Name That Tune remake scrapped

The pair’s production company was aiming to revive the show for a new generation on Channel 5 in a deal announced last year.

But it is believed an issue with a new rights holder for the format has meant the station - recently acquired by publishing tycoon Richard Desmond - has now abandoned the plan.

The Geordie duo’s firm Gallowgate announced last year that it was to bring back the show, which began life in the 1970s.

Contestants used their musical knowledge to spot well-known tunes with only a limited number of notes in the series presented by comic Tom O’Connor and then Lionel Blair.

Instead the station is now working on a replacement show The Beat Goes On which Gallowgate is making with GroupM Entertainment. Dave Berry will be the host.

A statement issued to the Press Association by Channel Five today confirmed: “Channel Five, Gallowgate and GroupM Entertainment mutually agreed with the rights holders of Name That Tune not to pursue the planned series.”

The new show will feature teams of three pitted against each other in a series of rounds in which they use their musical knowledge as well as the ability to dance and sing.

Five attempted to revive Name That Tune in the late 1990s with a version featuring Jools Holland at the helm, but it was short-lived.

At the time Five announced the planned return in October last year, the station’s head of entertainment Donna Taberer said: “This is peak-time entertainment for a sophisticated 21st-century audience.

“It has fabulous production values, tension, excitement, celebrity and is full of surprises.

“It’s Five’s first big-budget, musical entertainment series, and I’m thrilled to have it.”