, unsurprisingly, only one episode was ever made
