As the saying goes:
We’re two countries separated by a common language.
That extends to the world of entertainment, where titles have been changed to offer a service more tailored to the respective country.
Here’s the story behind some of those:
UK =
Family Fortunes
US =
Family Feud
Airing in the US from 1976, Family Feud was brought to the UK by ITV in 1980.
Presenter Bob Monkhouse felt that Feud was too aggressive resulting in a change to the more aspirational Family Fortunes.
Not that it helps some families. One thing that is common whichever side of the Atlantic is blurted out dumb answers. One of the most famous here being:
Name a bird with a long neck?
NAOMI CAMPBELL!
…”bird” being the outdated British equivalent to chick for an attractive young woman.
Our survey said “X.”
UK =
Dragons’ Den
US =
Shark Tank
A staple of BBC schedules since 2005. Based on a Japanese show which was either called The Tigers Of Money or Money Tigers. The internet disagrees on the interpretation.
The British version kept the fearsome animal theme and was franchised around the world. Some territories retained Dragons’ Den, while others went for something generating a similarly intimidating atmosphere. Hence Shark Tank in the US, amongst others and Lions’ Den elsewhere.
Though not every country has gone with a name designed to strike fear into participants.
In 2020 France opted for the dull but to the point;
France = Qui veut être mon associé?
“Who Wants To Be My Business Partner?”
While Trinidad & Tobago has a version that’s gone an entirely different route in trying to foster a nurturing spirit with Planting Seeds.
One of the most memorable pitches on the British show was from the ill-named Hamfatter.
An indie band who managed to bag themselves investment from two Dragons trying to buy themselves some vicarious rock and roll thrills by proxy.
Their attempt to circumvent the usual record label model didn’t work. They got plenty of publicity which didn’t do anything for their credibility. Before appearing on the show they’d hit a peak of #54 on the singles chart. A single released immediately after their appearance got to #71.
Which was the last time they would reach the charts.
UK =
Boss Cat
US =
Top Cat
T.C. (as close friends got to call him) debuted Stateside in 1961. He came to Britain a year later, originally with the same name – but within a month he was rebranded as The Boss Cat and later as just Boss Cat.
Kind of.
The reason was the presence of the cat food brand Top Cat.
As the BBC were ad free, under the terms of its broadcast licence even showing a cartoon with the same name as a cat food was out.
The name was duly changed with Boss Cat shoddily inserted into the title, but everything else left as it was. Rules may be rules, but someone decided it was more hassle than it was worth exorcising all references to Top Cat, so T.C.he remained, in the theme tune and the dialogue.
Which pretty much rendered the name change pointless. It took until 1989 before he was allowed to appear under his correct title.
UK = Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles
US = Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
This one is a result of confected moral panic.
The 1980s saw British newspapers and the Conservative government wage war on ‘video nasties’ such as Evil Dead. Having defeated them with the Video Recordings Act of 1984, attention was focussed on protecting the nation from violence in martial arts films.
Carl Douglas should think himself lucky “Kung Fu Fighting” was released a decade earlier.
Legislation was introduced in 1986 to prevent the sale of martial arts weapons such as nunchucks to children. In 1988 the government went even further in banning outright the sale of some of these. The concern for our impressionable youth was such that depictions on film and TV of martial arts weaponry was also censored.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were no match for moralistic posturing. The series was picked up by the BBC in 1990 with Ninja dropped for the more palatable “Hero.” The cartoons were edited to remove any nunchuck use.
Which wasn’t enough for some.
The Daily Express excelled itself by carrying warnings for children not to play in the sewers and not to binge on pizza. They might have been OK if they’d been eating a good old British junk food like fish and chips.
Confusingly the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Film came out in late 1990 with name intact. The contents less so as censors got busy protecting the kids by making numerous cuts.
The Turtles would eventually be allowed to be referred to as Ninjas as the media cycle moved onto the next outrage and the government decided it had better things to do than infringe on the rights of sewer dwelling Turtles.
UK = Strictly Come Dancing
US = Dancing With The Stars
Ballroom dancing has a long history on the BBC. Come Dancing was a staple of the schedules from 1950 to 1995.
It was created by Eric Morley, who was also responsible for Miss World. His intention was to teach the public the joy of dancing.
It took the form of an annual competition with dancers representing regions across the UK. By the 90s, Ballroom dancing was old hat and the show was buried in the schedules late at night.
The Australian film Strictly Ballroom came out in 1992 and brought a bit of limelight back, but not enough to save the long running show.
The show was revived in 2004 with added celebrities and a name that was a mash up of old school brand recognition with the more upto date Aussie film.
Although no one calls it Strictly Come Dancing, it’s known by everyone as just ‘Strictly’
Understandably that would mean nothing outside the UK. So it was licensed abroad as Dancing With The Stars. Which makes much more sense.
UK = Changing Rooms
US = Trading Spaces
Both sides of the Atlantic went for a punning name.
Changing Rooms debuted on the BBC in 1996, running for eight years. The format saw homeowners enter into a faustian pact with friends or neighbours to decorate a room in each other’s house.
What could possibly go wrong? Especially when factoring in an arbitrary two day timescale which invited cutting corners.
Giving them an interior designer each to help bring their ideas to reality didn’t help. It was more a case that the designer helped push their ideas to the extreme.
Obviously the best ones were where it all went wrong. One British participant responded to the horror show of their new bedroom with a cry of “Why would I want this shit in my room?”
Then there was the time the designer felt that the best way of showing off the prize collection of antique teapots was on a free standing shelving unit suspended by wires from the ceiling.
As I said, what could possibly go wrong?
Within minutes the shelving and the entire collection hit the floor smashing into many worthless pieces.
Offering comedy and tragedy like that it went around the world: Appearing on cable in the US from 2000 to 2008 as Trading Spaces.
Proving that bad taste is universal, how about the one where they decorated the walls with thousands of CDs?
Or the one where they turned the room upside down by attaching the furniture to the ceiling? Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.
These Buzzfeed collections give an illuminating review of some of the worst transformations from both sides of the ocean.
UK: https://www.buzzfeed.com/scottybryan/open-your-eyes
US: https://www.buzzfeed.com/scottybryan/trading-spaces-worst-transformations-makeovers
UK =
Scrapheap Challenge
US =
Junkyard Wars
We have junk in Britain but we don’t have Junkyards. We refer to them as “Scrapyards.” And those scrapyards contain Scrapheaps.
Hence, Scrapheap Challenge in which teams competed to build machines from the debris available in the scrapyards.
Like Family Fortunes / Feud but in reverse, it transferred to US in 2001 with the geographically more relevant Junkyard and the Challenge ramped up to a War.
UK =
Blankety Blank
US =
Match Game
This one is a little confusing. Match Game debuted on US TV back in 1962. Only 17 years later the format was taken up by the BBC, under the name Blankety Blank.
A name that they took from the Australian version called Blankety Blanks.
Which was in turn taken from a short lived US gameshow of the same name that ran for 10 weeks on ABC in 1975. One of the reasons given for its failure was due it’s similarity to Match Game.
The format and scoring of Blankety Blanks (the US version) differed to Match Game but still used the same starting point of reading out a sentence for contestants to fill in the gaps. While in Match Game they filled in the blank, in Blankety Blanks they filled in the blankety blanks. See, totally different show.
Despite taking the name from the failed ABC show the UK and Australian shows followed the Match Game format. The name did allow for a mercifully brief, though basic theme tune:
Which was entirely in keeping with the tone of the show as the prizes on offer weren’t of the highest order. Something which host Les Dawson really leant into, taking every opportunity to talk down the show as he presented it. The self deprecating host added to its charm.
Losers were rewarded with an ornamental Blankety Blank cheque book and pen. Which are now worth as much as the star prizes.
Moving onto books, a couple of notable name swaps:
UK =
Where’s Wally
US =
Where’s Waldo?
You’re opinion of Wally / Waldo may vary depending on how quickly you’ve found the bespectacled, stripy top wearing hide and seek champion.
He first appeared (or should that be “hid”) in Britain in 1987, created by Martin Handford.
Wally is short for Walter, though by the mid 80s the name had fallen out of fashion. Not helped by Wally being slang for a person of limited common sense. A slightly gentler way of calling someone an idiot.
Wally went around the world. And although he retained his name for some territories, in others he found a new moniker. “Waldo” having the appropriate resonance in the US.
Elsewhere he’s Hetti in India, Charlie in France, Willy in Norway and Hugo in Sweden.
UK =
Murder On The Orient Express
US =
Murder On The Calais Coach
The Agatha Christie classic, possibly her most famous book.
Published in 1934, it was retitled for the US market due to a naming clash with a Graham Greene novel two years previous; Orient Express.
Except that Greene’s book had also been renamed.
That was called Stamboul Train in the UK but amended to Orient Express in the US to take advantage of the name recognition of the train service.
Meaning that Agatha Christie had to lose that name recognition. From the perspective of a modern day Brit, “Calais Coach” does not have the same evocative connotations. The Orient Express signified sophistication, cosmopolitan, continental travel for the fabulously wealthy.
Calais is the gateway to France, a busy ferry terminal that became a popular destination in its own right for ‘booze cruises / booze runs’. Brits took advantage of tax and excise rules that meant we could stock up on cheap wine, beer and cigarettes.
Definitely not the vibe Agatha Christie was going for.
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Title changes from country to country can be interesting.
My wife told me that the Polish title for the movie Alien translates to Alien: The Eighth Passenger of Nostromo. I find that to be a far more intriguing title. She still wouldn’t watch it. Too scary.
And, just like that, we have an inspiration for a new quiz. Stay tuned!
We used to have the BBC America cable channel and liked Changing Rooms a lot. I at least partially liked it because I thought designer Anna Ryder Richardson was kinda hot. Ahem.
Anyway, I must disagree with whoever wrote the worse-of-Trading-Spaces article. Scroll down to #12 where they covered a wall with strips of flashing — the sheet metal meant for roofing and that comes in rolls — woven into a grid. We liked that idea so much we did it on a dining room wall. It looked great!