Although It's A Knockout ended as a regular series in 1982, there were several one-off special programmes made in the later 1980s. These included The Grand Knockout Tournament, featuring members of the British Royal Family.

1983-01

Knockout Star Gala 1983

Summer Special

BBC1 Transmission: Monday 29th August 1983, 6.10-7.00pm
Recorded: Sunday 31st July 1983

Venue: The Willesden Sports Stadium, London

Teams: Dempster's v. The Dainty Dozen

Team Captains:
Nigel Dempster (Dempster's) and Billy Dainty (The Dainty Dozen)

Result:

 Team:

Points:

1st
2nd

 Dempster's
 The Dainty Dozen

14
11

Did You Know? Dempster's team was "culled from the playing fields of Eton", while Dainty's was "culled from the playing fields of anywhere else"!

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

It's A Christmas Knockout 1983

Entrants 1983: Great Britain (GB) • Sweden (SW)

Commentators: Stuart Hall (GB); Henrik Engberg (SW)

Referees: Lorna Brown, former World Professional Skating Champion (GB);
Willie Löfqvist, former Olympics Ice Hockey player (SW)

Designer: Stuart Furber / Producer: Geoffrey Wilson
Director: John Rooney

Produced by BBC North West (GB)

1983-02

It's A Christmas Knockout 1983

Christmas Special

BBC1 Transmission: Tuesday 27th December 1983, 5.35-6.25pm
Recorded: Monday 12th December 1983

Venue: The Aviemore Centre, Aviemore, Scotland

Theme: Festive Fun

Teams: British 'All Stars' (GB) v. Karlskrona (SW)

Result:

 Team:

Points:

1st
2nd

 GB • British 'All Stars'
 SW • Karlskrona

19
13

Did You Know? The team of British ice skaters were recruited from Bournemouth, Altrincham, Aviemore and Queens ice rinks.

Did You Also Know? Teams played in colours (Great Britain - Red; Sweden - Yellow), but did not have any tabards with letters (i.e. 'GB'). The results window above includes national abbreviations purely for convenience.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

It's A Christmas Knockout 1984

Entrants 1984: France (F) • West Germany (D) • Great Britain (GB)

Commentators: Stuart Hall (GB), (D), (F): unknown

Designer: Stuart Furber / Producer: Geoffrey Wilson
Director: Paul Walker

Produced by BBC North West (GB)

1984-01

It's A Christmas Knockout 1984

Christmas Special

BBC1 Transmission: Friday 28th December 1984, 6.20-7.10pm
Recorded: Sunday 9th December 1984

Venue: Pleasure Beach Ice Drome, Blackpool, Lancashire, Great Britain

Theme: Festive Fun

Teams: Tourcoing (F) v. Bottrop (D) v. Blackpool (GB)

Result:

 Team:

Points:

1st
2nd
3rd

 GB • Blackpool
 F • Tourcoing
 D • Bottrop

19
14
10

Did You Know? For the first and only time, a Fil Rouge appeared in It's A Christmas Knockout. Another one-off witnessed in this event was a welcome brief return to JSF for West Germany after an absence of four years.

Did You Also Know? Great Britain’s team from Blackpool outclassed both the West German and French teams. Blackpool dropped just two points in the whole competition, and had won the event before the last game was played.

Did You Also Know? Teams played in colours (France - Green; Great Britain - Red; West Germany - Yellow), but did not have any tabards with letters (i.e. 'GB'). The results window above includes national abbreviations purely for convenience.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

The Grand Knockout Tournament 1987

Presenters: Stuart Hall with Les Dawson and Su Pollard
Host: Lord Knock alias Rowan Atkinson

Referees: Paul Daniels (Chief Judge), HRH The Duke of Gloucester, 
The Duke of Abercorne, The Duke of Roxburghe and The Duke of Westminster
Custodian of the Scoreboard: Geoff Capes
and featuring: Aled Jones and Cantabile

Designer: Stuart Furber / Producer: Alan Walsh
Director: Geoffrey Wilson

Produced by BBC North West (GB) / Knockout Ltd.

1987-01

The Grand Knockout Tournament 1987

Summer Special

BBC1 Transmission: Friday 19th June 1987, 7.40-9.00pm
Recorded: Monday 15th June 1987

Venue: Alton Towers, Alton, Staffordshire

Theme: Sponsored Games

Teams and Charities Represented: 
Red Team (Save the Children Fund) v.
Green Team (World Wildlife Fund) v.
Yellow Team (The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, International Project 1987)
v. Blue Team (International Year of Shelter for the Homeless)

Team Members:
Red Team: HRH The Princess Royal (Captain)
Jenny Agutter, Anthony Andrews, Sheena Easton, Debbie Flintoff, 
Sunil Gavaskar, Emlyn Hughes, Tom Jones, Kevin Kline, Virginia Leng, 
Walter Payton, Cliff Richard and Jackie Stewart.

Green Team: HRH The Duke of York (Captain)
Fiona Fullerton, Margot Kidder, Griff Rhys Jones, George Lazenby, 
Gary Lineker, Sharon McPeake, Nigel Mansell, Michael Palin, 
Steve Podborski, Anneka Rice, Judy Simpson and John Travolta.

Yellow Team: HRH The Prince Edward (Captain)
Peter Blake, John Cleese, Steve Cram, Duncan Goodhew, Eddy Grant, 
Sarah Hardcastle, Kiri Te Kanawa, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Barry McGuigan, 
Christopher Reeve, Tessa Sanderson and Toyah Willcox.

Blue Team: HRH The Duchess of York (Captain)
Michael Brandon, Chris de Burgh, Steve Cauthen, Brian Cooper, 
Ben Cross, Gail Greenough, Tamara McKinney, Meatloaf, 
Viv Richards, Jane Seymour, Mel Smith and Pamela Stephenson.

The Games: Call Out the Guard; The Ghost of Alton Towers; McDonalds Restaurants Knock a Knight; Canada Life Assurance Lovers; Harrods King of the Castle; The Britannia Building Society Cooks; The Uninvited Guest; The Joust; The Asda Marathon.
Jokers: Shields

Result:

 Team:

Points:

1st
2nd
3rd
4th

 Red Team (Save the Children Fund)
 Green Team (World Wildlife Fund)
 Yellow Team (International Project 1987)
 Blue Team (Shelter for the Homeless)

36
29
26
24

Did You Know? Each team were allowed to play their Jokers twice. The Red Team (HRH Princess Anne’s ‘Save the Children Fund’ team) won both of their games. This was not equalled by any of the other three teams.

Did You Also Know? In September 1987, the BBC broadcast a behind-the-scenes programme about The Grand Knockout Tournament (details in Knockout TV) and Collins issued a hardcover book about the event, Knockout: The Grand Charity Tournament for the Christmas market that year (details in Collectables).

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

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