Predecessors

In 1991, Australian media company Crawford Productions ^{[note 1]} partnered with British quiz-and-gameshow production company Action Time in conjunction with Channel Nine to produce an Australian televisualisation of the Cluedo franchise.^[4][5] Cluedo was "loosely based"^[6] on the board game and adapted from the British TV game show Cluedo (1990-3).^[7] There were many predecessors to its creation.

The original 1949 board game, invented by Anthony E. Pratt and simultaneously manufactured by Waddington Games (UK) and Parker Brothers (US), saw players control six guests with colour-based names who move through Tudor Close country house, making suggestions to deduce who murdered host Dr. Black or Mr. Boddy respectively, in which room, and with which weapon.^[8][9] By the 1990s, it was described as "ever-popular"^[10] and "famous",^[6] and The Age noted it was "the world's second most popular board game".^[11] Liverpool Echo described it as a "tried-and-tested...brilliant old Christmas stand-by game",^[12] while Aberdeen Press and Journal described it as "addictive".^[13] The first real-life Cluedo characters were the 1963 Swiss and 1972 US board game editions, which featured actors on the box and cards, replacing earlier editions which had only shown graphic depictions of the suspects.^[14][15]

The concept of a whodunnit gameshow was arguably first developed by writer Kit Denton for Australian production company NLT Productions in the late 1960s,^[4] though the project called Whodunnit never made it beyond the outline and script stages.^[16] In 1972, Jeremy Lloyd and Lance Percival created another program called Whodunnit?, which saw a panel collect clues and guess the identity of culprits after viewing prerecorded footage and interrogating suspects.^[17] An "obvious forerunner" to Cluedo,^[4] the show was hosted by Jon Pertwee for most of its run and lasted six series.^[18]

A live action adaptation of Cluedo was first attempted in 1985 with the US theatrical film Clue, which had since become a cult film despite initial mixed reviews and poor box office performance.^[19] One of the "earliest post-literary adaptations", according to Thomas Leitch in Post Script journal, the film both "omit[ted] several distinctive features of the game" such as the cards, the interactive pursuit, and questioning, and "specif[ied] many details the game leaves blank" including characterisation and a definitive solution.^[20]

That year, US manufacturer Parker Brothers brought the characters to life in the interactive movie Clue VCR Mystery Game, played in conjunction with the board game, which sold several hundred thousand copies and was possibly the first VCR game.^[21][22] In 1989, Michael Aspel hosted a five-episode televised interactive murder mystery set at a wedding called Murder Weekend, which invited viewers to solve a whodunnit to win a prize; The Times identified it as a direct ancestor of Cluedo.^[23]

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a "minor spate" of game shows were created as conversions of popular puzzle and board games, a trend spurred by the success of new works like Trivial Pursuit.^[24] Both the Trivial Pursuit and Cluedo television adaptations would be the brainchild of independent production company Action Time's founder and managing director Stephen Leahy.^{[25][26][note 2]} Leahy had previously spent 16 years at ITV franchisee Granada Television,^[28] where according to Head of Entertainment David Liddiment he "built some of the finest quiz and game shows" internally like The Krypton Factor (1977) and Busman's Holiday (1985) rather than the norm of "pinch[ing] American shows".^[29] In January 1988, Leahy left to become managing director of Action Time which at the time had just a few commissions and UK game show rights; over the next two years he oversaw a growth period resulting in ownership of rights to 103 games shows worldwide including 27 in the UK, and producing over 20 series for ITV by May 1990.^[28][26][30] In 1991, Birmingham Mail would describe Action Time as "one of the big export successes in British TV", thanks to Leahy having spotted a gap in the game show market in the 1980s and built an empire.^[31] The newspaper believed that Leahy's success since working on The Krypton Factor meant he was "naturally first in the queue on the day Waddingtons released the [television] rights to Cluedo".^[30]

British conception

Cluedo's development coincided with Leahy's belief that gameshows were "not just a hammock for something else, but a rating-puller in their own right", and that they would explode in popularity over the following years.^[28] He felt that gameshows were a rare form of television entertainment that required something of the viewer, and that the constant, comforting airing schedules of shows like Wheel of Fortune mean "you know where you are, how to do it and it's a bit of an achievement when you get it done" with the addictive nature of a newspaper crossword puzzle.^[28] He was wary of this trend however; in a worldwide search for the next Wheel of Fortune he had come across Monopoly, the US television adaption of "the world’s greatest board game to television", and experienced anguish at it being transformed into a "terrible...mess".^[30] He believed it "doesn't work, because it's more fun to play than watch", and felt the viewer experience was like being knocked out of the game but having to sit through others finishing it anyway.^[28]

In contrast, his version of Cluedo promised to be an entertainment show distancing itself from traditional board game design elements, devoid of a game board, dice moves, and scoring.^[28][30] To Leahy, a Cluedo television game show offered an opportunity to further evolve the board game concept by offering a serialised format featuring clue-laden dramatic vignettes and having players work out the solution.^[8] He described the series as "parlour entertainment" in which there were no buzzers, scoreboards, or prizes like contemporary game shows, instead opting for gameplay based on teams competing to solve a mystery through deduction and elimination.^[30] Action Time head of production Malcolm Quiggan later assessed that Cluedo had proven itself as an exception to game shows not working on television because "we’re not watching players shaking dice and moving counters".^[32] Additionally, Mrs. Peacock actress Stephanie Beacham would admit to preferring the dramatised version over playing the board game itself, which was "far too complex" due to its many rules.^[33]

Leahy's experience with Monopoly reinforced his faith that Cluedo was "on the right lines" and a "better bet for success", having opted for a "drama with a star-studded cast" over a "hopping midget".^[30] While "big names" were to be cast, Leahy aimed to avoid the trap of making it little more than a platform for stars noting, "we try and write...shows which work in their own right" with names as a bonus.^[28] Leahy criticised the US production method where syndication necessitated a 'done by committee' form of decision-making, resulting in a dearth of ideas.^[28] While noting the importance of star vehicles to highlight talent and attract audiences, Leahy argued "the shows are growing more intelligent and demanding hosts intelligent enough to host them", revealing that after presenting Busman's Holiday to US executives they were "gobsmacked" it had a female host who was "intelligent, articulate, and [not] a bimbo".^[28] Cluedo would ultimately be hosted by James Bellini (1990), Chris Tarrant (1991), and Richard Madeley (1992–93) over its four-series run.^[34]

In September 1989,^[35] rights to the Cluedo television format were acquired by Granada^[36] from board-game creators Waddington for £1 million,^[37] with London Weekend Television controller of entertainment John Kaye Cooper producing the resulting British game show adaptation at a cost of £2 million.^[38] (Sunday Mirror noted that by series 4 Cluedo would cost £400,000-an-episode).^[37] Granada prepared to produce six half-hour episodes of Cluedo, and commenced talks with several actors to play the characters.^[39] The Cluedo project was initially announced to the public on February 25, 1990,^[39] and the show premiered on ITV on July 25 later that year.^[33] Liddiment anticipated it would be the next big success for Granada, noting, "everybody has played Cluedo at some time in their lives [so] we have this rather daunting and exciting responsibility to bring it to the screen".^[36]

British development

Kevin K. Rattan, writer of the British version's first series, had only a couple of days to write each script as their writer had dropped out last minute.^[40] After a Friday meeting with the directors and a Saturday lunch with the producer, he delivered a script twenty four hours later which became the premiere episode of the series.^[40] He had experience writing short efficient scrips from his time on game show The Krypton Factor.^[40] Rattan addended his scripts with notes for the actors to ensure characters had alibies for the time of the murder, which he compared to the Dungeon Master position in role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.^[40]

Produced by Action Time and Granada, Cluedo was "wisely", according to The Times, developed in association and consultation with Waddington Games.^[41][10][7] While Granada underwent a public battle with the Independent Television Commission in October 1991, the production company ultimately won and Cluedo was unaffected.^[42] The show attracted new talent; John O'Regan, who worked on Cluedo in series four, was the youngest person ever appointed director at Granada,^[43] while Russell T Davies, later known for his 2005 revival of science fiction show Doctor Who, also wrote an episode that year.^[10] Staff writers intermittently travelled to Manchester, where the location shooting occurred, for script conferences, which Cluedo writer Michael Feeley Callan did while completing several episodes in 1993.^[44]

Cluedo premiered on British screens on 25 July at 7pm on Wednesday nights in a slot previously occupied by Busman's Holiday.^[30] When selling the show, Leahy aimed to help buyers from the ground up including showing them floor plans of their sets, and he hoped to ship these sets overseas once their UK runs had wrapped to ensure consistency of quality in their versions. In May 1990, Action Time announced its intention to negotiate with US parties to place its formats with their broadcasters.^[28] By March 1992, Broadcast had reported Leahy was soon to complete a deal that would bring Cluedo to network television in the US.^[45] However, this never came to fruition.^[34]

The show followed "pretty much the same format" of Jeremy Lloyd and Lance Percival's earlier detective fiction program Whodunnit? (1972), which had also aired on ITV.^[17] Whodunnit? featured multiple panelists (Joanna Lumley, Mollie Sugden, Robin Nedwell, June Whitfield) and suspects (Christopher Biggins) who would later appear as main characters in Britain's Cluedo.^[18] However, the programme differs from its predecessor by involving the same six suspected murderers in each episode^[46] and featuring separate murders each week in the same house.^[47] Additionally, Daily Record assessed that the new series came "hot on the heels" of Murder Weekend, noting that Cluedo would feature celebrities and be much snappier and briefer than the "dreadfully-contrived caper [that] dragged on forever".^[35]

When Cluedo first aired in Britain, Evening Herald noted the franchise had "finally" made the transition to television.^[48] Considering Cluedo an "evolved" form of the whodunnit board game,^[49] The Times wondered why no one had previously thought to make a television adaption of the genre's "original classic".^[41] Dundee Courier anticipated that "aficionados" of the popular board game would "love" the televised version.^[50] Described by The Listener as "mix[ing] acted assassination with studio speculation",^[51] the show gave players a chance to "pretend to be [Inspector] Morses", according to The Guardian.^[52]

Conception

In the early 1990s, formatting including licensing started to develop and British producers began to set fees for the use of their programme concepts to markets such as Australia.^[24] Around this time, Seven Network and Ten Network were both in receivership, while Nine Network maintained a strong position and owned 50% of the television market.^[53] Back in 1989, Oberon Broadcasters, the parent company of Nine Network affiliate WIN Television, had acquired Australian independent studio Crawfords.^[54][55] A "dominant player" in the industry, Crawfords sat on eight acres and encompassed state-of-the-art sound stages with production and post-production facilities.^[56][3]

Channel Nine and Crawfords decided to work together on a "big budget" Australian version of Cluedo^[47][6] after observing the success of its forerunner's first few seasons on British television.^[57] Encyclopedia of Television suggests the show came into development as part of a strategy by Crawfords to diversify into co-productions across multiple genres, triggered by drama The Flying Doctors' (1988) international success.^[58] Other projects to come from this campaign include multicultural sitcom Acropolis Now (1989), miniseries The Feds (1993), and children's series Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left (1994).^[58]

On 7 October 1991, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Nine was producing a series of pilots for the new year, with development of Crawfords' Cluedo set to commence the following week; at that stage Nikki Paul and Peter Sumner were confirmed with Frank Gallagher and George Mallaby mentioned as possibles; the host of the show was touted as Simon Rogers who had recently hosted Theatre Sports (1987).^[59] After a string of unsuccessful pilots, Nine remained unsatisfied with any of their choices of compere until an employee suggested actor-producer Ian McFadyen as the "right mixture of background".^[60]

Since wrapping up production of his comedy series The Comedy Company in 1990,^[61] McFadyen's Media Arts had been working on various projects including a pilot for sitcom Newlyweds, due to air on Seven Network.^[62] Aiming to "develop new comedy and drama for the local market",^[62] Media Arts formed a joint venture with Crawfords entitled Crawfords Media International;^[5] as a result, McFadyen had become a known entity within Nine's portfolio.^[63]

After accepting the role, it was officially announced on 4 January 1992, that Cluedo would be hosted by McFadyen.^[64] By January 13, Peter Sumner, Joy Westmore and George Mallaby had also been announced while Andrew Daddo was in talks to reprise his role from the pilot.^[62] Casting of five of the suspects plus the inspector were officially announced later that month while Mallaby as Colonel Mustard was set to be joining the show, but yet to be confirmed.^[65] Mallaby was included in reports by the show's debut on June 10.^[66] While the British version recast with each successive series including for the Christmas special^[10] seeing three new casts within the first 12 months of its run,^[67] the Australian actors were consistent over Cluedo's two series.^[10]

Crawfords began production of the "high-profile" show in Melbourne^[68] in February 1992^[64] and that month Sunday Herald-Sun reported that McFadyen was busy "sorting out suitable plots" for the show.^[69] Due to copyright restrictions Channel Nine and Crawfords sought assistance from Action Time,^[4] with the aim being for Crawfords to produce six other game shows with Action Time and to sell them to different networks.^[70] Crawfords' association with Action Time ultimately did not continue past Cluedo.^[5] By mid-March, the production was being reported on in British media.^[45]

Host Ian McFadyen felt the show sends-up the drawing-room murder genre associated with Agatha Christie.^[47]

Format

According to Albert Moran's Moran's guide to Australian TV series (1993), a scholarly guide to Australian TV series, Cluedo was an "interesting" series to come out of Crawfords.^[4] Though the company had made many game and quiz shows for HSV-7 in the early days of television, it had "long since vacated the genre" to the Reg Grundy Organisation and other packagers.^[4] Crawfords' return to light entertainment,^[71] Cluedo executive producer and Crawfords CEO Terry Ohlsson viewed it as "a major step into virgin territory" for the production company which had since built a reputation for sitcoms, dramas, feature films, and miniseries.^[72] They were particularly well-known for producing Division 4 in the 1960s, The Sullivans in the 1970s, and The Flying Doctors in the 1980s.^[56]

According to McFadyen, the network regarded Cluedo as "a complete experiment...an absolute unknown quantity", and he admitted to being nervous as the series began because "we'[d] never done it before".^[47] The Age noted that while it was a "big gamble" it was one that could pay off,^[46] while The Sun-Herald anticipated Crawfords would break Grundy's monopoly on the market.^[70] The Canberra Times wrote that in terms of this genre, Cluedo's dramatised murders were particularly suited to Crawford's "traditional expertise".^[72] Ohlsson agreed that Cluedo was "fair game" as "we reckon we can make game shows as well as anyone else".^[72]

Ohlsson noted that Cluedo was a "rare" game show where home audiences have just as much chance to play as the studio audience, and actually had an advantage due to being able to concentrate more.^[73] He felt that "we're almost into interactive television with Cluedo",^[73] while The Daily Telegraph-Mirror asserted the series was indeed Australia's first interactive game show as audiences used their detective skills to solve a murder and win prizes.^[73] Moran thought the show was "not all that far removed" from an earlier Crawfords program Consider Your Verdict (1961), though admitted that Cluedo "maximises audience participation" by having the audience question the characters, while the other show "deliberately underplayed audience involvement" and avoided offering prizes for anticipating the jury's verdict.^[4]

Cluedo was "far from a high-risk venture", according to The Sydney Morning Herald, as it was based on a successful overseas television series in "great Australian game show tradition" and noted the "innovative thinking" in choosing a British show rather than the American shows that were more frequently adapted.^[66] Ohlsson agreed that "Australian audiences are too sophisticated to take the mindless stuff that goes on in the US in daytime".^[70] Noting their audiences chose to watch game shows during peak viewing times, he wanted to give them a challenge and "make them use their brains" deeming Cluedo "complex enough" for this purpose.^[73]

McFadyen described the show as "both a deductive game for adults" and one that "teaches kids logic", adding that the drama content and the computerised audience participation elevated the show above contemporaneous American light entertainment.^[47] A lover of intellectual puzzles, cryptic crosswords, and brain teasers himself, McFadyen anticipated the format's success after observing people's desire to play along with detective shows like Perry Mason and solve the mystery.^[60] He thought it was fascinating that "murder can become a game",^[47] and noted gameplay is not based on "how loud you can scream or how much jelly you can tip on each other" as with other shows.^[74] The ability for the studio audience to "sharply" grill the suspects led to Cluedo being more complicated than contemporaries like Wheel of Fortune, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.^[66] McFadyen described the series as "[Geoffrey Robertson's] Hypotheticals meets Donohue meets Theatre-sports meets Agatha Christie".^[73]

The Age thought Cluedo would appeal to "amateur sleuths" who like "finding out who the murderer is";^[47] Ohlsson agreed, "you don't have to be a Mensa candidate to guess".^[75] Noting the short attention spans of television viewers who sometimes find a 30-second commercial "long-winded", The Sydney Morning Herald warned the show "will require more mental activity from its audience than most game shows have demanded for decades", wondering how they would "cope with an hour's worth of concentration".^[76] In comparison, The Times had thought the British show's "tightly scripted" 30-minute format allowed for meeting all the characters, viewing the murder setup, and having players solve the puzzle within an efficient runtime.^[41] Jane Badler, who played Mrs. Peacock, felt that for viewers who weren't keen on quiz shows, the drama itself would be enough to "lure them in", noting "viewers may just be watching to find out what happened".^[77]

3D characterisation

Rattan explained that a quirk of the Cluedo writing process means "you always have to kill a stranger, not a member of your cast", noting that unlike real world statistics the structure of the show requires their murders are never domestic.^[40] Instead, relationship stresses were designed to give the six suspects reasons to lash out at people outside the "normal group", and according to Rattan character motives were designed not to be too "vicious" or "unpleasant".^[40]

As such, the show offered an opportunity to flesh out the previously one-dimensional board game characters through the addition of motives, personalities and life histories.^[80][81][40] Scarlett actress Koo Stark noted "You play the role of a caricature in the board game. It's not a case of trying to interpret a character from a novel, but you have to believe it as much as you can".^[82] Leslie Grantham, who played Colonel Mustard in the British version, commented, "it's fascinating to watch these asexual, inanimate characters brought to life".^[83] The Age agreed the show "brings to life the board-game characters",^[84] while The Sydney Morning Herald felt the game show was a sophisticated interpretation of the "very successful" board game.^[66] The Age thought the Cluedo board game was "such a rarity" as it came with a "ready-made cast of six dreadfully cliched characters", citing Peacock's dowager, Reverend's vicar, and Mustard's retired lieutenant.^[11]

The Sunday Times noted the small screen adaption takes the characters out of their "original cozy pre-war setting" and "brought sharply into the 1990s".^[85] In comparison with the "old and ugly" Mrs. Peacock represented in the board game, the creatives decided to make her "very glamorous" in order to compete with Miss Scarlett for romantic affection.^[86] Of the six main suspects, James Cockington of The Sydney Morning Herald anticipated that the public would start "studying these people" intensely,^[66] while The Age suggested "all viewers will have their favourite suspect".^[87] Italian newspaper Radiocorriere TV noted that a gender balance is structured into the game, which features a fixed cast of three actors and three actresses as suspects.^[88]

Regarding the victim, The Newcastle Herald they are generally someone who "has given each character equal reason to do [them] in",^[57] while Farmer explained, "it is necessary for the writers to establish the murder victim as a thoroughly unlikable character so our sympathies are with the Brindebella regulars who get to bump them off".^[11] Deserving murder victims include a conman, an "architect without morals", and a drunken, unscrupulous journalist.^[11][76] McFadyen joked about including a TV critic as one of the victims, reasoning that "all the suspects would want to be in on the kill".^[69]

Subverting expectations

The Age noted that while board games are often only played once a year over the holidays, a television version necessitated new elements to keep viewers interested.^[11] When designing the cases Rattan felt seeing the six board game weapons each week would bore players, so included a variety of weapons to achieve his desired murder methods such as strangulation, shooting, and bludgeoning, and placed weapons both inside and outside the house.^{[40][note 3]} Unlike the British version, the victims sometimes lived past their 'murder', for instance a slow-acting poison, and the correct solution was where the weapon was administered.^[63]

Chris Tarrant, series one host of the British version, admitted a "highly absurd" design aspect was that the six suspects and six episodes per series meant the non-guilty party by the end of episode five was sure to be the murderer in the finale;^[89] for series one Rattan subverted what the "papers thought would happen and very 'clever clever' T.V. reviewers were saying" by having one culprit commit murder twice and another not at all,^[40] though future series would follow as Tarrant outlined with each cast member given equal opportunity to be the murderer.^[34] In contrast, the Australian version featured two series of 13 and 12 episodes and the guilty parties were irregularly spaced between the suspects; the show avoided trends seen in the British version where, for example, Reverend Green only committed murder in the kitchen.^[34]

Over the 25 episodes, Mustard committed the most murders (six), while Peacock and Green tied for the fewest (three).^[63] Four times over the series a culprit committed back-to-back murders, and in one case Mrs. White used the same poison method in both episodes.^[63] The Billiard Room (seven) and Library (five) were the most common crime scene while the Dining Room (two) was used the least.^[63] The most common murder methods were poison (six), blunt weapons (five), and sharp weapons (five), while unique methods like drowning and falling were used once each.^[63] Both shootings were committed by Mustard while both electrocutions were by Plum, and all but one kitchen murder was committed by White.^[63]

Blank slate and red herrings

Cluedo features a regular cast of six characters who return each week to stand accused of the murder of a visitor.^[57] Mrs. White actress Joy Westmore noted that the premise relies on "the same characters returning week after week" with a black slate and "pretending nothing happened the week before".^[8] She added that "no-one is ever hauled off to jail" or acknowledges that just days earlier they had been found guilty of murder.^[8] The Age agreed that "each week the slate is swept clean" and that "any indiscretions that may have been committed the previous week are ignored, and the story starts anew".^[46] McFadyen noted, "I think you have to imagine that all these actors are packed up and put back into their box and brought out to play with again next week - so there's this lovely renewal".^[11] Dundee Courier noted that each actor is cast as either the "goodie" or "baddie" based on the specifics of each murder.^[82]

According to Woman's Day, a "big attraction" of the series for Miss Scarlet actress Nicki Paull was the "sheer novelty" of "not worrying what the character did last week" due to new scenarios and circumstances in each episode.^[90] TV Heaven thought it amusing that after being asked to remain behind for question, the culprits were "clearly acquitted" as they'd return the following week.^[10] McFadyen noted the show had "all the intrigue of a soap opera", but that instead of having a continuity, "this mob starts afresh every week".^[73] Leahy noted that his creative team decided, "you can't play a murderer one week and come back the next as if nothing had happened without it being all tongue in cheek", which affected the tone of the series.^[11] This aspect "proved liberating" for the writers as each week they could "totally reinvent a character's history" and introduce one-off family members "if it's called for, and never mention [them] again, which Leahy likened to a daytime soap opera.^[11]

The Times noted the challenges of constructing mysteries that wouldn't be either too hard (an impossible case), or too easy (an immediately-solved case).^[91] The press noted that Cluedo "promise[d] to keep us guessing till the very end".^[92] Within the show bible, a key tenant is that "you must play fair with the audience so that when the solution is revealed no one should feel cheated by the absence of the necessary clues to get the answer correct".^[93] To Ohlsson, the objective was not to "flummox the audience completely" or put them in the position where nobody could get the answer right, "because there's no fun in that", and felt it was important to give people a reasonable chance of reaching the correct solution.^[73] McFadyen admitted, "I'm not going to help the audience too much.^[60]

Westmore felt series two's murders were slightly easier to solve.^[8] Of a live taping, Sunday Herald-Sun reported there being "few on-screen clues" for the would-be detectives.^[94] Rattan explained that each show was meticulously planned to prevent guessing, and constructed so that any one of the suspects could have carried it out; there was no concrete evidence to prevent a worst-case scenario where the correct solution was deduced after the first question, effectively spoiling the episode.^[40] Nevertheless Daily Mirror suspected a fix in one episode of the British edition as the winning team "suddenly g[otten] it so right when everyone had been so wrong till then".^[95]

Mark Wallace of The Canberra Times agreed "there is more guess work than science in finding the killer."^[96] Who magazine noted the case to solve the "dastardly deed" is filled with red herrings,^[97] and Grantham explained that "everyone has equally good reasons" for murdering the victim.^[83] While Sun-Herald noted "there's one obvious suspect" in a plot revolving around a rival cook upsetting Mrs White "even before the mystery unfolds on air", these suspects are "invariably the most innocent".^[98] The Age agreed that each week the characters "reappear criminally virginal", and that the show is "based on infinitely renewable innocence".^[87] The newspaper noted the mathematical permutations of six characters "taking turns to bump each other off" in six rooms with six weapons are "probably endless.^[99]

Sanitised, murder-norm world

McFadyen felt that the game's mechanic of turning murder into a sanitised game was the evolution of a standardised art form from years of novels and movies, and deemed the show a "wonderful send-up of the old (Agatha Christie-style) drawing-room murder".^[47] Stephen J. Cannell's Television Productions: A History of All Series and Pilots suggests murder mystery series like Hart to Hart (1979) and Murder She Wrote (1984) laid the groundwork for a "Cluedo mentality" in which the death of a former friend or new acquaintance was "regarded as nothing more than a simple springboard into a zany caper".^[100]

Farmer described Cluedo as an "amoral universe" where "morality ceases", and small real-world micro-aggressions like a dislike of Mrs. White's cooking can turn into motives for murder.^[11] He suggested the series "piggybacks on when someone says, 'I hate her so much I could kill her'" by following through.^[11] Badler agreed on the link between amorality and acting style, noting "we have to be [tongue-in-cheek] because obviously we're all murdering each other constantly".^[77]

The Times suggested that Cluedo offered a "Miss Marple world of vicarage snobbery with violence" rather than anything "blazingly transatlantic".^[41] The Age noted Cluedo's "tongue-in-cheek style".^[84] TV Times Magazine explained the show is set in a world where "murder always lingers in the next corridor",^[80] and The Irish Times noted that within the universe "murder most foul is regularly committed".^[101] Paull explained the show's concept necessitated "crazy" storylines to justify someone dying each week^[102] and one of the main characters being implicated in the murder,^[6] adding that "all the characters are so extreme, their foibles are really overplayed...they're all pretty evil, really".^[73] The Daily Telegraph - Mirror thought guest victim Aunt Evelina "seems too cruel to be true", though her actress Beverley Dunn thought "there is some truth in her character, it's not just hyperbole".^[103]

Sunday Times further described Cluedo's mystery subgenre as Mayhem Parva.^[104] Coined by Colin Watson in Snobbery with Violence (1971) this term describes a mystery subgenre characterised by isolated settings in an English country village with a limited cast of characters who generally take a back seat to the puzzle being presented.^[105] The Sydney Morning Herald felt it built off the "current public craving" for thrillers and Agatha Christie weekends.^[106] The newspaper's James Cockington thought the series would be a "treat" for Christie fans who like to be "in at the kill".^[66]

Of the British version, Sunday Times felt Cluedo was an "up to date" interpretation and offered an "escapist's version of homicide".^[107] Badler felt that solving the murder, not the act of murder, was the show's appeal, noting, "people are always interested in macabre things" like mass murders and serial killers, and that there is a "grotesque...fascination with things that are out of the ordinary".^[77] Sunday Times highlighted the uniquely soft place 'murder' has in the English lexicon relative to its meaning, noting the unimaginability of a version of Cluedo in which one had to figure out who raped Miss Scarlet in the library, due to the offensive nature of the latter term.^[108]

On-location and studio filming

A pilot was produced in 1991, and series production began on Tuesday, 14 January 1992 consisting of 13 episodes including a reshoot of the pilot^[121][70] and continued through February.^[133] TV Week suggested that Palms of an Architect, featuring Daddo's real-life brother Andrew, was the first episode filmed.^[134] Brindebella Homestead's stately exteriors were filmed at Billilla Historic Mansion in Brighton, Melbourne while interiors were shot at Crawford Production's Studio 2 in Box Hill, Melbourne.^[121][60] Before the location was announced, it was known to the press as a classified National Trust mansion in Brighton.^[6] According to The Age the murder house's rooms were coloured based on six main characters' names, though this didn't give any hints to the culprit.^[47]

There were several rules of the game devised by Cluedo's writers that affected filming. As Brindebella is the scene of all the crimes,^[73] the murder had to take place in one of six rooms: the Living Room, Dining Room, Lounge, Study, Billiard Room, or Kitchen. (These are different to the rooms in the British version).^[93] Plot-advancing indoor locations where the murder could now take place included: Peacock, Scarlet, Plum's, or the guest bedroom (one per episode), the vestibule, main or kitchen corridors, and kitchen exterior.^[93] Every room had to be visited at least once, and the six weapons have to be identified and shown.^[93]

Each episode had six drama segments with a total duration of 24–30 minutes.^[93] The first segment introduced the guest and sets up motives for murder, and it was necessary for every suspect to have a motive even if it was tenuous.^[93] The murder was announced at the end of the second segment and couldn't take place in one of the six suspected rooms.^[93] Instead, could occur in outdoor locations like the patio, front steps, or garden, or the vestibule and corridors if inside. The first two segments were kept to a maximum of eight minutes each.^[93] In contrast, each British murder scenario segment ran for eight minutes in total.^[33]

Subsequently, Bogong had three segments of investigation. Together, these five segments progressed toward a clear solution and eliminated some options along the way. Writers were aware that the game show aspect might potentially result in room, weapon, and suspect eliminations after parts four and five.^[93] The sixth segment contained the confession and reenactment of the murder; it was encouraged to favour concluding with the murder over an end tag.^[93]

During production season, initial rehearsals were done on a Monday, and actors were not at first told the solution, however, later on they were asked to solve the case to test if the mystery held up to be solvable by a studio audience; they were successful to varying degrees and Westmore improved over the course of the run.^[8] Officially, only McFadyen and the culprit knew the identity of the murderer each week, and as a result actors generally didn't receive the ending with the rest of the script.^[60][77] During taping of the "tell-all murder re-enactment scenes", the studio set was closed and exact details kept secret, due to Cluedo's game show format.^[77] Badler admitted, "of course, we all find out [the solution] because we can't help ourselves".^[77]

Two episodes were filmed each week, the first on Tuesday–Wednesday and the second on Thursday–Friday.^[8] By the rehearsal stage there "wasn't much room for changes" to the script.^[40] During studio filming Paull had little spare time and 4–6 hours sleep per night, though she appreciated the regular working schedule.^[102] Just a half-day was allocated for location filming each episode, and exterior shots were discouraged due to noisiness.^[93] Badler asserted that the actors were considered equal to the crew, and that the small budget meant scenes was recorded quickly; additionally a unisex clothesline was used as a dressing room.^[135] Shows employed a "painstaking piecing together of evidence", and each pre-recorded portion was filmed in sequential order to ensure a consistency of prop placement.^[8]

Live tapings and home participation

The live portions were filmed two-per-day on Sunday and Monday^[8] at Nine Network's GTV-9 studios in Richmond, Melbourne from March 1992.^{[47][57][76][121]} Before taping commenced, warm-up man Pete Smith explained the rules of suspect interrogation and the dial system worked and asked if the audience had any questions.^[127][76] At the start of each episode on a large screen McFadyen introduced the six regular characters who could be guilty, the six possible murder weapons, and the six rooms of the house in a detailed floorplan.^[47] He also introduced the "fabulous prizes" that could be won.^[11]

According to Cockington, McFadyen's role is to "keep the stop-start action flowing while acting as a link between the studio audience (plus those, watching at home) and the prerecorded and live studio segments";^[66] TV Week agreed with the linking nature of his role^[110] and McFadyen noted his Donahue-style running around and moderating of the audience, "trying to keep their questions on [sic] line".^[73] The Age suggested his role was to "explain the rules, introduce the dramatic segments, roam the studio audience asking for guesses, and chair an audience cross-examination of the suspects".^[11]

After viewing the pre-recorded videotape case footage of the events surrounding the case^[4] up until the point the murder is revealed,^[57] the six suspects "submit[ed] themselves for questioning",^[142] and "placed in the firing line of would-be Miss Marples and Hercule Poirots".^[143] After being cross-examined for motives, alibis, and other clues,^[57] the players used mini-computer terminals to deduce the solution.^[111]

According to Westmore, the success of episodes depended a lot of the type of studio audience, pointing to shows which invited groups of police officers and Air Force officers.^[8] The Sydney Morning Herald also noted audience members stemming from the armed services and paramedics.^[144] Badler described one audience as "fiery" and "funny" meaning the cast had to "be on [their] toes".^[86] The Age reported these live tapings as "fascinating" to watch, and that the audience "couldn't wait to make a guilty verdict".^[47] Aberdeen Evening Express commented the show "gets you involved as you try to outwit" the onscreen sleuths.^[145]

After The Sydney Morning Herald visited a taping, their reporter recalled a small number of oiks in the studio audience, who "looked as if they wandered in expecting a wet t-shirt competition [or] an episode of Chances", and who said to each other "how to we get the fuck out of here" before leaving at the earliest opportunity.^[76] The newspaper noted that the rest of the audience "sat engrossed, fiddling with their handsets and with their powers of deduction working overtime".^[76]

The celebrity panelists of the British version sometimes struggled; The Krypton Factor host Gordon Burns commented, "I'm much more used to asking the questions and having the answers".^[146] Who magazine described the studio audience as "feverishly busy"^[97] and Sunday Herald-Sun wrote the interaction between them and the suspects "seemed to work well".^[94] The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that "on the whole the cast of regulars does a fine job, letting rip with the odd ad lib when they face question time".^[147]

The Daily Telegraph/Mirror described how McFadyen circulates in the audience and urges members to quiz suspects as "Donahue-style",^[73] and The Age similarly likened McFadyen "leap[ing] through the audience to get their deductions or accusations" to the "frenzy" of The Phil Donahue Show.^[47] McFadyen explained, "I pick people who want to ask a question and I drop hints. I tease them a bit and I tell them whether they're right or wrong".^[86] He considered it a "hypothetical" form of interrogation as instead of politicians to grill on the issues, there were six fictional murder suspects.^[86]

The Sunday Age's Kate Nancarrow quipped that "the court is a solemn, respectful place, nothing like Cluedo".^[148] This contrasted with the British version in which "it would take forever to film just a few lines because the audience had to be turned over to stop them getting bedsores", according to host Chris Tarrant.^[149] McFadyen noted, "once you tell [the audience] they've got a prize they get very excited."^[47] He explained that unlike his other acting roles, he needed a teacherly presence in order to control the studio audience;^[47] McFadyen had worked as a teacher earlier in his career.^[47]

Meanwhile, home sleuths could 'participate' to win a prize by dialing in with the correctly guess at the exact moment the studio audience winner locked in their answer.^[111][150] The number was not set up by June 6 but was later implemented; TV Week reported that callers would not have to "negotiate a maze" as common in other 0055 promotions, and estimated most Cluedo calls to cost $1 on average.^[110] In the lead-up to the premiere, Ohlsson said competition lines would be open for four days to handle the calls.^[150]

While TV Week was unsure where the money would go and deemed it a Cluedo-esque mystery,^[110] The Canberra Times pointed to Kerry Packer as both the owner of the Nine Network and a shareholder in the 0055 line used.^[111] A reviewer suggested the show could "swell Channel Nine's coffers by hundreds of thousands of dollars".^[150] The Herald-Sun agreed the show was a "potential big money earner" and "healthy revenue raiser" for Nine, noting that if 10% of the network's anticipated audience phoned in Nine, Telecom (now Telstra), and the owner of Double-O Services would collectively earn around $300,000 per episode,^[112] and Telecom was expected to collect 40%.^[150] The newspaper anticipated it would "probably be one of the hits of the year" for this reason.^[112]

Publicity and airing

While live tapings were occurring in March, Channel Nine and Crawfords were hopeful of the series' ability to entice viewers,^[47] and that viewers would keep guessing the murderer throughout the weeks of its run.^[47] As part of promotion, on 16 May Daddo and Westmore were invited as guests in Nine's superbox for the Melbourne vs. Hawthorn AFL game, where they enthused about making the programme.^[155] Additionally, Badler appeared on the front cover of The Sunday Telegraph on 7 June,^[156] she and McFadyen appeared on the front cover of Sunday Herald-Sun for that day's edition,^[157] and Paull graced page one of the latter newspaper on 1 January 1993.^[102] In honour of the series premiere, journalist Fiona Scott-Norman wrote an article asking celebrities which weapon they would use to deal with a crime at home and scare off introducers.^[158] The show featured host Elton Welsby from fellow Granada show Busman's Holiday as a guest panellist.^[159] In 1993, Steam Packethosted a murder mystery dinner complete with clues and characters from the British game show Cluedo, which featured a detective played by Charles Palmer, the consultant for the TV series.^[160]

Media representatives were invited to live tapings, for instance Christine Rau of The Age, which she referred to in her article dated 29 March 1992.^[47] Badler recalled a journalist interviewing her while watching the show and that "he was so involved in trying to guess...that is almost forgot to interview me".^[77] The main cast kept secret how many murders they committed when being interviewed by the press,^[90] however infrequently a solution was prematurely insinuated, for example The Herald-Sun revealed a rockstar's death was "felled by heavy metal of a different kind", referring to a tuning fork.^[6] While Ferris admitted her character had a shady past and was capable of committing murder, though refused to divulge any plots or whodunnit solutions.^[152] For the UK version, in July 1990, Judy Finnegan and Richard Madeley present on their mid-morning magazine show This Morning with a special feature on the filming of Cluedo.^[161] Sometimes the guest panelists would receive features in the newspaper, for instance private investigator Robert Kettle in Liverpool Echo.;^[162] this newspaper also printed Cluedo grids for readers to play along with the show.^[163]

Cluedo premiered on 10 June on the Nine Network's TCN and GTV television stations,^[164] WIN Television network's VTV station,^[8][165] and on NBN station in the Hunter Region^[57] under the banner Crawford Action Time^[7] in conjunction with Nine Network.^[166] The Sydney Morning Herald's Cockington thought the series was the next "big gun" for the network, which had been "slaughtering the opposition in the 1992 ratings".^[66] The newspaper's Robin Oliver agreed that at the time Nine was a "strategic high-flyer"^[68] and had used the detective series to "build its program schedule".^[167] McFadyen hoped viewers would get used to watching the show, in a similar way to how the board game had entered public consciousness.^[11] The show's board game origins were often referred to; People described it as "the board game that became a series".^[137] The show helped Nine Network comply with the Australian Broadcasting Authority's Television Program Standard which aimed to increase transmission of Australian content and first run drama programs.^[164][168]

The Sydney Morning Herald thought Cluedo could be a huge ratings winner due to the public's fascination with murder.^[129] The Canberra Times wrote in June that "assuming Cluedo works, ratings wise, we shouldn't really expect any major changes to the show."^[111] Channel Nine expected to attract around 3 million viewers.^[150]The Sun-Herald predicted the series would cause a ripple effect for Parker Brothers which distributes the board game in Australia, noting a 23% increase for the British edition when their version of the game show aired.^[70] The Sun-Herald thought that in addition to the studio audience, thousands of people would take part from their lounge rooms.^[6] By March, it was anticipated the one hour show would air on weeknights at 7:30pm.^[60] Though the series was originally expected to air in April,^[70][134] the 13 episodes of the first series began airing on the Nine Network on 10 June 1992.^[169] It was the third of Nine's new prime-time programs.^[123]

In early May, the network commissioned a second series of 12 or 13 episodes before the first series had debuted the following month in June.^{[170][171][121][66]} On 11 May, Nine's network programmer, Ross Plapp noted that the cast "should remain the same" and advised that "negotiations are under way".^[172] TV Week thought the move "surprising" due to Nine Network not yet knowing the viewers' response to the first series.^[170] The network revealed that after viewing some of the programs, they were confident of the series' success^[173] and had "big hopes" for Cluedo.^[174] Specifically, Plapp explained that after viewing some of the programs the network was "sure the series is a goer", and decided it seemed sensible to continue with production "while everyone was 'on the boil'".^[172] Despite causing scheduling conflicts, Daddo was "rapt" about Cluedo's renewal and he and McFadyen were both keen to take part in the second series.^[74]

Additional to the calculation was Nine's recent ratings success; by the end of May 1992, the network had won 12 of the 13 weeks of survey and was leading the most recent week on 33.2.^[174] The Sydney Morning Herald agreed this decision suggested the network "display[ed] admirable...confidence in its new product",^[172][66] and The Age suggested the network must have been pleased due to the premature greenlighting of a second series.^[175] Crawfords also expected to be financially rewarded through overseas sales or rights - by the beginning of June a German version was about to begin production and there was interest from the US, France, New Zealand, Sweden, Japan, Singapore, and Denmark.^[150]

Crawfords began production of the second series on 15 June^[6] after taping the live portion of the first series' 13 episodes in front of a studio audience.^[129] TV Week noted that McFadyen and Daddo were "under pressure" with a "mammoth workload" due to overlapping production schedules with their other projects - sitcoms Bingles, Let The Blood Run Free, and Newlyweds for the former and a Scottish ghost character in the $3.7 million series Round the Twist's for the latter.^[74] Series two began airing on 6 January 1993 with the episode Busy Body,^[8][165] and on 27 January Cluedo replaced a repeat airing of Jana Wendt On Assignment which had been axed after a single episode.^[176]

Ratings

Premiering weekly at 7:30pm on Wednesday nights^[177] at the conclusion of the 1992 State of Origin series, the show replaced "flop" Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) which was moved to the 11:30pm Thursday timeslot for its sixth season ^[66][68] According to Sunday Times, this decision to remove Star Trek elicited "great resistance from 'the faithful'".^[178] Having waited for the Origin season to end, Nine introduced Cluedo as a Wednesday evening hopeful.^[179] Of the 10 June premiere "A Fete Worse Than Death", The Sydney Morning Herald reported the series opened at 21 points (a total of 259,140 Sydney homes), just beating Channel Seven sitcoms Hey Dad..! and Home Improvement^[167], and also bested these two programs to win its slot in Perth "with considerable ease".^[123] However, measured by audience the show did not finish in the top 25 programs.^[167]

Cluedo's first episode ultimately reached 26th in the ratings in Sydney^[144] and Melbourne.^[180] The second episode peaked at 23rd.^[181] The newspaper reported that demographic data showed the series mostly appealing to the 40-plus age group, in contrast with Seven's sitcoms which were strong with women in the 18-29 age bracket.^[167] Another newspaper wrote the show was "doing quite well", alongside Nine's other new prime-time shows, and was "filling the network with great glee".^[123] Fidgeon noted, "what does it matter what a grumpy little reviewer thinks" when the show is performing well and people are watching.^[181]

The Herald-Sun wrote it was an "innovative concept", and suggested the production team would be satisfied with a "healthy" debut, though wondered if viewers would "stay with it", deeming it a "disappointing deliverer that scored well with viewers".^[117] The Sunday Sun-Herald deemed it a "splendid performer" though questioned how long it could maintain the interest and high ratings on its current format; still it concluded the show was innovative and "definitely deserves a far go".^[94]

Mark Wallace of The Canberra Times felt that Cluedo "showed enough in its debut...to warrant another look".^[96] The Sydney Morning Herald suggested the ratings success was proof "that people will watch anything",^[144] while The Herald-Sun thought the "greed" of viewers at home would keep them watching.^[112] On 24 June, "Palms of an Architect" came third in its timeslot after The 7.30 Report (22 points) and Hey Dad..!.^[182] On 5 July, Sunday Herald-Sun reported "it's good to see Cluedo holding on to those ratings points and no doubt heartening for Crawfords", noting that with The Flying Doctors off the air and Acropolis Now on repeats it otherwise seemed to be a quiet time for the production company, contrasting it with Crawford's earlier history which had competing successful police dramas across channels.^[183]

The episode on 8 July, "Goodwill to All Men," opened on 17 points, but dropped to 14 and 15.^[184] In the Canberra television ratings survey 28 June to 25 July, the series reached 16 points down from 18, the best Wednesday night programme for WIN excluding state-of-origin rugby league matches.^[185] After four of the 13 shows had aired, Sunday Times wrote the program was "surprisingly...rapidly gaining an audience" despite the earlier resistance^[178] and The Sunday Age reported the series was "attracting high ratings";^[175] in October the latter newspaper reported the show had "more than lived up to the network's expectations".^[180]

Still, by July The Sydney Morning Herald noted the show was "declining in popularity" and while not "dangerously low of ratings", it struggled to "fill the extra 17 minutes needed for a commercial hour" and as a result risked boredom.^[153] The newspaper recommended the show revert to the British format, shortening it to 30 minutes, then to "scrap the audience, hire hand-picked celebrity sleuths and save on trips to Micronesia".^[153] The following year, Moran retrospectively felt the 1992 series had been a "lucky break" for Crawfords, whose major series at the time, The Flying Doctors and Acropolis Now, would both be cancelled by the end of the year.^[4]

Australian cancellation

The Australian Broadcasting Tribunal announced in July 1992 that the industry had recorded its worst year in 1990-91.^[186] That month, in the midst of agreeing to host a second series of Cluedo,^[187] McFadyen became involved in an expensive legal battle which "continue[d] to plague [him]"^[187] and according to TV Week "soured [his] current career success".^[188] In an interview, The Sunday Age reported the series "seemed far from his mind" and that the project was "finished as far as his work is concerned", as his attention turned to the second Newlyweds pilot for Channel Seven.^[175] In August 1992, TV Week reported that the network "abruptly removed" the show from its schedule with three episodes left unaired, reportedly to retain them as a lead-in to its second series to be aired in 1993; meanwhile production of a third series was in negotiation stages.^[189]

On 20 September, Crawford Australia announced it had started retrenching staff to survive a possible five-month break until production picked up in 1993, having suffered from the recession, commercial television network difficulties, and the 10BA tax concession scheme drop; at the time Crawfords did not know if Nine would commission another series of Cluedo, with its other shows Acropolis Now, Newlyweds and The Flying Doctors all cancelled or in limbo.^[186] However, on 29 November, The Sydney Morning Herald reported the series had been "rescued from the discard basket" alongside The Flying Doctors and Raven,^[190] and on December 2, The Age reported it was "set to return" for a third series.^[191]

Ultimately, the show was cancelled after two series;^[192] most of series one had aired in June–August 1992 and series two in 1993,^[78][193] though episodes continued to be broadcast into 1994 and 1995.^[194][121] Meanwhile, British Cluedo's final episode aired on 24 May 1993.^[195] Jocks' Journal assessed the Australian series as "short-lived",^[196] and The Sun-Herald admitted that it "wasn't exactly a ratings winner" for Channel Nine.^[197] While in February 1993 McFadyen followed up Cluedo with his Crawfords-Media Arts coproduction Newlyweds, which was advanced to series,^[198] Crawfords' association with Action Time ultimately did not continue past Cluedo.^[5]

Writing on Cluedo's cancellation, The Age suggested it may have been challenging to "get people hooked" as the show had a "steep learning curve", requiring the viewers to concentrate for a whole hour.^[46] The newspaper also felt that the team of writers and directors that worked on Cluedo among others, created shows that were "dramatically vapid, jumbled, corny and generally uninvolving", resulting in poor audience figures.^[199] (Other series referred to include Cop Shop (1977), Chances (1991), Secrets (1993), and The Flying Doctors).^[199] Moran thought the audience participation padded out the running time, contrasting it with earlier Crawfords series Consider Your Verdict.^[4]

Lawrie Masterson of TV Weekly thought that adapting the "old, tried and true" board game for television "sounds easy", as the concept of a "variety of colourful-sounding" murder suspect, a "myriad" of genuine clues and red herrings, and a final reveal had "all the elements of mischievous fun"; though in practice it "obviously it wasn't easy at all" as the fun of interactively "pitting your wits" against the other players in the board game is robbed when passively staring at the screen for the duration of the show.^[110]

By 1995 The Age had deemed it a "failed" show^[200] and in 1996 The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that the public reaction to both Cluedo and Newlyweds was "tepid".^[201] Decades later, Junkee deemed it part of Australia's "weird" television landscape from the 90's.^[202] In 2014, the Australian version of Cluedo would be listed in a Herald Sun article called 'Classic TV shows we used to love that would never fly today'; the newspaper wrote it was a "bold concept for its time" and more successful in Britain where it originated, but "never struck a chord with enough viewers".^[203]

British cancellation

Upon its announcement, The Financial Times expressed surprise at the concept and questioned whether its participants "had more pride" than to take part, wondering if a televised snakes and ladders would be next.^[204] Evening Herald felt it "pales disappointingly in comparison" to the board game, deeming it "trite", "stilted", "obvious", and "crass" for "trying to convince its audience what a good time they're having and how much their brains are being stretched".^[48] On 25 July 1990, John Chambers of Evening Herald admitted that while he was planning to watch, "it could be utterly awful, then again that could be its true appeal".^[205] That month, Sandwell Evening Mail surmised that in attempting to convert one of the most popular board games to television, the result revealed the game's boringness to millions of viewers, and was caricaturisish for instance featuring a "panto-style ya-boo exchange" with the 'grand jury' studio audience.^[206] Aberdeen Evening Express wrote the series "reduced a popular board game to a travesty of amateurish dramatics", criticising the "third-rate reconstructions and awful lineup of has-been personalities [with] careers dead and buried long ago" which "provided even less tension than an average session of the cardboard original" and "deliver[ing some rather ropey, semi-improvised dialogue"; the newspaper further commented "the board game’s strength lies in exercising the mind to imagine the crime, its motives and execution in a limited environment, but any hint of mystery was lost as the TV form flabbily fleshed the whole thing out to no advantage".^[207]

Having not played Cluedo since a child, watching a few episodes of this series encouraged Daily Mirror to add the old board game to their Christmas shopping list, noting it had been "translated to television wonderfully well" and guessing that "viewers are enjoying it as much as the cast".^[208] While initially fearing the idea might become Cluedon't when board moved to screen, Daily Mirror found the series to be "terrific fun", due to the way Beacham "flounced, quivered and pouted, sending herself up wonderfully", and how Whitfield "frowned, quivered and sulked with her usual comic genius", adding "the rest of the cast weren't rubbish either" and that the "dull bits were the guessings by celebrity 'detectives'".^[95] Miss Marple fan Lynda Gilby of Sunday Life felt "what should have been a glorious romp, lacked style".^[209] In September, Birmingham Mail positively compared it to the "dismal failure" of Trivial Pursuits, citing Leahy's philosophy of avoiding physical game boards in the TV studio that players sat around, criticising the latter's complex overly-lit board, long rolls of the dice ala Sporting Triangles, and rounds often ending from an invisible clock rather than skill.^[210] Upon the series one finale, the newspaper assessed in August assessed that while the "corn[y]...ham acting scenes fail to stir your imagination", the show had "the best opening sequence of any programme on the box at the moment", and concluded that the show had done well enough in the ratings to justify second series.^[211] Similarly, Birmingham Weekly Mercury assessed the "fun" show "deserves another series".^[154] felt the TV version "pales disappointingly" in comparison with the "great" board game, suggesting that with the celebrity cast "you'd expect better...but the whole package is too trite and stilted, crassly trying to convince its audience what a good time they're having and how much their brains are being stretched by the whole experience".^[212]

By April 1991 Evening Herald thought the "awful" spin-off had given the original board game a "very bad name",^[213][214] and surmised that "most of the murdering" during the "laboured" first series was "done by the TV critics".^[215] North Wales Weekly News, wrote "What a pity such a talented cast are handed such an inane script to deal with" and added "if the writers could sharpen up this series would have real potential".^[216] Meanwhile Liverpool Echo felt the show succeeded due to melding a popular board game with celebrity actors, dramatic costumes, and a "breath-taking" backdrop.^[163] In June, Punch magazine suggested that the ratings successes of shows like Cluedo, That's Life!, and You've Got To Be Joking demonstrated that "viewers are quite content with nonstop junk".^[217] In March 1992, Ogilvy and Mather Media research groups saw Cluedo get a "resounding thumbs down".^[218] In May, Sunday Times' Sally Pyne thought Cluedo turned the board game into a passive "couch potato operation" with television sleuths doing all the work.^[219] The series three premiere had received an official complaint.^[220]

In April 1993, Bristol Evening Post asserted that the showbusiness chat show Bruce’s Guest Night would "have to keep the star names coming in" for host Bruce Forsyth to "beat off the ratings challenge from our favourite TV whodunnit game show Cluedo".^[221] In May, Daily Mirror described it as a "silly, but highly entertaining" game show.^[222] In June, Financial Times questioned whether television's "perpetual obsession with the criminal" created a public fear of crime, citing Cluedo aired the same night as other "real crime" shows Horizon, It's a Stitch-up, Porridge, Mr Inside/Mr Outside, Hard Shoulder, Cagney & Lacey, and a Panorama episode about Salvatore Riina.^[223] Aberdeen Evening Express thought the show "reduced a popular board game to a travesty of amateurish dramatics"^[224] and that the "little plastic pieces" of the board game gave more realistic performances than the cast,^[145] though admitted by 1993 that "that's not the point" and recommended the light entertainment show.^[145] Liverpool Echo felt Cluedo would be "ideal fodder for doctors waiting rooms".^[225] In July, Sunday Mirror announced that the show had been cancelled by ITV director Marcus Plantin in a company-wide review of gameshows in the aftermath of the success of "wacky" Channel 4 show The Big Breakfast due to him wanting a "whole new look for daytime television", with other casualties including Runway, Lucky Ladders and Pyramid (game show); at the time Cluedo was attracting viewership of up to 10 million per episode.^[37] An ITV source stated, "Cluedo has run its course as a game show. A lot of people thought it wasn't very good anyway".^[37]

In 1994, Lynne Truss of The Times wrote the British adaption was "not a great success"^[140] and the newspaper's Andrew Pierce later wrote it ended up in the "television graveyard" alongside Tarrant's version of Pop Quiz (1994).^[226] In reference to Madeley's hosting of the "superb" daytime quiz show Runway,The Independent noted his "not quite so impeccable (and recently axed)" Cluedo.^[227] TV Cream Toys suggested that despite breaking through on ITV primetime and "churn[ing] out" four series, Britain's Cluedo suffered a "ratings haemorrhage".^[228] In 2011, Lumley wrote the "small" television series had "disappeared too soon".^[229] In 2021, CST Online noted the British version was not nominated for any BAFTAs.^[230]

International cancellation

In January 1992, The Sun-Herald reported that Crawfords had been approached by numerous European countries who wished to produce the Australian version of the game show, adapting their scripts and some of their concepts.^[70] Multiple international adaptions would be produced including Italy's Il delitto è servito (1992–3), Germany's Cluedo – Das Mörderspiel (1993), France's Cluedo (1994–5), Portugal's Cluedo (1995), and Sweden's Cluedo – en mordgåta (1996).^{[249][250][251][252][253]} None of these shows enjoyed the longevity of the original and similar sentiments were shared on these other versions.^[230] CST Online argued the international adaptions had short shelf-lives as "the whole premise and execution are so quintessentially English".^[230]

Of the Italian version's cancellation, host Maurizio Micheli suggested the concept invited poor ratings from the teletheater [it] format being unpopular and the genre only appealing to "people of good taste".^{[254][note 6]} Telecapri News agreed that poor ratings led to cancellation.^[256] Still, Maurizio Micheli thought Cluedo was "well packaged by prominent writers and actors",^[254] admitted that "strange to say, it's a smart quiz";^[257] Orgoglionerd agreed that in Cluedo, deduction, intelligence and attention-to-detail are key.^[258]

La Stampa deemed it "an agile and fast program that you can watch without dying of boredom", and "simply a good product with an extra idea, which is now very rare", concluding it was a "refreshing little program, a nice little surprise".^[259] Italian newspaper La Repubblica wrote that "the whole program is quite pleasant",^[260] Each episode saw a crime committed at the six-room Villa dei Castagni.^[261] while Teatro e Musica News wrote Il delitto è servito was a "beautiful program". ^[262] Orgoglionerd thought it is program where "deduction, intelligence and attention to detail were the masters".^[263] Radiocorriere thought the show offered a "very complicated story".^[264]

Toutelatele.com thought France 3 opted to adapt Cluedo for French television due to the channel "lacking originality and wanting to exploit a trend", likening it to 1988's Trivial Pursuit (predating the UK and US gameshows and adapted from the board game) and 1989's Dessinez, c’est gagné (adapted from US gameshow Win, Lose or Draw which was based on board game Pictionary).^[128] Home viewers could participate via Minitel or phone to win prizes, clues were hidden in Télé-Loisirs and game grids were detachable from the magazine's pages.^[128]

Unsatisfied with the first two episodes, France 3 executives asked for a new version of the game which replaced cast and altered gameplay; these changes were not successful and after four episodes the show was cancelled.^[128] 20 years after the single series Swedish version aired, Villanytt asked "who doesn't remember" the show,^[265] and Daniel Hånberg Alonso of Filmkultur recalled Cluedo as "very entertaining".^[266] In 2015, TV4 advised they had no intention of re-running the series.^[267]

Quotenmeter thought the German version was one of the "innovative", "crazy", "kitschy", "tasteless" and "unconventional" shows that producer Stefan Fuchs brought to channel Sat.1 during his tenure, though noted they "often developed into big audience favourites".^[268] Alsterfilm Productions hosted the show on its site in 2013, and wrote that despite featuring well-known actors, the format was "not particularly successful".^[269]

Aftermath

Gravestone of Cluedo inventor, Anthony E. Pratt. The success of the game shows was partly responsible for the search for Pratt's identity in 1996.

Cluedo was featured in Albert Moran's Moran's Guide To Australian TV Series (1993), a scholarly guide to Australian TV series, which described Cluedo in the introduction as a "problematic anomal[y]" to the definition of drama, and a recent example of a genre hybrid.^[270][271] In 1994 Action Time completed a U.S. network deal for the Cluedo format^[272] and that year a full-motion video spiritual successor of Cluedo was released on the CD-i, filmed in the same location as the British game show^[273] and featuring a reprise of Joan Sims' Mrs. White.^[274] CDi Magazine wrote the experience was "like taking part in your own murder mystery on TV".^[273]

That year, the BP ldentiphysics Challenge final, a schools' game show based on Cluedo promoting STEM subjects, took place in which contestants deduced which of six fictional scientists worked in which laboratory using which piece of equipment to make a particular discovery.^[275] In 1995, disco and snooker company European Leisure released "amusement with prizes" machines called Maygay Machines, based on TV programmes like Gladiators, EastEnders and Cluedo, earning £402,000 profit within six months.^[276] In the lead-up to the 150 millionth sale of Cluedo, in 1996 Waddingtons began a hunt to find out the identity of the elusive creator of the board game; it was eventually revealed Anthony E. Pratt had passed two years earlier of natural causes, and that he did not make a substantial amount of money from the game unlike Monopoly's creator.^[277]

Over the next few decades the Cluedo franchise would continue to experiment with story-driven brand extensions with a stage musical (1997), computer game (1999), live-action miniseries (2011), stage play (2018), and upcoming film; however many including the stage play have instead drawn inspiration from the 1985 film.^[278] Meanwhile, other whodunnit game shows would follow in Cluedo's footsteps including Sleuth 101 (2010) in Australia and Armchair Detectives (2017) in Britain.^[279][280]

After the show was taken off the air, DAMsmart completed a digitisation project for WIN Corporation and Crawford Productions, digitising Australian television series from the 60's to the 90's.^[281] On 1 May 2005, Crawford Productions donated their main archive including 328 x 1-inch videos of television programs to the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) when the production company closed their Box Hill site.^[282] Based in Canberra, the collection houses Cluedo televised episodes and scripts.^[283]

The remainder of the collection was accepted by the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Research Collection.^[284] Established by AFI as a library in 1978, the Collection is still owned by AFI subsidiary Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), though it is presently on loan to RMIT University in Melbourne.^[285] The Cluedo materials within the Crawfords Collection include script drafts, production stills, press kits, magazine and newspaper clippings, logos, and location shots.^[79]

No DVD or digital release of the Australian game show has been made, and only bootleg copies are known to exist.^[192] Although in 2015, Australian fansite Cluedofan tweeted that 12 episodes of the series were to be uploaded to YouTube in the near future.^[286]

Main cast

The hour-long show was hosted by Ian McFadyen and featured a regular cast who played the six suspects, plus an additional character Detective-Sergeant Stanley Bogong who solves the crime.^[64] In-universe, Mrs. Peacock, Miss Scarlet, and Professor Plum live at Brindebella Homestead, while Colonel Mustard, Reverend Green, and Mrs. White live nearby.^[93] Despite being only "loosely based" on the board game,^[6] these characters are taken directly from the original.^[10] The show's British analogue "hauled in lovely people to play the well-known characters" according to Britain's Mrs. Peacock, Joana Lumley.^[229] The British press put the "high level of talent the show can attract" down to Cluedo being a game that most households grew up with.^[287] Their version attracted household names like Lumley, June Whitfield, Mollie Sugden, Tom Baker, and Pam Ferris as main suspects.^[288]

According to Aberdeen Evening Express it attracted "deities of the light entertainment world",^[145] while TV Times magazine noted the co-stars would be familiar to viewers from "top TV series",^[289] Irish Press and Evening Herald noted the show boasted a host of top-name British celebrities.^[44][205] Belfast Newsletter thought viewers would be "wrack[ing] their brains trying to work out why housekeeper Mrs White's face was so familiar".^[290] Stephanie Beacham was persuaded to play Mrs. Peacock in order to work alongside a strong cast, particularly June Whitfield whom she admired.^[33] Unlike the British version in which "the faces change but the characters remain the same", the Australian actors were consistent across the two series.^[291] The Canberra Times agreed that Cluedo featured a "cast of top-class Australian actors".^[111] Of the seven main cast members (excluding McFadyen), five previously appeared in either Prisoner or Cop Shop which were thematically linked to their Cluedo roles of "cold-blooded killers".^[73]

Of the British version, Colonel Mustard actor Lewis Collins spoke on the "tremendous rapport" that the actors enjoyed together.^[292] Paull loved playing Vivien^[6] and commented on the family-like "strong, close relationships" she shared with the cast and crew.^[102] Similarly, in 1992 a reporter noted that Daddo and Westmore "clearly enjoyed making the program",^[155] while Badler described the role as "good fun".^[115] June Whitfield said of her British Mrs. White character, "I'm very proud of her...it's been great fun to do".^[293][142] TV Week admitted, "they all seem to enjoy themselves immensely".^[110] The Newcastle Herald described it as a "melodrama".^[57] The show gave the characters an opportunity to "ham it to the max".^[76] The character names have some "nice" double entendres, according to The Age.^[47]

Conversely, Sunday Times described the parts as "bread-and-butter work"^[294] and noted the cast were playing cliches;^[107] The Sydney Morning Herald agreed that the main cast "lend considerable panache to the essential archness of their roles".^[153] The Age suggested that both the Australian and British versions encouraged the cast to play their roles "over the top",^[11] and admitted they were a "jolly collection of actors providing fine ham" who "act their heads off and provide innocent amusement for the rest of us".^[87] Scarlett actress Koo Stark described the series as "great fun—over the top, instant emotion".^[82] Liverpool Echo thought British series four actors played their roles with "amateur dramatic gusto" and could start "new careers in children's television".^[225] David McCallum, who played Professor Plum in the British version noted, "this is not the Royal Shakespeare Company but it still requires technique. It's not overacting and it's not underacting. It's just slightly over the top".^[80] Farmer thought the show was a "vehicle for caricature", pointing to a rock musician character who bites the heads of chickens.^[11] Sandwell Evening Mail questioned why "such fine actresses...chose to get involved in such a corny show".^[206] Sunday Life noted in the British premiere the show's "starry cast" played their roles straight and "boring", with only Beacham "elegantly overplay[ing]" her tongue-in-cheek performance.^[209]

Britain's Miss Scarlett Lysette Anthony felt Cluedo was enjoyable to play because of its camp style.^[81] Paull recalled the "hugely entertaining" series required a "specific style of melodramatic acting" featuring large, exaggerated performances.^[102] Tarrant noted "the producers kept telling me not to be silly" as if it was a "serious...courtroom drama", but "the whole premise was ludicrous".^[89] Westmore agreed that the show was tongue-in-cheek and "not terribly serious",^[8] and Sunday Herald-Sun described the acting as "over-the-top fun".^[94] Mallaby noted "this is completely outrageous over the top" and added the cast was "really enjoying it".^[73] To Badler, bringing Agatha Christie stereotypes to caricatured life appealed to her "sense of fun", noting the cast were "camped up and tongue-in-cheek".^[57] Paull hoped the show was "as much fun to watch as it is to make".^[73] Birmingham Weekly Mercury thought the show was "held together with the improvised camp of its stars".^[154] Daily Mirror felt the cast "camped it up wonderfully in scenes of anguish and intrigue",^[95] and are "hamming it up like mad and must relish the opportunity".^[208] Bristol Evening Post assessed the show was "ludicrously over-the-top", though felt Lumley was "in great shape" in her role as Peacock.^[295]

Who magazine admitted the main cast "ham it up shamelessly".^[97] Aberdeen Evening Express described the show as "hilariously camp" and a "witty send-up" of the whodunnit, noting in series four Lumley was the "flawless...star of the show" as a "hysterically OTT" Mrs. Peacock;^[145] while Belfast Newsletter agreed Lumley's turn could never be described as "boring".^[296] The Guardian noted that on the same day Lumley was nominated for the award, she travelled to Manchester to film an episode of the British version, noting a "curious lack of ambition" and being "somewhat indiscriminate in her choice of roles".^[297] British Miss Scarlett Tracy Ward called it a "nice little job to do".^[298]

Upon seeing the British premiere, The Guardian's Nancy Bank-Smith felt the show's past-prime actors overacted and under rehearsed, particularly criticising the French accent of guest actor Oliver Tobias.^[299] Daily Mirror agreed that the character "launched the worst slicked-back hairdo since Curly's in Coronation Street and the worst French accent since the Good Moaning policeman's in 'Allo 'Allo!".^[95] Rattan suggested that "even where the basic characters were flawed...the quality of the actors made up for it"; he noted his only involvement with the casting as "just making suggestions" and that the actor chosen for Professor Plum in the British series one as being younger than his conception of the character.^[40]

Mrs. White

Mrs. White is the long-time cook and housekeeper of Brindebella and has lived through its long history. After her own daughter died, she took on Miss Scarlet as a surrogate daughter and they became very close, nicknamed "Whitey" by her. After initial reservations, she grew close to the new mistress of Brindebella Mrs. Peacock, who treats her well. Mrs. White lives in a nearby cottage with her sickly husband Arthur, his poor health plays on her mind. She is disappointed that she will not be buried with the family on the property, rather in a small plot at Creswick Falls cemetery.^{[note 7]}

Joy Westmore played Mrs. Blanche White. Her most recent productions before working on the show were Embassy and Col'n Carpenter.^[314] Westmore expressed hesitation when first approached for the role, wondering how Crawford would successfully adapt the childhood game onto the screen.^[8] Recalling memories of playing the board game with her children, she thought it was an "odd choice".^[8] One episode saw Westmore murder a character played by former Prisoner co-star Beverley Dunn; Prisoner Officers and Inmates magazine observed it was reminiscent of a scene in the former show with the roles reversed.^[315] Westmore also reunited with Prisoner actress Lynda Stoner who played a hairdresser, and the magazine noted that in both shows Stoner was responsible for messing with Westmore's characters' hair.^[315]

Evening Standard described Whitfield as "go[ing] back to her roots" to play the "character actress" part of Mrs. White.^[142] Whitfield had devised that her character was born in the North as Blanche Postlethwaite before marrying Mr. White, and that while she's adopted Mrs. Peacock's "refrained" accent her Northern tongue comes out when tipsy.^[142] The character was known for being played by mature aged women;^[63] Whitfield, who was in her 50s at the time, was aged twenty years up for the role with a grey wig.^[142] Unlike the savvy Australian version, the British charactisation of Mrs. White was as a "dimwit".^[316] Granada TV reported that they approached Julie Walters to play the character in Series 4 for a salary of around £20,000, but her agents never received the contact.^[317]

Known for playing Mrs Slocombe in Are you Being Served? 20 years earlier, South Wales Echo noted the series was the first time the accomplished actress Mollie Sugden had starred in a murder plot; she enjoyed being able to play a role that wasn't pure comedy.^[318] While Sugden was "quite looking forward" to the role, she noted "the only problem is that sometimes when I'm sinister, I'm rather funny without meaning to be".^[130] Some of her Slocombe mannerisms were observed by the press, though her trademark rainbow hair was replaced by steely white for the role.^[318] She appreciated the challenge of this "unusual" production requiring her to remember Mrs White's actions to be able to answer testimony.^[319] Pam Ferris was announced as the third British Mrs. White on 25 March 1992 in The Sun;^[320] the actress was "easily persuaded to take time out" from her ITV The Darling Buds of May role, as her interest was sparked during Cluedo's first series watching her Connie costar Stephanie Beacham and she decided, "I really fancy having a go at that".^[290][152]

Main cast of Cluedo. From left to right: Jane Badler (Mrs. Peacock), George Mallaby (Colonel Mustard), Nicki Paull (Miss Scarlet), Andrew Daddo (Professor Plum), Joy Westmore (Mrs. White), Frank Gallacher (Detective Sergeant Bogong), Ian McFadyen (himself; host).

Guest cast

The show featured dozens of guest murder victims.^[6] Who magazine noted that a guest stint on Cluedo is guaranteed to be a one episode affair as the character is swiftly killed off.^[97] McFadyen commented that each part was a "wonderful guest role",^[47] and in June of that year The Sydney Morning Herald noted that Australian actors were "queuing up" for the "honour" of dying on the show.^[76] Miss Scarlet actress Nicki Paull also noted the quality of the guest cast.^[127] The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that veteran actor Rod Mulliner was "honoured" as the first corpse of the series.^[106] The guest names were often puns, for instance Janet Tipple was named for her love of drinking^[123] while Aunt Evelina is "evil by name and nature".^[103]

Three of the main cast had worked in television drama Prisoner (1979), and they reunited with multiple former castmates who were cast as victims.^[127] In addition to her Prisoner co-stars, Lynda Stoner reunited with George Mallaby with whom she shared screentime in Cop Shop.^[336] The Sydney Morning Herald commented on Simon Chilvers adding a "splendid slice of ham" as Harold Phelan.^[153]

The role came up a few months after Beverley Dunn finished up on The Flying Doctors and for her "it was nice to change gear and do something completely different", deeming it "huge fun" to play a woman who uses a wheelchair and "terrorises everyone at Christmas".^[103] With a love of playing nasty characters, Dunn thought "the script was super" and enjoyed being "given a license to be as evil as possible".^[103] She worked on developing her character's backstory to justify her resentment for Brindebella's residents - being thrown from a horse becoming disabled and losing her lover Mustard, being jealous of the life she could have had, then discovering a will that gives her everything she wants and wanting to cause revenge on those she perceives caused her pain.^[103]

Peter O’Brien's use of the appealing role as a follow-up to his "squeaky-clean" characters in Neighbours and The Flying Doctors to "re-establish a profile".^[328][337] Similar to Badler's experience, O'Brien noted a change from the "buss and professionalism" of the UK acting scene; the role resulted in him being apart from his wife Joanna Riding, noting "we’ve decided to stick by an agreement...we simply have to where the work is".^[328] The show saw Mark Eden's return to TV after the death of his Coronation Street character Alan Bradley 18 months prior, also for Granada Television.^[338]

In a "neat bit of casting" according to The Sun-Herald,^[339] one of the episodes featured guest star Cameron Daddo as Professor Plum's brother who acted with his real life younger brother and show regular Daddo.^[339] It marked the first time the brothers had acted together on television.^[134] Cameron "jumped at the chance" to play the "terrific" role.^[340] He hoped his on-screen chemistry with his brother would interest directors and producers, and reported that as a result of the episode Cluedo director Oscar Whitbread advised he was searching for a sibling role for them.^[340] A journalist anticipated Daddo's appearance would point the finger of suspicion at Professor Plum, played by Andrew.^[341] McFadyen also invited his wife, actress Mary-Anne Fahey, to be killed in an episode.^[47] The show was Mallaby's last regular role before his death.^[342]

Series 1 (1992)

Series 2 (1993)

Legacy

Technological advancements and mainstream references

Reviewers have commented on Cluedo's use of technology. While The Age described Cluedo as "innovative",^[47] Wallace deemed the show "probably a look at the future of the [murder mystery game show] genre".^[111] In The Canberra Times, he suggested that Cluedo's technology pre-empted a cable TV market where interactive home devices would circumvent the need for studio audiences by allowing viewers to become full participants in the murder investigation.^[111] Wallace hypothesised Cluedo parties in which participants could enjoy active investigation without the expense of "stage-your-own-murder parties".^[111] Furthermore, he pointed to the 0055 line as tech the series employed.^[111] The Sydney Morning Herald argued that this technique meant the audience are "as much the stars of the show" as the actors, as a "clever dick in row five can conceivably nail the suspect by asking the kind of fiendish question that always solves the case for Hercule Poirot".^[76]

Miss Scarlett actress Nicki Paull agreed that the ability to vote using computerised dials was considered new and advanced at the time.^[127][102] The Sydney Morning Herald noted the "novel" nature of studio audience being given handsets linked to a master computer.^[76] Arguably the first time an electronic device was used by a studio audience as instant feedback to an onscreen graphic, the "razor-edge television technology" was later employed in The Great Debate (1993) to allow voters to register their approval or disapproval by turning the knob.^[377] The Herald-Sun noted the "ingenuity" of viewers being able to phone in via a 0055 number to play along, writing that this ingredient made the show a "winner" despite its shortcomings.^[112] The detailed "Cluedo-like map" became a shorthand referred to by Campaign when discussing a complex building layout.^[378]

The show was sometimes referred to in politics, business, and crime; for example Craig Brown of the Sunday Times suggested that Margaret Thatcher would make an "admirable" Mrs Peacock on the series.^[379] In 1993 Mary Ann Sieghart of The Times thought a recent parliament leak scandal was as "intricate and entertaining" as Cluedo.^[380] In the midst of Enrique Bermúdez' assassination, The Sunday Times titled their coverage, 'Nicaragua gripped by grim game of Cluedo'.^[381] The Sun-Herald described the scattering of government numbers in the aftermath of the department indexing closures to the clues in a game of Cluedo.^[382] Computer Weekly thought solving how IBM would be broken-up was akin to a Cluedo mystery.^[383]

Northern Ireland ITN network executives dropped and replaced the second episode from series one ("Politician's Funeral") a day before airing on UTV (Ulster Television) because it mirrored the recent death of MP Ian Gow; Granada Television commented that showing the episode would have been "in bad taste"^[384][385] while according to Irish Examiner it was thought this coincidence would have caused the series to have a "rather inappropriate start".^[386] In discussing the Spectrum Task Force, The Age noted the seriousness of the police investigation, noting it was "not a game of Cluedo, to be trivialised by amateurs".^[387] Cluedo was evoked in a piece about the Birmingham Six, which suggested that even "novice" sleuths of the show could have "cracked this one".^[388]

Effects on cast and crew

The show had lasting effects for its cast and crew and was evaluated as part of their careers. In 1993, The Sydney Morning Herald sarcastically called Cluedo one of the "gems" of McFadyen's career, alongside the "unimaginatively dreadful" sitcom Bingles (1992)^[198] which had been "dumped" by Network Ten into the off-ratings season,^[389] and the following year The Age nicknamed him "Mr Cluedo".^[390] In 2011, The Courier Mail highlighted the series as part of McFadyen's "long and distinguished career".^[391] Meanwhile, Badler's experiences on the show, removed from the "special treatment" in her union-supported United States career, was a shock and made her "reevaluate why [she] was in the industry".^[306][135]

In 1995, series writer Ray Boseley confessed that the "television writing and earning money" was merely an "interesting diversion" from making his own passion projects.^[392] In 1998, The Age commented that Paull's presence at the Saab Le Meridien International Polo Tournament lent a "pleasant murder mystery feel to the day" while "mingling with the Toorak set and the landed gentry".^[393] That year, The Sydney Morning Herald suggested Nadine Gardner's guest appearance in the "truly woeful" show was a dark moment in her career alongside Prisoner, Neighbours, and All Together Now.^[394] Tony Cavanaugh, who had worked on the production team as writer and editor, retroactively described the show as "long-forgotten (and totally dreadful)".^[395]

The 2022 podcast So You Want To Make A TV Show was the first time the Daddo brothers worked together since their Cluedo episode 30 years prior.^[396] That year, Paull remembered the show as "a delight from beginning to end"^[127] and having been "very successful" in Australia,^[397] while Prisoner Officers and Inmates magazine deemed Mrs. White one of Westmore's most recognised roles after Prisoner.^[315] Rewatching Cluedo in 2022 from "many year's vantage point" after having "almost nil recollection" of the guest role and being reminded by Prisoner Officers and Inmates magazine, Lynda Stoner thought her episode "holds up...well".^[336]

Madeley saw the show's cancellation coincide with that of another show he fronted, daytime quiz Runway.^[37] For her role in the British series, Evening Standard thought Sudgen's appearance would negatively affect her chances of being asked to return for a revival of Are You Being Served?.^[214] One of the panelists, journalist Clement Freud, subsequently wrote a full-page piece for The Times about his experience.^[398] In 1992, Callan admitted "people laugh when I tell them [I work for the show], but it pays the bills!".^[399] Grantham had starred in Cluedo as Colonel Mustard after having been charged for murder in the 80s, an irony brought up by The Sun's reporter at a press conference which angered the actor.^[400] Cluedo contestant Tony Slattery, who later turned down a successful show because he thought it was "crap” advised “I have no rules about what I would do but I would not do Cluedo again”.^[401] In 1993, Irish Examiner deemed Cluedo one of the "top draw programmes" by British Cluedo director John O'Regan, alongside Busman's Holiday^[402] while in 1995, The Corkman deemed Cluedo one of the "highly creditable programmes" of O'Regan's career,^[403] and in 2001 The Guardian suggested that shows like Cluedo, Sabotage and The Mole appealed to Leahy's "devious, darker edge".^[25]

Chris Tarrant advised in 1996, "the shows I make are for a laugh, they're not supposed to be deep and meaningful", referring to two recently axed shows.^[226] The Observer agreed that Cluedo, alongside Tarrant's special The Opposite Sex (1994), were "not only best but actually forgotten".^[404] Asked in later years about the worst show he'd ever done, Tarrant immediately explained that Cluedo was "absolute garbage...the dullest experience ever...a pile of crap" and that he "would get drunk and depressed about it every night in the hotel".^[89] Additionally, he confessed to hating the show due to it taking too long to make,^[10] explaining "it was the one TV show I really hated all the way through... I spent two-and-a-half hours in the studio getting more and more bored".^[405] In Chris Tarrant: the biography, Virginia Blackburn listed it as one of the "forgettable...middle-of-the-road" programmes of Tarrant's career.^[89]

Evaluation within the genre

Cluedo has been evaluated within the context of its genre. In 1993, The Canberra Times suggested it was possibly the only television series based on a board game rather than vice versa.^{[8][note 8]} The Age noted that while board games are often marketed as spin-offs from their TV shows, noting that many Sale of the Century contestants were given a board game prize, "it rarely happens the other way round".^[11] The newspaper listed the television mystery alongside its contemporaries Murder She Wrote and Inspector Morse (1987).^[407] Llanelli Star described Dim Cliw as a Welsh version of Cluedo; presented by Emyr Wyn and airing on S4C, each programme started with a short drama written by pathologist Bernard Knight culminating in a murder, followed by five teams of two playing detective locate clues and question suspects to discover the cause of death and who was responsible The prize for the team that successfully solves the mystery, with the winner spending a weekend at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel.^[408]

The Age agreed that Whodunnit? pioneered the format and potentially made it familiar to Australian audiences prior to Cluedo's airing.^[46] Granada would later claim to have invented the murder mystery game show format with Cluedo, in which a murder is enacted and a panel of sleuths solve the crime by quizzing actor suspects who remain in character; however, Aberdeen Press and Journal would refute this claim by referring to the earlier programme.^[13] The Doctors Who's Who describes Whodunnit? as a celebrity quiz show "not unlike Cluedo",^[409] and Dalek I Loved You described the show as "an earlier version of Cluedo".^[410] CST Online thought Cluedo wasn't particularly original, "re-treading ground already covered" by Whodunnit?.^[230] The Listener deemed the British version a "harmless enough" translation of the board game and "shows some improvement" on Thames's "extremely similar" Whodunnit fifteen years prior, though felt even a good cast couldn't "bring to life drama predicated on" weapons like lampstands and characters like Colonel Mustard.^[411]

Cluedo was used as a short-hand for describing simplicities in the crime fiction genre (i.e. Mrs White with the Candlestick in the Kitchen).^[412] The Stage felt that the cosy mystery series The Mrs Bradley Mysteries' characters were "as shallow" as the suspects in Cluedo.^[413] Meanwhile, Leeds Student described Murder, She Wrote as "Cluedo for illiterates",^[414] while The Sydney Morning Herald observed an episode "devolv[ing] sharply" into "yet another Cluedo-style whodunnit, complete with an appearance by token oldie".^[415] Similarly, Daily Mirror felt Daziel and Pascoe was "yet another cop show, with a cast full of one-dimensional Cluedo suspects".^[416] TV Tonight's David Knox thought Sleuth 101 (2010) was an original format of the whodunnit game show genre that echoed forerunners like Whodunnit? and Cluedo,^[279] and The Age deemed Sleuth 101 a "contemporary" Cluedo^[417] Commenting it had been many years since the whodunnit made an appearance in a television game show, Knox pointed to the relatively recent Cluedo and noted "there have been others harking all the way back to the 1950s game show To Tell the Truth".^[418][419] The Stage compared the "shallow[ness]" of the characters in Supply & Demand (1997) to the suspects in Cluedo.^[420] Evening Herald (Dublin) referred to a former whodunnit series being "the most appalling rubbish but I was hooked", noting that Cluedo was shaping up to "be the show's succesor" [sic].^[205]

In 1991, police spoof Lazarus & Dingwall had an episode featuring spate of murders that appeared to be imitating Cluedo scenarios.^[421] The Guardian thought Cluedo lovers would enjoy the "wacky...cliche[d]" police detective comedy^[422] and that also Jack and Jeremy's Real Lives' debut used Cluedo as part of its source material.^[423] Sunday Times wrote that watching Casualty was like a "sick, video-nasty variation" on Cluedo in which the viewer predicts the fate to befall the victims.^[424] The Observer wrote that the "hammed up detective spoof" Virtual Murder was unsure whether it wanted to be Cluedo or Moonlighting.^[425]

Copycat Television: Globalisation, Program Formats and Cultural Identity likened the show to TV Globo's Você Decide (1992), You Decide describing them both as "a hybrid, an amalgamation of a gameshow with a fictional situation and story";^[426][114] the game show would become Brazil's first format and birth 37 adaptations around the world.^[24] While The Guardian compared the mystery-solving element to The Mole (2000),^[427] Crikey compared the show's story arcs to those of "campy prison romp" Wentworth (2013), a remake of Prisoner.^[428] Meanwhile, of the British version, Den of Geek and The Guardian drew comparisons with British series Armchair Detectives (2017) and The Murder Game (2003) respectively.^[280][429]

In 2008, The Age wrote "back in the old days all it took to satisfy those wanting a bit of amateur sleuthing on the couch was a TV adaptation of Cluedo", comparing it to the blood and gore of modern shows like Murder and CSI.^[430] The Guardian also saw the show's similarity to the 2020 whodunnit À vous de trouver le coupable, described by producer Christophe Dechavanne as Cluedo 4.0, which saw the concept's return to France 3 after the French version of Cluedo 26 years prior.^[431] The show's title was adopted for the true crime cold case podcast Clunes Cluedo.^[432]

Reverend Green's potential removal

The show's depiction of Reverend Green and religious themes effected the franchise. It has been speculated that the British series one had originally been written for Mr. Green (the American businessman iteration of the character) and Professor Plum thereby excluding the Reverend; upon airing, Mr. Green became Plum and Plum had become Reverend Green, however the Reverend was not given any murders in the entire six episode series.^[34] For series two, "the producers changed the actors and gave the characters different personalities and life histories, which the writers had to work to", according to Rattan.^[40]

Belfast Telegraph noted, "the devious deeds of the dastardly Rev Green cast an unholy shadow over his saintly figure as he stalks around the Cluedo mansion".^[236] Announced on 16 December 1992, two years after the airing of the British version and just after the Australian version, Waddington Games considered dropping the country parson as a prime suspect and replacing him with a businessman, which they said was "more appropriate for the '90s" and bringing the game in line with the American version.^[433][434]

Phillip Howard of The Times wrote a column, arguing it is "one of those little changes that can be interpreted as significant social indicators".^[435] He wrote that clergymen had long experienced a "social demotion" as murder suspects in the works of Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope, which was "now recognised by Cluedo".^[435] However, from a contemporary perspective, a businessman was "thought to be more relevant and a likelier murder suspect" in British society.^[435]

The Daily Telegraph, as quoted in The Guardian, wrote that the decision was "a sign of the fading social role of the church".^[436] Sunday Times thought the decision "undermin[ed] the basic appeal of the game and the literary subgenre from which it draws its inspiration".^[104] Waddington Games eventually reversed their decision after protests from Cluedo fans.^[437] The stunt led to The Mason Williams consultancy picked up a PRWeek award.^[438]