First watched : Uncertain
The Sporting Superstars ( later just Superstars ) was first broadcast on New Year's Eve 1973. The format was simple, a group of sportsmen from different fields competed against each other in a series of sporting events and awarded points according to their position in each one to find an overall champion. The stars were not allowed to compete in their own discipline and some handicapping was applied. David Vine claims he first came up with the idea at a dinner with Ron Pickering, Don Revie and Billy Bremner but the BBC rejected it and then bought the rights to the same idea from an American , Dick Button.
The first champion was athlete David Hemery in 1973. The show became very popular with European and World versions following in due course and some of the winners like athlete Lyn Davies and judo man Brian Jacks became much more famous for being Superstars champions than for achievements in their own sport.
The show's most famous moment of course was football's golden boy Kevin Keegan coming off his bike in the European event in 1976 , ripping half his back off , then getting back on and winning the re-ride. Bjorn Borg was also competing in that event. It just goes to show how professional sport has evolved in the intervening years. The very idea of insurance companies allowing Gareth Bale , Novak Djokovic or anyone else from the big money sports to take part in a risky television competition is now preposterous. And that's what eventually did for the show. As the big names dropped out, the ratings understandably fell and it was cancelled in 1985.
There have been brief revivals this century usually featuring the recently-retired. The most substantial was an eight part series on Five in 2008 with Jim Rosenthal and Sharron Davies.
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