Shammy Dab

Shammy Dab was a Scottish comedy panel quiz show, first broadcast as a local radio feature and later as a regional television series, produced and broadcast by Grampian Television during the 1980s.

History

Shammy Dab was created in 1975 by Bill Torrance as part of a series for Radio Forth in Edinburgh entitled Fair Flummoxed. The radio version mainly featured Scottish country dance bands.

A number of television pilots were produced, including one by former STV head of programming Clark Tait. The format was picked up by Grampian Television producer Martin Cairns, where the name was changed to 'Shammy Dab' (referring to a cheap wall decoration where a wall was stippled with a wet sponge - when done well, it was said to be a shammy dab). Torrance was the show's original host and was succeeded by Johnny Beattie and latterly, Dougie Donnelly.

Game play involved two teams of Scottish celebrities (usually led by captains Andy Cameron and George Duffus) taking part in various rounds including identifying mystery objects, naming an area of Scotland by watching footage, defining Scottish words & phases and guessing a tune played on the piano by Art Sutter.