
Based on a UK show of the same name, It's a Knockout (1985–87) was an instant success on Australian television in the 1980s.
The show followed an identical format to the 1970s show Almost Anything Goes with crazy games and physical challenges played by local sports teams or community groups, usually in silly costumes, competing for cash prizes.
The Celebrity series, held once a year, was hugely popular among television audiences. Teams were made up of celebrities from Network Ten, radio personalities, athletes, sports stars and others from 4 states who competed against each other to win money for their chosen charities.
In this clip, from the first It's a Knockout Celebrity Special, teams compete in penguin costumes on a slippery spinning deck where they have to fill as many buckets of water as they can in a minute.
Unrecognisable in their penguin suits are, among others, Greg Evans, Wayne Pearce, Stefan Dennis, Alan Dale and Gavin Wood.
This special was recorded on 4 December 1985.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.