On this page, we will look at some easy ways to distinguish between series of Bullseye. Note that series 13 and 14 of Bullseye seem to be identical in every way (apart from the dates and the Carlton eclipse logo in the closing credits). You can see how similar they are in this collection of pictures from series 13 and 14 showing their similarities.
The following picture must be from series 1 of Bullseye because there is a grey triple circle on the floor:
In series 2, the floor had concentric red-grey-black circles (or at least the part we saw 99% of the time did):
In series 3, the floor had a large red-grey-red-grey circle (or at least the part we saw 99% of the time did):
This must be from series 1 of Bullseye because the points are written on little white bits of paper that have been glued to the board. Also, there is the Bible category.
This must be from series 1 because Jim Bowen is checking the darts himself with his fingers. In later series, Tony Green did the scoring using his superior vision.
This must be from series 2. There are diagonal lines of bulbs behind the audience, and the bulbs are close together - there is one line of bulbs for about every 1.4 people in the audience. Also, the staircase looks as if it has been painted (as opposed to having a carpet). It has a hard, flat appearance. Also, the audience are wearing spirally-cut paper hats, which they only do in this series. In other series when the audience wear hats (e.g. the 200th episode or the Christmas episodes), they are not this type.
This must also be from series 2. In one or more episodes of series 2, the staircase has white lines around the edges of the steps. It still looks like it has been painted, and there are still the diagonal bulbs with the same spacing.
This can only be from series 3. There is a plush red carpet - you can see the pile is thick from how it has been pushed and pulled in different directions. There are obvious carpet rods holding the carpet down. (Carpet rods are the horizontal bars at the back of each step). There are diagonal lines of light bulbs behind the audience, but they are much more sparsely spaced than in series 2. There is one line of bulbs for about every 2 audience members.
This is enough to know that this low quality picture must be from series 3:
This must be from series 4 because there are gold foil curtains behind the audience and the audience looks very small. Foil curtains only appear behind the audience in this series. (In fact, we only ever see a small part of the audience in this series - the part to the left extends further out, and there is a part to the right that is presumably the same size). Generally, in series 4, the audience looks tiny.
Similarly, series 4:
Series 4 because there is the three-board rotating frame with the metal base (which only appeared from this series onwards), and it is placed on the right of the set. (In series 5 onwards, it was on the left of the set.) Even without seeing the three-board rotating frame, this can only be from series 4 because the traditional board is on the right of the set (Jimmy Cricket is throwing to the right). When there were two two-board frames, the traditional board was always on the left of the set. From series 5 onwards, all the boards on the three-board frame were to the left of the set. (The presence of a celebrity means that this could only be from series 3 or 4.) Also, black crosses on the interlocked red and beige circles only appear in series 4. Other series with those circles don't have the crosses.
Apart from the very first episode, series 5 had three red and beige semi-circle rings at the bottom of each staircase, which makes it unique. (Series 6 and 7 just had two red and beige semi-circle rings at the bottom of each staircase. Other series did not have any rings). Also series 5 had an always-visible audience while also having the category board with concentric circles. Later series had the visible audience, but the category board had big yellow arrows on it. (Earlier series had this board but a seldom seen audience.)
The very first episode of series 5 did not have the triple-rings at the base of the staircases. We can still know it is series 5 because the audience is visible all the time and there is the category board with concentric circles. (Later series had the visible audience, but the category board had big yellow arrows on it).
Series 6 had the traditional dart board on a back-lit red "spiders web" surround. In other series in which this type of frame appears (7 onwards), it is blue. This is the easiest way to recognise series 6 instantly.
We can know the following picture is from series 7 because Jim Bowen is doing the introductory talk to the camera at the bottom of the stairs. In all other series in which Bowen first appears at the top of the stairs, Bowen always does the talk while on the staircase. In series 7, he often (but not always) walks quickly to the bottom of the stairs before he addresses the camera. The series 7 episodes where he still talks from halfway up the stairs are episodes 16, 18, 20, 22 and 23.
The next picture is from Series 8 because there is a grey sofa on a blue circular platform. This is the only series with a grey sofa on a platform.
The next picture is from Series 9 because there is a blue sofa on a blue circular platform, and the central section of the audience is only slightly wider than the sofa. (The stairs come down on either side of the platform). (Series 10 also has a blue sofa on a blue platform, but the central part of the audience in series 10 is clearly much wider than the sofa.)
The next picture is from series 10 because there is a blue sofa on a blue circular platform, and the central section of the audience is much wider than the sofa. Series 10 was the first series with a much larger audience. The quickest way to notice the larger audience is how the left hand part of the audience is now rectangular, while it used to be triangular. With experience, you'll come to recognise the big central section too. The "blue sofa on a blue platform" seating arrangement occurs in series 9 (the last series in the 8 by 8 central audience era) and in series 10 (the first series in the 8 by 25 central audience era. The blue sofa straddles two eras in Bullseye. If you can remember this, it is easy to recognise series 9 and 10, and from that it is easy to recognise series 8 (grey sofa) and 11 (red and beige platform).
Series 11 because there is a red and beige circular platform. This platform only appears in this series.
Series 12 because Jim Bowen has his microphone clipped to his suit jacket, when in every other series, it is clipped to his tie.
Series 12 because there is the black and red floor without the red and beige seating platform (which is also true of 13 and 14), but the black and red sectors near the seats do not have silver outlines. (In 13 and 14, they do have silver outlines):
Series 13 or 14 (they are identical) because there is the black and red floor without the red and beige seating platform, and the black and red sectors near the seats have silver outlines:
Similarly series 13 or 14. You can see the silver outlines to the left of the man in black:
Series 11 because there is a red and black floor and there are no round markers indicating where people should stand. (The only other series with red and black floors are 12, 13, 14, and they all have the markers.)
Series 12 because there is a red and black floor with the round markers, and one of the markers is completely on one of the red sections. (In series 11, there were no markers, and in series 13 and 14, none of the markers were completely on one of the red sections.) Also, the oche mat is touching a red section of the floor pattern. (In series 11, it is not touching a red section, and there are no markers. In series 13 and 14, it is not touching a red section, and there are markers.)
Series 13 or 14 because there is a red and black floor and none of the markers indicating where people are supposed to stand is entirely on a red section. (In series 11, there were no markers; in series 12, one of the markers was entirely on a red section. Also, the oche mat is not touching a red section of the floor pattern. (In series 11, it is not touching a red section, but there were no markers. In series 13 and 14, it is not touching a red section, and there are markers. In series 12, it is touching a red section.) A simpler clue is that series 13 and 14 were the only series that had a single line on the oche mat that was about six inches from the end. (Series 9, 10, 11, 12 all had single lines, but the lines were all at the very end of the mat.)
Series 14 because the Carlton UK Productions eclipse logo doesn't appear in the credits of any other series. (It's meant to be a picture of an eclipse, I think.) Series 13 and 14 are identical except for the date in the closing credits (1993 and 1995), and how the eclipse logo appears in series 14.
The following clues narrow down the series to a particular range, but you can combine them to isolate the exact series.
In series 3 and 4, there were both celebrities and professionals throwing darts. If you see a celebrity outside of a Christmas show, then it must be series 3 or 4. If you aren't sure if you are watching a celebrity or a professional, some clues are:
- Celebrity entertainers tended to play up to the audience, while professionals (and celebrity sports people) focused on throwing darts.
The first four series had Bully jumping out of a pub sign and entering a pub:
The fifth to twelfth series had Bully driving a bus into a sort of dart board fantasy world.
The 13th and 14th series had Bully causing havoc on the real world set.
In series 1, the opening credits stand out because there are people wearing "thin shirts" - it was 1981, and times were different. For series 2 and 3, the opening credits are shorter and those parts have been edited out. The credits for series 4 are identical to 2 and 3, but you see this shot of the man's hands playing the piano (as opposed to just seeing him peer at Bully as happens in 2 and 3):
Series 1 to 3 had two separate rotating frames holding two boards each. In series 1 and 2, the right-hand frame had the order-of-play board. That board appeared in series 2, but was only ever used to settle draws, which was rare. In series 3, we didn't see the order-of-play board, but there were still two frames. [There is a Shutterstock picture of Anne Diamond, Judith Hann, and Kenneth Kendall in the series 3 Christmas episode of Bullseye with the order-of-play board in the background. Therefore, the board was there on set in series 3, but never actually shown on camera.] In series 4 onwards, there was a single rotating frame holding 3 dart boards. The frame had a circular metal base.
The next picture shows one of the two double frames from series 1, 2 and 3. (the design of the actual board varied).
The triple frame from series 4 onwards:
From series 12 onwards, the professionals were asked to wave at the camera as they walked off. The first person to wave was Mandy Solomons. Before series 12, no one waved at the camera.
Here's Leighton Rees in series 12:
Here's Mandy Solomons again in series 14:
Series 5, 6, and 7 had red and beige semi-circle rings at the bottom of the stairs. The order of colours on the left-hand side was inverted on the right hand side. No other series had semi-circle rings at the bottom of the stairs.
Series 5 had three rings at the bottom of each staircase (except for the very first episode, which had no rings).
Series 6 and 7 both had two rings at the bottom of each staircase.
Series 6:
You can tell the difference between series 6 and 7 because series 6 had a red "spider's web" traditional board surround, and series 7 had a blue one.
The spider's web traditional board for series 7 was blue. This design of blue surround only appeared in series 7 onwards. As I said, you can tell the above picture is from series 7 because there are red and beige concentric semi-circle rings at the bottom of the stairs.
- If it were series 5, the traditional board would have a different surround.Another difference between series 6 and 7 is how series 6 has three lines on the oche mat, while series 7 has four lines (1 on its own, then a group of 3). A way of remembering this is that 6 is a multiple of 3, and 7 is a multiple of 3 added to 1.
From series 4 to 10 inclusive, the floor design always incorporated two interlocking beige and red circles. In series 4, there were black crosses on them.
From series 11 onwards, the floors were black and red:
Up to and including series 11, Jim Bowen generally wore coloured suits with fairly plain ties. His ties were often light, grey or unpatterned and often had diagonal stripes pointing down to the left. From series 12 onwards, Bowen's ties were generally darker with dark flowery patterns. His suits became more formal and plain. If you see Bowen in a lighter suit or tie, then there is a good chance that the episode was from series 11 or before. If you see him in a dark flowery tie and a duller suit, then it is probably (but not necessarily) from series 12, 13 or 14. There are exceptions, but a good guide is a bland tie means series 11 and before, otherwise series 12 onwards. (You can also tell if an episode was from series 12 by the microphone on his suit lapel. Also, series 11, 12, 13, 14 were all ones with black and red floors. Therefore, a black and red floor with:
In series 1, the back wall design had two interlocking circles on either side connected by a band. It was often difficult to see the outer circles. The design resembled the reels on an old-fashioned studio tape recorder:
The same design appeared in series 2, but it was yellow instead of blue.
And the same design appeared in series 3:
In series 4, the design changed so that there was only one circle on either side. The colour became a much richer yellow.
Some items that are unique to each series, and are also easy to remember, are as follows:
Then for each series where the audience is always visible:
The quickest way to identify any episode of Bullseye is to skip to the moment when the guest thrower is about to play. This gives you a chance to identify the series from the set, and then to identify the episode from the guest.