The Master Game

The Master Game
Presented by
Opening theme"Come Maddalena" by Ennio Morricone
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series7
No. of episodes75
Production
ProducerRobert Toner
Production locationsLondon, England
Bath, England
Running time25 minutes
Original release
NetworkBBC Two
Release25 June 1975 (1975-06-25) 
28 April 1982 (1982-04-28)
Related
Chess Masters: The Endgame

The Master Game is a BBC production of televised chess tournaments that ran for eight series on BBC2 from 1976 to 1983.

Presented by Jeremy James with expert analysis from Leonard Barden and, later, Bill Hartston, The Master Game was noted for its innovative style, in which a display board with animated figurines and move notation, shown centre-left of screen, was accompanied by footage of the players cogitating, their thoughts during the game heard in voice-over.

As a theme tune, the later series of this programme used the Disco '78 version of Ennio Morricone's "Come Maddalena".