A good example of imagining a good idea that sounds like fun and then just bores in the implementation. In addition, there is a bad production design, a nervous moderator and completely over-the-top participants. The intro is rubbish too. Really not recommended.
5 Reviews
Truly puerile
dr_sardonicus128 November 2008
I came across this by accident a couple of weekends ago and really do wonder if this is the best way for the BBC to spend their licence money.
The premise is simple - six half baked individuals stand around in shiny suits, waiting for a polystyrene wall to come at them with one or a number of vaguely 'human' shapes cut into it. The poor sap creaming off the licence cash and trying to stay in the public eye then has to contort to the shape to enable the wall to pass over him/her/it to avoid being dragged into the water.
That's it. There is nothing more.
Now as a child of the '80s, I am very familiar with the truly mediocre output that passed for 'entertainment' during those long Saturday nights before I could nip out for a raspberry tizer. Just hearing the words 'come on down' can set off palpitations even now, but this? Strike a light, even the brain dead will find they can die all over again watching it.
Why can't we just have DW doing 'In it to win it' every week. They've ever scrapped the lottery game show. Shame on you BBC. We're not all philistines you know, give us something to chew on.
The premise is simple - six half baked individuals stand around in shiny suits, waiting for a polystyrene wall to come at them with one or a number of vaguely 'human' shapes cut into it. The poor sap creaming off the licence cash and trying to stay in the public eye then has to contort to the shape to enable the wall to pass over him/her/it to avoid being dragged into the water.
That's it. There is nothing more.
Now as a child of the '80s, I am very familiar with the truly mediocre output that passed for 'entertainment' during those long Saturday nights before I could nip out for a raspberry tizer. Just hearing the words 'come on down' can set off palpitations even now, but this? Strike a light, even the brain dead will find they can die all over again watching it.
Why can't we just have DW doing 'In it to win it' every week. They've ever scrapped the lottery game show. Shame on you BBC. We're not all philistines you know, give us something to chew on.
Hole in the schedules
mattlenton26 September 2008
You know when you flick through the TV channels and catch something then you think am I really awake? Yes, that's how I felt when I turned this programme on. It involves "celebrities" wearing silver spandex suits trying to get in positions to get through different shapes in a moving wall, while trying to avoid being knocked into a pool of water. The host is Dale Winton, who else could have done this? Like the hidden camera show they had on a while back (the one that wasn't really that funny, hence the reason I can't remember the name), this is something that is appearing to fill a gap in the schedules. After all, did anyone really enjoy Pets Win Prizes?
Hole in the Wall
jboothmillard1 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
This is one of the best examples of a simple premise being a great bit of entertainment, cheap, maybe, fun to watch, highly. Presented by Dale Winton, and then Strictly Come Dancing's Anton Du Beke (originally a team captain), this basically takes two teams of three, a team captain and two guest players in each, to challenge themselves to win £10,000 for charity. The aim of the game is to stand in the play area, and pass through the oncoming polystyrene wall, or be plunged into the behind pool of cold water. This goes on for many rounds, with team joining and twisted wall plays, until the Great Wall, where the team with the most points controls it, if they pass through, they get the money, and if they pass the wall to the other team and they pass through, they get the money. Guest players have included Andi Peters, Vanessa Feltz, Vic Reeves, Nancy Sorrell, Nell McAndrew, Phil Tufnell, Amy Lamé, Siân Lloyd, Marcus Brigstocke, Sarah Cawood, Bobby Davro, Michelle Heaton, Joe Swash (also team captain), Carrie Grant, Nancy Lam, Christine and Neil Hamilton, Martin Offiah, Jennie Bond, Ninia Benjamin, Scott Mills, Cleo Rocos, Austin Healey (team captain), John Altman, Anne Diamond and many more. Very good!
Poor even by Saturday night standards and Winton is part of the problem
bob the moo29 December 2008
Playing for money for charity (and a chance to stay in the public eye) two teams of three celebrities dress in shiny tight spandex outfits to take part in a contest of physical skill. The game is essentially of human Tetris. Each round sees the work working as individuals or together to stand by a pit of water as a wall with a shape cut in it comes hurtling at them. Either they put their body into the shape required or they find themselves knocked into the pool to the jeers of the audience.
Watching Harry hill's TV Burp as I do at times, I found clips of this show to be unbelievable surely this cannot exist, even on a Saturday night? Well, to find out for myself I managed to catch this show just as it was starting to be put on earlier and earlier in the evening schedule (ie the BBC had given up on it and were floating it out to die quietly somewhere out of sight). And I'm glad I caught it because it is the sort of thing that you would not believe until you see it for yourself. It is as awful as you would think. The idea has no meat on it and essentially it is people trying to fit through gaps which would be OK for a carnival I guess but makes for pretty p1ss-poor television whose only value is an ironic one. The audience seem to have been selected by going wrong cults to find those that can be easily brain washed because they do manage to get excited but otherwise it is a drab affair that has little excitement.
It is quite funny though just not in the way that is intended. It is yet another piece of cruelty television where the entertainment is derived from seeing some fat (Vanessa) not be able to squeeze through the gap or seeing some cheeky innuendo in the shapes required to be thrown by a man and a woman together. For one episode it is perhaps a nonsense that just about distracts, but there are limited shapes and zero variety in the show and I cannot imagine anyone tunes into this regularly. The only weekly change is the celebrities all of whom have had plenty of mean things said about them. Now, before I add my voice to that, let me say a couple of things in their defence: firstly, they are supporting money to charity, which is a good thing and, secondly, these are mostly very low grade celebrities, who are doing little else but shows like this part of the BBC's problem is getting people to come on it. And you can see why. It is degrading from the moment they appear, dressed in absurd outfits that do not need to look so dumb nor be so tight. Then they have to put themselves in undignified poses and potentially end up dunked in water while trying to be excited about the whole thing before returning to their dressing rooms and giving themselves a long hard stare in the mirror. They are all good sports but it is no surprise to find the Cheeky Girls, Vanessa, DJ Spoony and various sports stars turning up. Of equally little surprise is Dale Winton who else presenting. With zero irony and zero presence, his delivery kills whatever might have been made of the show. He takes it too seriously and thinks it is a professional show where really his job is to make sure we all know and are constantly reminded that this is all a bit of silly fun he doesn't do this job and as a result he makes it even dumber.
Hole in the Wall will soon be a memory and soon it will be something that is a cultural reference. Thanks to Harry Hill the random shouting of "Bring on the Wall" is already a catchphrase that gets a chuckle and when a show is a joke to people who have not even seen it then you know you're in the sh1t. Even by Saturday night standards this is a poor show. The lack of variety and decent contestants is a problem but the bigger issue is the fact that it isn't as much silly fun as it should be and the fact it is presented as a "proper" show that we shouldn't just be poking fun at is a problem. Watch it once or twice so you can say you've experienced it for yourself but after that I doubt you'd want to come back to it again.
Watching Harry hill's TV Burp as I do at times, I found clips of this show to be unbelievable surely this cannot exist, even on a Saturday night? Well, to find out for myself I managed to catch this show just as it was starting to be put on earlier and earlier in the evening schedule (ie the BBC had given up on it and were floating it out to die quietly somewhere out of sight). And I'm glad I caught it because it is the sort of thing that you would not believe until you see it for yourself. It is as awful as you would think. The idea has no meat on it and essentially it is people trying to fit through gaps which would be OK for a carnival I guess but makes for pretty p1ss-poor television whose only value is an ironic one. The audience seem to have been selected by going wrong cults to find those that can be easily brain washed because they do manage to get excited but otherwise it is a drab affair that has little excitement.
It is quite funny though just not in the way that is intended. It is yet another piece of cruelty television where the entertainment is derived from seeing some fat (Vanessa) not be able to squeeze through the gap or seeing some cheeky innuendo in the shapes required to be thrown by a man and a woman together. For one episode it is perhaps a nonsense that just about distracts, but there are limited shapes and zero variety in the show and I cannot imagine anyone tunes into this regularly. The only weekly change is the celebrities all of whom have had plenty of mean things said about them. Now, before I add my voice to that, let me say a couple of things in their defence: firstly, they are supporting money to charity, which is a good thing and, secondly, these are mostly very low grade celebrities, who are doing little else but shows like this part of the BBC's problem is getting people to come on it. And you can see why. It is degrading from the moment they appear, dressed in absurd outfits that do not need to look so dumb nor be so tight. Then they have to put themselves in undignified poses and potentially end up dunked in water while trying to be excited about the whole thing before returning to their dressing rooms and giving themselves a long hard stare in the mirror. They are all good sports but it is no surprise to find the Cheeky Girls, Vanessa, DJ Spoony and various sports stars turning up. Of equally little surprise is Dale Winton who else presenting. With zero irony and zero presence, his delivery kills whatever might have been made of the show. He takes it too seriously and thinks it is a professional show where really his job is to make sure we all know and are constantly reminded that this is all a bit of silly fun he doesn't do this job and as a result he makes it even dumber.
Hole in the Wall will soon be a memory and soon it will be something that is a cultural reference. Thanks to Harry Hill the random shouting of "Bring on the Wall" is already a catchphrase that gets a chuckle and when a show is a joke to people who have not even seen it then you know you're in the sh1t. Even by Saturday night standards this is a poor show. The lack of variety and decent contestants is a problem but the bigger issue is the fact that it isn't as much silly fun as it should be and the fact it is presented as a "proper" show that we shouldn't just be poking fun at is a problem. Watch it once or twice so you can say you've experienced it for yourself but after that I doubt you'd want to come back to it again.
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