Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Series / OneThousandHeartbeats

Go To

1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bm2nmn2jlntutodmwnc00ngfiltk1yzgtnzfkzgiznmyxm2mwxkeyxkfqcgdeqxvynda5nzyznzi_v1.jpg]]
2'''''1000 Heartbeats''''' is a British GameShow which debuted on ITV on February 23, 2015. It features a solo contestant [[MinigameGame playing various minigames]] in an effort to [[WhoWantsToBeWhoWantsToBeAMillionaire climb up a money tree towards a top prize of £25,000]].
3
4Of course, there's a twist, and that is that their time limit is set by their own heart rate. That's right, the contestant is hooked up to a heart monitor and has to complete as many games as possible ''and'' successfully cash out by correctly answering five true-or-false statements in a row within 1,000 of their own heartbeats in order to win their money. Along the way, any wrong answers carry a penalty (25 beats in the first two series, later 50). Also there to ramp up the tension is a live string quartet, who plays music at a tempo to match the contestant's heart rate.
5
6The announcer was Dilly Barlow, and the show was hosted by Vernon Kay.
7
8----
9!!This show provides examples of:
10* AllOrNothing: If you use up all 1,000 heartbeats before you successfully cash out, you lose the money.
11* BonusRound: Of sorts. You have to play a final "cash-out" game in order to take home the money you've banked. It works like this: you have to get five consecutive correct answers to a series of true-or-false questions within your remaining heartbeats. A wrong answer resets the count ''on top of'' the normal penalty off the heartbeat counter.
12* ChristmasEpisode: One was recorded for Series 2 in 2015, in which two celebrities (Tess Daly, Vernon's wife, and Leigh Francis as his signature character Keith Lemon) played for charity. Everyone appearing on stage wore a HomemadeSweaterFromHell.
13* CreatorCameo: Not so much a cameo, since it's a really important role, but that's series creator Paul Farrer conducting the quartet; he also wrote all the music for the show.
14* DownerEnding: Any time the contestant goes for the cash-out and fails. Particularly painful if the contestant keeps pulling off four correct answers in a row, then blowing the next one (the five right answers in the final game must be given consecutively).
15* FlatLine: Run out of heartbeats, and you'll be able to hear a flatline under the losing noise.
16* LetsJustSeeWhatWouldHaveHappened: Any player who successfully cashes out at the £10,000 level gets a chance to play Recall (the Round 7 game; memorize and repeat an 11-character sequence), using the remaining heartbeats on the counter, to see if they could have won the whole £25,000.
17* {{Lifelines}}: Just one: the player can step off the pad (effectively passing on the rest of the question). Unlike most examples of this trope, this carries a penalty (50 heartbeats in Series 1, and 100 in Series 2). However, the contestant's progress carries over to the new question.
18* LosingHorns: The time buzzer when you run out of heartbeats. It's a type A. Best way to describe it is a long "zap" sound like a machine powering down, underscored by a heart monitor flatlining.
19* LovelyAssistant: The string quartet (The site [=UKGameshows=].com lists their names as Sarah Chapman, Catriona Parker, Hayley Pomfrett, and Llinos Richards). They are conducted by Paul Farrer (who composed the music ''and'' also created the show).
20* SongsInTheKeyOfPanic: Warning variant; if the quartet is playing fast, that means your heart's going fast, which in turn means the clock runs fast.
21* ThinkMusic: Provided by the aforementioned string quartet. The music speeds up and slows down to match the contestant's heart rate.
22* TimedMission: And the clock is your own heart!

Top