19th February 1987

Channel 4’s Treasure Hunt comes from Jersey

Channel 4’s long-running helicopter-based gameshow, Treasure Hunt, came from Jersey on 19 February 1987. It had visited Guernsey in January 1984, during its second season, but viewers had to wait until the second episode of the fifth series before it landed in Guernsey’s larger near-neighbour, Jersey.

On this occasion, the contestants were a pair of antique rug restorers from Gloucestershire. As ever, they were helped in the studio by former newsreader Kenneth Kendall, and a large library of books (but, being 1987, no electronic reference works and no internet). Wincey Willis, a former weather presenter from TV-AM, was the adjudicator, who plotted the helicopter’s progress on a map.

Hello from Elizabeth Castle

The programme opened with skyrunner Anneka Rice, who was to be directed by the contestants as they solved a series of clues, introducing the programme from Elizabeth Castle. From there, the first clue took her to Jersey Zoo, then Mont Orgueil Castle, before looping back to St Helier, where the fourth clue was hidden in Howard Davis Park.

The fifth clue was off Noirmont point, and required Anneka to jump into the water, swim to its location, and read it while fully submerged. This would have led her to the last stopping off point, St Ouen’s Manor, but the contestants were unsuccessful: they ran out of time.

Channel 4 returned to Jersey in 2011 when it broadcast an episode of Time Team from the island.