Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Strictly Bingo: A story of passion and ambition set in the bingo halls of Britain, as contestants vie for the accolade of National Bingo Caller of the Year, plus a holiday in Las Vegas.
Who will emerge victorious? Vivianne Howard's observational documentary follows three hopeful callers at different stages of the bingo calling game. There's Morecambe's highly-decorated living legend, Patrick Bowler - "the Des Lynham of bingo callers" - a twenty year veteran of the bingo business, who has come out of retirement for one more contest. There's Wigan's rookie wild card Bernard McGuinness, who wants to win the prize money so he can marry his fiancee in Las Vegas. Then there's Wood Green's finest, the all singing, all dancing Ricky Denton.
Clip taken from Modern Times: Strictly Bingo, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 8 December, 1999.
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Strictly Bingo: A story of passion and ambition set in the bingo halls of Britain, as contestants vie for the accolade of National Bingo Caller of the Year, plus a holiday in Las Vegas.
Who will emerge victorious? Vivianne Howard's observational documentary follows three hopeful callers at different stages of the bingo calling game. There's Morecambe's highly-decorated living legend, Patrick Bowler - "the Des Lynham of bingo callers" - a twenty year veteran of the bingo business, who has come out of retirement for one more contest. There's Wigan's rookie wild card Bernard McGuinness, who wants to win the prize money so he can marry his fiancee in Las Vegas. Then there's Wood Green's finest, the all singing, all dancing Ricky Denton.
Clip taken from Modern Times: Strictly Bingo, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 8 December, 1999.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - youtube.com/c/BBCArchive?sub_confirmation=1
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive
