Bruce Forsyth’s decision to quit The Generation Game became ‘his biggest mistake’
Extracts from Brucie: A Celebration of Sir Bruce Forsyth 1928-2017 detail the toll of losing his brother had on the legendary entertainer
WHEN Bruce decided to quit The Generation Game in 1977 after seven series, it was the biggest mistake of his life.
Despite consistently high ratings, he felt it was getting stale – and feared “going down with a sinking ship”.
But he could not have been more wrong.
The Generation Game, with new hosts Larry Grayson and Isla St Clair, went on to even greater heights and 25million viewers without him.
Bruce, however, was to have two bruising flops leaving him close to breaking point.
His first big post-Generation Game role was in The Travelling Music Show, a stage musical that loosely echoed his own career.
He starred as Fred Limelight, a music hall artist desperate for a break.
It was for that role that Bruce grew the moustache he retained for decades.
His dream was that the show would transfer to Broadway in New York but it died after four months in the West End.
He was castigated for taking a “terrible gamble” in giving up The Generation Game for a second-rate musical.
But he shrugged off the criticism, feeling sure his next move would be a hit.
ITV had been desperate to sign him throughout the 1970s and boss Michael Grade sensed he had the perfect vehicle for him – a two-hour Saturday-night special, Bruce Forsyth’s Big Night.
Bruce would be host, games master, performer and interviewer on the show.
And the 14-part series had an enormous budget of a then-unheard-of £2million.
But Bruce’s Big Night was a bit like the Titanic – horribly overhyped and quickly heading for disaster.
Despite a string of top guest appearances from Elton John, Karen Carpenter, Dudley Moore, Dolly Parton and Bruce’s hero Sammy Davis Jr, and viewing figures of 14million, the show was deemed a flop and axed.
And all this was being played out while his marriage to Anthea was falling apart.
Bruce said: “When you are faced with this type of thing, you either fight or crumble. I decided to fight but the strain was enormous.”
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On a trip to the US Bruce was captivated by game show Card Sharks, where contestants tried to guess whether playing cards were higher or lower. He developed a version for himself.
Play Your Cards Right ran successfully between 1980 and 1987, attracting 15million viewers at its peak.
But when the decision was made to rest it, Bruce was furious as he felt it was popular enough to carry on.
His next ITV venture was a three-year stint on You Bet! a show where celebs bet on the success or failure of folk attempting bizarre stunts.
In 1990, Bruce returned to the Beeb to head a hugely successful reboot of The Generation Game.
But he decided to walk away again in 1995 because he was fed up working at the Beeb.
He felt he was being taken for granted and was seen as a bit old and unfashionable.
“I am very happy to have left the BBC,” he stormed. “They don’t really cater for family audiences any more.”
The remarkable thing was how he was so easily able to switch between ITV and the BBC when he had been so critical of both.
He was lured back to ITV to revive Play Your Cards Right, and by 1999, aged 70, he had that and second hit show, Bruce’s Price Is Right, on screen at the same time.
All should have been well but another fall-out – this time with ITV boss David Liddiment – led to Bruce publicly “axing myself” from the network.
Angry over perceived promises that had not been kept, Bruce raged: “He has lied to me, stripped me of my dignity and humiliated me. In all the 40 years I have been in the business, I have never been treated so badly.”
This time the BBC did not come calling for its old King of Saturday Nights.
Having burned his bridges with both ITV and the BBC, his career appeared to be over.
Extract from Brucie: A Celebration of Sir Bruce Forsyth 1928-2017 by Jules Stenson to be published by John Blake on August 29 at £7.99.