by Kate Matthews

Although simpler in presentation than many contemporary quiz shows, Pick a Box also boasts some by-now-familiar quiz show fixtures. It appeals to a gambler’s instinct (‘cut my losses now or risk everything for the chance to win more?’ – ‘take the money or find out what’s in the box?’) and Dyer ropes in the audience to egg the contestants on. The prize pool brings together an eclectic assortment of objects that it seems would only ever be mentioned in the same sentence on a quiz show – cake mixers, leather goods, fountain pens, cruise holidays. Part of the fun for the audience lies in seeing contestants who would love to win a cruise trying to act excited about the cake mixer they’ve won instead.

In-show advertising is a big part of Pick-a-Box and the presentation of prizes is one of the forms it takes. Another is Dyer’s constant mention of the product range of the show’s major sponsor at the time, oil company BP. Here he makes a casual segue into a curious documentary-style segment on the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor that, while ostensibly about nuclear power as the ‘power source of the future’, ultimately becomes a promotional spot for BP petrol.