Search icon

Movies & TV

27th Apr 2020

Beat The Chasers is the quiz show you should be watching at 9pm this week

Alan Loughnane

beat the chasers

ITV could be onto a winner with its new show.

When Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was first aired in September 1998, even the creators of the show could not have envisaged the runaway success it would become.

The show enthralled the UK public to such an extent that it ranked 23rd in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes in 2000 and was adopted in countries around the world, including Ireland where it was presented by the late Gay Byrne.

Fast forward 20 years and if you ask ten people in the street what their favourite quiz show is, seven of them will probably say The Chase.

So when ITV revealed they were creating a spin-of series called Beat The Chasers, we weren’t sure what to expect. How could they improve on what is already the best daytime quiz show on TV?

Well, we got our answer on Monday night and it’s a very different animal to your typical episode of The Chase.

The big question with The Chase is; are you clever enough to take on Anne Hegarty (The Governess), Paul Sinha (The Sinnerman), Mark Labbett (The Beast), Jenny Ryan (The Vixen) and Shaun Wallace (The Dark Destroyer)?

The question of Beat The Chasers is; are you clever enough to beat multiple chasers at the same against the clock?

Contestants start with a cash builder round before facing a series of offers from the chasers.

Think of the drama in the last 10 seconds of the final chase in a regular episode where the chaser is two steps behind and needs to answer both questions in as quick of time as possible.

With Beat The Chasers, ITV has managed to bottle that drama and extend it for the duration of the show.

There also seems to be a friendly rivalry between the chasers as they bid to prove that they’re the strongest member of the quiz team.

ITV could be onto a winner with its new show. For viewers in Ireland, it airs at 9pm on Virgin Media One all week until Friday.

Let’s just see if they can keep the drama coming for four more nights.

LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Conor Sketches | Tiger Woods loves Ger Loughnane and cosplaying as Charles LeClerc