Bruce Forsyth with ITV, hosting the game show "Play Your Cards Right", which was the UK version of the US original "Card Sharks", from 1980 to 1987, 1994 to 1999, and a brief period from 2002 to 2003, before the show was cancelled mid-run due to low ratings. In 1986, he went to the United States to host a game show on ABC, "Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak", which ran for 65 episodes from January to April that year. Forsyth starred in the Thames Television sitcom "Slinger's Day" in 1986 and 1987, a sequel to "Tripper's Day" which had starred Leonard Rossiter, whom
British sitcom world's longest running sitcom. The commercial station ITV had popular successes with "Rising Damp" (1974–78, sometimes called the best of all ITV sitcoms), "Man About the House" (1973–76) and "George and Mildred" (1976–79). "Rising Damp"'s star, Leonard Rossiter, also played the lead role in the BBC's highly popular "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" (1976–79). The decline in cinema attendance in this period meant that many of these series were turned into cinema films; the first film version of "On the Buses" (1969–73) was the biggest hit at the British box office in 1971. According to Jeff Evans, "On