Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 1, 2026

Call My Bluff

Call My Bluff is a British panel game show based on the short-lived US version of the same name. It was originally hosted by Robin Ray and later, most notably, by Robert Robinson. Its most prominent panellist was Frank Muir. The theme music for the show was "Ciccolino" by Norrie Paramor.

Last revised
Jul 1, 2026
Read time
≈ 13 min
Length
2,939 w
Citations
76
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Call My Bluff
GenrePanel game show
Created by
Presented by
Theme music composerNorrie Paramor
Opening theme"Ciccolino"
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series
  • 25 (BBC2)
  • 9 (BBC1)
No. of episodes
  • 542 (BBC2)
  • 550 (BBC1)
Production
Production locationPebble Mill Studios (1996–2005)1
Running time30 minutes
Production companyBBC Pebble Mill (1996–2005)
Original release
NetworkBBC Two
Release17 October 1965 (1965-10-17) –
16 April 1994 (1994-04-16)
NetworkBBC One
Release13 May 1996 (1996-05-13) –
17 July 2005 (2005-07-17)

Call My Bluff is a British panel game show based on the short-lived US version of the same name. It was originally hosted by Robin Ray and later, most notably, by Robert Robinson. Its most prominent panellist was Frank Muir. The theme music for the show was "Ciccolino" by Norrie Paramor.

Format

The game comprised two teams of three (a captain and two guests) who would compete to earn points by identifying the correct definitions of obscure words. The teams took turns to give three definitions, one true and two bluffs, while the other team attempted to determine which was correct. If the correct choice was made the team earned one point, if not, the bluffing team earned one point. Both teams took turns bluffing and determining definitions.

Examples of words used in the show, taken from a 1972 book published in connection with it, include queach, strongle, ablewhacket, hickboo, jargoon, zurf, morepork, and jirble. The word queach was defined by the contestants as "a malicious caricature", "a cross between a quince and a peach" and "a mini-jungle of mixed vegetation" (with the last definition being the true one).

Broadcast history

Call My Bluff originally aired on BBC2 from 17 October 1965 to 22 December 1988.

Robert Morley and Frank Muir captained the teams. Morley was later succeeded by Patrick Campbell, and Arthur Marshall took over in 1981 following Campbell's death. Various celebrities also stood in as team captains, including Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams and Alan Melville. The original series finished after Marshall's death, although a general change in the tone and atmosphere of broadcasting at the time may also have affected its temporary demise. For the majority of this run (from 1967 onwards) the host was Robert Robinson.

The show was resurrected in 1996 after an eight-year rest (apart from one special edition on 16 April 1994 for BBC Two's thirtieth birthday, which still featured Robert Robinson, but this time with Joanna Lumley as a team captain opposite Frank Muir), now as a daytime series on BBC1. It began airing on 13 May 1996 with Alan Coren and Sandi Toksvig as the team captains and Bob Holness replacing Robinson as chairman.

In 2003, Toksvig was replaced by the journalist Rod Liddle, and newsreader Fiona Bruce took the chair. The series finished again on 17 July 2005.

Call My Bluff returned for a special during the BBC's 24 Hour Panel People in aid of Comic Relief 2011, with Alex Horne, Roisin Conaty, Russell Tovey, Tim Key, Sarah Cawood and David Walliams participating. The host was Angus Deayton.

Transmissions

BBC2

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 17 October 19652 29 June 19663 37
2 2 October 19664 14 April 19675 26
3 1 October 19676 7 July 19687 39
4 24 April 19698 28 May 19709 59
5 14 September 197010 25 January 197111 20
6 14 June 197112 7 February 197213 34
7 13 November 197214 7 May 197315 26
8 3 September 197316 28 January 197417 22
9 30 September 197418 24 March 197519 26
10 29 April 197620 12 August 197621 16
11 29 April 197722 12 August 197723 16
12 22 March 197824 2 August 197825 18
13 2 January 197926 15 May 197927 20
14 13 January 198028 30 March 198029 12
15 3 July 198030 4 September 198031 10
16 13 February 198132 26 July 198133 20
17 28 January 198234 17 June 198235 20
18 11 April 198336 4 September 198337 20
19 23 January 198438 20 August 198439 29
20 19 October 198440 21 December 198441 10
21 29 October 198542 31 December 198543 10
22 8 January 198744 28 May 198745 20
23 10 September 198746 10 December 198747 14
24 14 April 198848 16 June 198849 9
25 26 October 198850 22 December 198851 8
One-off 16 April 199452 1

BBC1

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 13 May 199653 31 May 199654 14
2 2 September 199655 10 January 199756 80
3 1 April 199757 16 July 199758 58
4 2 September 199759 3 April 199860 131
5 5 January 199961 1 April 199962 65
23 May 200063
6 6 September 199964 17 December 199965 75
22 May 200066
7 24 May 200067 30 May 200268 77
8 19 May 200369 1 July 200370 30
9 1 June 200471 17 July 200572 20

Season 4 was due to premiere on 1 September 1997,73 but was postponed due to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales the night before. It was replaced by a delayed Going for a Song.74

Book

Reception

Critical response

Jon E. Lewis and Penny Stempel described Call My Bluff as a "civilised panel game" built on "verbal deception", with teams offering "plausible but false definitions".75

References in other works

  • An episode of the early-1980s LWT sketch-comedy series End of Part One parodied the show as Scrape My Barrel, where panelists had to figure out the meaning of the word working class.
  • The show (and in particular its host, Robert Robinson) was the subject of a sketch by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie in the second series of A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
  • In the "Europe" episode of QI (series E), a segment was featured entitled "Call My Euro Bluff", featuring stories about laws in the EU. The panel then had to decide whether each story was true or a "bløff" (Stephen Fry pronounced it "blerff"). Fry frequently drops into the impersonation of Robinson that he used in the sketch from A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
  • In the Doctor Who episode "Bad Wolf" Call My Bluff is mentioned as one of the games hosted in the game station.
  • In May 2014 the quirks of the show were lampooned by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse in BBC Two's satirical Harry and Paul's Story of the Twos, where the show was given the name "Speech Impediment" and the word chosen for the panel was paedophile.76
References

References

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External links