Whose House?

BBC2 5:30pm Weekdays Host: Ross Kelly Interesting Fact: Ross Kelly is not to be confused with other gameshow host Ross King who is also Scottish. Bad fact I know but what can you do?

Whose House? is a bit like Through the Keyhole. Full stop. That said, even without Lloyd Grossman it does have its redeeming features which make it sufficiently different enough to Through the Keyhole and make it two entirely different shows. Lucky really, if they just remade Through The Keyhole and called it Whose House the whole nation would cry in unison "Aaah! But that's just Through the Keyhole under a different title! The title of Whose House!" and a revoulution would start. And wouldn't want that, would we?

Anyway, the BBC are allowed to burgle someone's house for fun and profit because inside a couple's house is their resident house detective Anna who does a Lloyd Grossman through the house in question. In the studio is a celebrity panel (of two) whose job it is is to work out which people actually live in the house and who just claim benefit under an assumed name (note: lie). We see a quick overview of the house and then three women come on who each have to say as cheesily as possible 'I'm ... and this is MY house!' just like that. Anna then gives a quick tour of the 'girls' bit of the house and then the two celebs ask questions of the three women as far as time allows. MAybe after the time runs out there should be an 'Our Graham' style rundown of the girls answers, but either way the celebs then pick who they think is telling the truth. That person then goes and sits on the 'family sofa' (how yuckily wholesome).

The men then do exactly the same thing although the way they say 'I'm ... and this is MY house!' is generally a lot cheesier. Anna goes round the 'boys' bit of the house and the celebs ask and decide again.

When this has finished, the celebs then get a chance to change who they thought was correct because they bring on the actual couple's mum or someone. Each celeb is allowed to ask two question of her and then they must decide if they want to keep or change the people they picked.

After that is the time of the reckoning. Are they correct? A sticky bit on their name tags is pulled off to reveal either a tick or a cross. Excellently, if it's a tick they pick up bonus time in the Bonus Round but if it's a cross then they are wrong. We are told what relation each of the false people are (usually friends or other relatives) and then the actual family sit on the front settee for the end game.

On a card is an object of something lying around the house. The celebs see the card and then decide which of the family will perform the task best. The family member then has 20 seconds + a bonus twenty for every correct person the celebs identified to guide Anna around their house to find that object. However, the family member can't mention any of the words on the card. If it was 'pickled eggs' for example, Anna would have to find it without the family member saying the words 'pickled' or 'eggs'. If they do it within the time then they win a solid plastic gold key (made to fit their door no less!) and a watercolour of their house AND, if that wasn't enough, they get put in to the prize draw at the end of the series for a Holiday of a Lifetime - Wooooo!

And it actually works reasonably well as a standard middle-ofthe-road quiz show which potentially could be better. Why is it friends that try and bluff? I think that's a little bit wrong somehow as the actual family has less of a chance of winning a prize if heir picked (nice friends!). I also think the end game could be slightly more frantic. How about 3 or as many as objects to find Main Event 'Go and Grab It' style? That would be a lot more fun, inventive as this end game is.

Ross and Anna are reasonably compotent at hosting and there's the little-bit-more-difficult-than-your-average-phone-in-quiz 0891 phone-in-quiz.

And that really is it. Who would work on a programme like this? David, it's over to you.

Verdict: 5/10 Doesn't try to be anything that it isn't and some good potential there. Some bits need to be done better though.