Shooting Stars - Relaunch

Relaunch

An anniversary edition entitled All New Shooting Stars was shown on 30 December 2008, celebrating the 15th anniversary of Shooting Stars. Ulrika Jonsson returned as captain with Jack Dee as the replacement team captain. Matt Lucas also reprised his George Dawes character for the episode. Guests for the episode were Peter Jones, Kate Garraway, Christine Walkden, and Dizzee Rascal.

On 3 April 2009, it was announced that the show would return for a full sixth series. Most of the original cast returned along with Jack Dee, who continued as a permanent team captain after his appearance on the anniversary special. It began on BBC Two and BBC HD on 26 August 2009.

The relaunched series altered the format in a number of ways:

• There are now only three rounds; a general round, the Dove from Above round, and the quick-fire round. The first general round usually contains "true or false" questions, but contains other questions as well, including a regular "Who is Hitler" question in which the contestants must identify which celebrity has been disguised as Hitler.

• The Dove from Above has only four categories, meaning that all are exhausted in every show. The rules for "Eranu" and "Uvavu" are still read out (usually with the final -u extended into a reference or comedy phrase), but these phrases are not actually used during the round, and no "hidden special prizes" are ever awarded in spite of Vic saying that they exist and every category of the Dove being used in every show. The phrases, and the references to a special prize, are finally dropped entirely in the last two episodes.

• The four categories of the Dove always correspond to classic theme skits: one is always "George's Song", another is always "a song in the club style", and another is always either a spoof video clip or a performance by the "Hartlepool Film Re-enactment Society" in which Vic and Bob use a wendy house and dolls on the end of sticks to play out a skit featuring characters from a well-known film.

• Other regular skits integrated into the show include a conversation with kebab van owner "Angelos Epithemiou" (actually comedian Renton Skinner), and an attempt to "cheer up Jack Dee" by playing him a song using drain pipes.

• The prize awarded for the final game, rather than being surreal, is instead laughably small: examples include "a cassette of Reggae", and "this wonderful toothpick holder".

Shooting Stars returned in July 2010 for a seventh series. This series made the following further changes:

• Following Matt Lucas's decision to leave the programme, Angelos Epithemiou became the scorekeeper. Angelos enters to Mr Bombastic; rather than George Dawes' drumkit, he keeps the scores from behind his "Dream Machine", a combination of a DJ station and a pound shop. It does still include a miniature electronic drumkit which he uses to accompany Vic's "songs in the club style". Angelos always plays a short burst of rave music (an excerpt from "Drop The Pressure (Jack Beats 'Rinsed Out Rave' Remix)" by Project Bassline) before announcing the first round's scores, and brings in a plastic bag, the contents of which are revealed between rounds during the show.

• There are now four rounds: the opening general round, the "clip round" (which has only one question, opened to both teams, on the presented clip), the Dove from Above and the quick-fire round. The video clips (and the "Hartlepool re-enactments") are removed from the Dove round and replaced by "celebrity questions", in which a question is asked in a video clip by Vic or Bob while dressed up as another celebrity.

• "George's Song" - as one of the options on the Dove - is replaced by "Angelos Epithemou's Variety Showcase" in which Angelos performs a short skit, often involving dancing or a parody of a magic show. Spoof magic tricks appear frequently elsewhere in this series, including a regular routine with a magic box at the beginning of each show (although many of the tricks are obviously done by camera cuts or editing).

• Ulrika is introduced by the singing of a spoof song to the melody of Agadoo.

• In at least one round, an unoccupied pair of trousers will "walk" unattended across the studio. This is completely ignored by everyone else. In one episode, this is replaced by a taxidermy Great Dane which quietly drifts up behind one of the contestants' podiums.

• Shooting Stars returned for an eighth series on 8 August 2011. It now features Archie Andrews, a puppet who walks and "hands" the question to the contestant on the left of Ulrika.

• It was announced by Bob Mortimer on 15 November 2011 that the BBC had cancelled further series of the show. The BBC have confirmed that the show has been axed.