What's My Line? (British game show)

What's My Line? is a panel game show based on the American version of the same name. It was originally aired on BBC Television Service from 16 July 1951 to 13 May 1963, hosted by Eamonn Andrews. It was revived by BBC2 from 23 August 1973 to 25 May 1974, hosted by David Jacobs, and then by ITV from 26 March 1984 to 31 August 1990. The ITV incarnation was first hosted by Eamonn Andrews from 1984 until his death in 1987, then by Penelope Keith for a part of 1988 before Angela Rippon took over until 1990. Two regional ITV stations, HTV and Meridian, revived it again from 19 September 1994 to 17 December 1996, when it was hosted by Emma Forbes.

What's My Line?
Genre	Panel game show
Created by	Mark Goodson Bill Todman
Presented by	Eamonn Andrews (1951–63; 1984–87) David Jacobs (1973–74) Penelope Keith (1988) Angela Rippon (1988–90) Emma Forbes (1994–96)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	12 (BBC-tv) 2 (BBC2) 7 (ITV) 3 (HTV/Meridian)
No. of episodes	413 (BBC-tv) 23 (BBC2) 160 (ITV) 42 (HTV/Meridian)
Production
Running time	30 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production companies	Thames in association with Mark Goodson Productions and Talbot Television (1984–90) Fremantle (UK) Productions (1994–96)
Original release
Network	BBC Television Service
Release	16 July 1951 (1951-07-16) – 13 May 1963 (1963-05-13)
Network	BBC2
Release	23 August 1973 (1973-08-23) – 25 May 1974 (1974-05-25)
Network	ITV
Release	26 March 1984 (1984-03-26) – 31 August 1990 (1990-08-31)
Network	HTV/Meridian
Release	19 September 1994 (1994-09-19) – 17 December 1996 (1996-12-17)
Related
What's My Line?

Regular panelists on the original version were Jerry Desmonde, Gilbert Harding, David Nixon, Barbara Kelly and Isobel Barnett.

Transmissions

BBC Television Service

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	16 July 1951[1]	7 April 1952[2]	39
2	18 August 1952[3]	28 June 1953[4]	46
3	1 November 1953[5]	20 June 1954[6]	34
4	26 September 1954[7]	20 March 1955[8]	26
5	24 October 1955[9]	16 July 1956[10]	39
6	30 September 1956[11]	7 April 1957[12]	28
7	5 October 1957[13]	22 June 1958[14]	38
8	28 September 1958[15]	22 March 1959[16]	26
9	30 August 1959[17]	24 April 1960[18]	35
10	18 September 1960[19]	21 May 1961[20]	34
11	1 October 1961[21]	3 June 1962[22]	35
12	1 October 1962[23]	13 May 1963[24]	33

BBC2

Series

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	23 August 1973[25]	20 September 1973[26]	5
2	19 January 1974[27]	25 May 1974[28]	17

Specials

Date	Entitle
25 December 1973[29]	Christmas Special

Thames

Series

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	26 March 1984	2 July 1984	14
2	18 February 1985	20 May 1985	14
3	31 March 1986	30 June 1986	13
4	6 April 1987	18 May 1987	7
5	22 February 1988	25 March 1988	40
	15 August 1988	2 September 1988
6	13 December 1988	10 February 1989	38
	15 March 1989	7 April 1989
7	10 July 1990	31 August 1990	32

Specials

Date	Entitle
24 December 1984	Christmas Special
30 December 1985	Christmas Special

HTV/Meridian

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	19 September 1994	19 December 1994	14
2	18 September 1995	18 December 1995	14
3	17 September 1996	17 December 1996	14