By hokey, New Zealand! THE SHOW THAT WAS JUST TOOGOOD

The long-running programme bagged a huge audience and a whole country of fans!

What’ll it be New Zealand: the money or the bag? By hokey! It’s been 50 years since Kiwi game show It’s in the Bag caused a sensation across the nation. We’ve dug out some vital facts about the beloved brain-tickler.

FIRST, THERE WAS RADIO

Many New Zealanders consider It’s in the Bag to be a slice of TV Kiwiana, but before it was a television juggernaut, it had been a huge hit on radio. Selwyn Toogood launched the show on public radio on New Year’s Day 1954. It gave ordinary Kiwis their brief moment in the limelight – not to mention the chance of winning a big-ticket item such as a fridge or washing machine – and it soon became appointment listening. Years later, broadcaster Peter Harcourt recalled, “It was literally true that on the night Selwyn was doing It’s in the Bag, cinemas virtually closed their doors because it wasn’t worth opening.” The radio show ended in the early 1960s when listeners defected to TV in their droves.

TV BOSSES WEREN’T KEEN