It’s pretty common for the U.S. to steal ideas from hit U.K. shows–we’ve seen it with The Office and Veep and television’s latest hit, Love Island. But it’s less frequent that the U.K. actually adapts an American show, besides their random Jersey Shore spinoff that recently wrapped after five seasons. But it seems like ITV is catching on to what the people really want, so Jeopardy! is making its way across the pond!
The U.K. take on Jeopardy will be hosted by Paddington narrator Stephen Fry and follow the same structure as the American version, though hopefully, these contestants will actually know the answers instead of giving their home country a bad name.
Fry, a longtime fan of the gameshow, expressed his excitement in a statement to Variety: “In the United States, ‘Jeopardy!’ is a phenomenon like no other. Whenever I’m in America, I do my damnedest to catch it every weekday. The idea of hosting it here in the U.K. makes me dizzy with delight. Such a dedicated quizzing nation as ours will, I hope, welcome this uniquely beguiling and endlessly rewarding game.”
This actually isn’t the first time Britain has dipped its toe in the Jeopardy universe, as there were various one-off seasons throughout the ’80s and ’90s. But the 2023 iteration of British Jeopardy will also allow contestants to play an extra round, so it’s not real Jeopardy, right?
U.K.’s take on Jeopardy is expected to air this fall on ITV1 and ITVX.
