- A series of short stories based on the board game of the same name, this program includes audience participation and interaction with the 'Cluedo' Presenter, as well as with the 'Cluedo' characters of: Mrs. Peacock (a beautiful wealthy widow), Miss Scarlet (her equally beautiful step-daughter), Professor Plum (an architect, and boyfriend of Miss Scarlet), Colonel Mustard (a retired military officer, and long-time friend of the family), Reverend Green (another long-time friend of the family) and Mrs. White (the housekeeper for Mrs. Peacock and Miss Scarlet). Throughout the program, the studio audience tries to work out the identity of the murderer, the weapon, and the room in which the murder was committed. The action invariably takes place at 'Brindabella', the stately home of Mrs. Peacock and Miss Scarlet.—David McAnally <D.McAnally@uq.net.au>
- Each episode begins with host Ian McFadyen setting the scene for the studio audience of about 150 people, who are tasked with solving a murder that has been committed at Brindabella Homestead, located in Creswick Falls (which may have been inspired by the real-life town of Creswick, Victoria). There are six suspects - Mrs. Peacock, Col. Mustard, Rev. Green, Prof. Plum, Miss Scarlett and Mrs. White - six possible rooms where the murder could have been committed - the lounge, kitchen, dining room, library, study or billiard room - and six possible weapons, which change from week to week. Each audience member has access to three dials that are used to set their choices of suspect, weapon and room, with each dial capable of being set in one of six possible positions, giving a total of 216 possible combinations across the three dials. At several points in each episode, the data collected by the computer to which the dials are connected is fed back in the form of audience polls that show what percentage of the audience think that each suspect is likely to have committed the murder.
The audience, watching through monitors in the studio, and viewers, watching on their TV screens, then view a pre-recorded and dramatised version of the murder that takes places at Brindabella Homestead, a quaint country property owned by Mrs. Elizabeth Peacock (Jane Badler), a glamorous socialite. Each episode revolves around a visitor that arrives at Brindabella and is initially welcomed with open arms by six people who frequent the property and have established their own social dynamic. These include the homestead's three permanent residents, Elizabeth, her stepdaughter Miss Vivien Scarlett (Nicki Paull) and her boyfriend Prof. Peter Plum (Andrew Daddo), and three other people who also frequent the property - close friend of the family Col. Mike Mustard (George Mallaby), local vicar Rev. Clem Green (Peter Sumner) and housekeeper Mrs. Blanche White (Joy Westmore). However, the visitor's words, actions or behaviours soon ruffle the regulars' feathers when they find their dynamic disturbed to the point that they all soon have their own reason for wanting to do away with them.
Around half-way into the episode, one of the regulars discovers that the visitor is dead, though the culprit, location and manner of death are not revealed to either the studio audience or home viewers, and this is the point where the show changes from a drama into a game show. McFadyen then reviews the suspects, who appear on stage in character and dressed in costumes coordinated to their character colours, and looks at the possible motives that each of them may have for murder. He then begins to move around the audience, getting some of them to ask the actors questions about their actions and motives. Only the murder can lie in their responses to the questions - the other five suspects have to tell the truth. At regular points, McFadyen gets a member of the audience to reveal what combination of suspect, weapon and room they have on their score dials, then tells them how many of their choices are correct, but not which ones. If none of their choices are correct, any other member of the studio audience who has that suspect, weapon and/or room on their own dials has to make another selection. Suspects who are eliminated in this way are still able to receive questions from the studio audience, who know that every answer they give has to be truthful. In between the questions, accusations and audience polls, the studio audience and home viewers watch on their respective screens a pre-recorded clip from the subsequent investigation conducted into the murder by Creswick Falls' intrepid police officer, Det. Sgt. Stanley Bogong (Frank Gallacher), which may reveal some more clues related to the murder. Sometimes, a clip from the earlier drama segments would be replayed because it contained an important piece of evidence.
After three segments of questions, accusations, polls and clips, McFadyen gets one final member of the studio audience to reveal what suspect, weapon and room combination they have on their score dials, and tells them how many of their selections are correct, then he gives the studio audience five seconds to decide on their final combinations before locking them out of the computer. After this is done, the audience and viewers see another clip from Det. Sgt. Bogong's investigation in which the murderer confesses their guilt and reveals their motive as footage of the murder itself is shown, also revealing what weapon was used and where it took place. At the end of this clip, McFadyen confirms what the correct combination is and reveals the audience member who was the first to find it and stick with it all the way to the end. That audience member wins a trip for two people provided by Continental Holidays. The home viewers also have an opportunity to win the same holiday as the studio audience member by calling a 0055 number and entering the time that they thought the audience member first locked in the correct suspect, weapon and room combination (the 0055 prefix has since been discontinued in Australia).
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