The Hit List is a British music game show that puts three pairs of contestants against each other to test their knowledge of music, which began airing on Saturday nights on BBC One on 25 May 2019. The show is hosted by husband and wife Marvin and Rochelle Humes, and it is their first standalone TV show as a couple.
Production
A pilot of the format was made at Dock10 studios in Manchester in 2018 under the name PlayListers.[1][2]
The BBC commissioned six episodes in November 2018.[3] The show has been recommissioned every year since, with series 3 comprising 12 episodes.[4][5][6]
Format
Across three rounds, the contestants attempt to identify huge hits from across the years. The teams must prove their ability to recognise songs from all genres of music for a chance to win £10,000.[7] Throughout the game, a correct answer to a song must consist of its name and its artist.
Round One – Five of Five from Five
The teams are played a selection of five 5-second clips from hit tracks of each decade (1970s to 2010s) and must press their buzzer whenever they recognise a song. A correct answer earns the team one point. Scores in this round then carry over to Round Two.
Round Two
In this round, the teams race to reach ten points first, with the last team to do so being eliminated. All songs here share a randomly chosen theme. Gameplay is the same as in Round One, though a correct answer entitles the team to a follow-up song, while a miss puts the team on "mute" (locking them out of the song) and gives the opponents a chance to claim the point.
Round Three
The two remaining teams must identify a range of song titles and artists by listening to the very beginning of the songs. Each team is given a 45-second clock and take turns going through several "Hit Lists", each of which has four songs, each of which contains a visual theme; for example, an image of an artist mentioned in the lyrics of a track. Teams also alternate choosing Hit Lists and their songs (the choice order is independent from the play order, so one team may be picking a song for themselves or for their opponents), and once a Hit List is exhausted, a new one is chosen.
This round is played chess clock style – the team in control at any given time must clear a song (or use a "skip") before passing control to the other team, and whoever runs out of time first is eliminated from the game. Teams may give as many answers as they desire for each song until they either provide a right answer or "skip". Each team has three "skips" at the outset, each of which may be used three seconds after the start of each track.
The Final Chart Rundown
This round sees the final team attempting to recognise ten songs and artists before the money runs out. The team will start the round with £10,000 available in their prize pot, but after five seconds of each track that is played, the money starts to drop at a rate of £1 per hundredth of a second (£100 per second). If the team can correctly name ten song titles and artists before the money disappears, they will go home with whatever is left in the pot. Otherwise, they will leave with nothing. (In Celebrity Specials, losing teams leave with £500 for their chosen charities.)
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