The Chase 15th anniversary special gets release date: might the chasers play?

The Chase presenter Bradley Walsh
(Image credit: ITV)

The Chase 15th anniversary special will air on Monday, September 2 at 5 pm on ITV1, it's been reported.

The Bradley Walsh quiz has become arguably the biggest quiz show on TV and it's therefore no surprise that ITV is making a special to mark its birthday. It's enjoyed a friendly rivalry with BBC teatime favourite Pointless over the years, which also started in 2009. 

It’s not been announced yet what format the special might take. Could they mix things up and perhaps some of The Chasers might play the game instead of being The Chaser? Might Bradley play instead of host?

The six Chasers from 'The Chase': Shaun ‘The Barrister’ Wallace, Darragh “The Menace” Ennis, Anne “The Governess” Hegerty, Paul ‘'The Sinnerman'’ Sinha, Jenny ‘The Vixen’ Ryan and Mark ‘The Beast’ Labbett (L-R)

The Chasers (Image credit: ITV)

Michael Kelpie, Managing Director of Potato, which makes the show for ITV, said via Radio Times: "15 years on air is an incredible achievement and one we're so proud of.

"With The Chase still winning accolades and expanding around the world, the show continues to go from strength-to-strength entertaining global audiences."

Katie Rawcliffe, Head of Entertainment Commissioning at ITV added: "The Chase is still the most watched programme in daytime reaching over 9.2 million viewers every week and having been streamed more than 23 million times in Q1 of this year alone. 

"So, we're very excited and proud to be celebrating 15 impressive years of the show later this year on ITV1 and ITVX."

The show has made household names of The Chasers, including Mark "The Beast" Labbett and Shaun "The Dark Destroyer" Wallace, who've both been with the series since 2009. 

Over the years there have been some truly hilarious answers on the show. Here's a couple we especially like…

Q: King George III was the first monarch to hold an account with which bank?
Contestant: Co-op! [actual answer Coutts].

Q: The Statue of Liberty is a pale shade of what colour? Contestant: Pink! [actual answer Green].

The Chase 15th anniversary special will air on Monday, September 2 at 5 pm on ITV1 (see our TV Guide for full listings). Please note you can watch past series on ITVX while the show is also being repeated on ITV1 on weekdays at 5 pm.

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David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.

Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 

David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.

Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!