Perhaps because of its exceptional longevity (hardly any other game shows have remained fixtures in peak-time for two decades, and even those like The Generation Game or Play Your Cards Right which have had long periods off the air), Family Fortunes has become a recurring reference point within British popular culture.

Sunday 29th November was a turning point when the ITV game show invited the athlete Denise Lewis who was promoting the African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust. Denise won a useful £10k towards the fund.  The ACLT is a voluntary charity, whose main aim is to increase the number of Black, Mixed Race and Ethnic Minority people on the UK Bone Marrow Register. 

ACLT Say; At the present time The Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Register of approx. 390,000 donors and the National Blood Service’s “British Bone Marrow Registry” of approx. 300,000 donors mainly consists of Caucasian(they do not like to say white) donors - they have a SEVERE shortage of donors from varying ethnic backgrounds.

1. NORTH EUROPEAN: 609,185
2. AFRICAN & A/C         25,000
3. ASIAN:                    12,686
4. JEWISH:                   7,826
5. MEDITERRANEAN:      3,591

A persons tissue type is an inherited characteristic which is passed on from parents to their children and research has shown that the chances of finding a matching donor for a patient is GREATER if the donor is from the same Racial/Ethnic background and descent.

In deciding whether a potential donor’s bone marrow will be compatible with a patient it is necessary to carry out further blood tests to ascertain both persons tissue types. Different antigens and permutations of antigens are more commonly found within certain racial or ethnic sections of society. i.e. it would be unlikely to find a match for a African/African Caribbean British patient from a largely Caucasian register. Similarly, an Asian patient would be more likely to find a match from within the Asian community, and so on..

With the above in mind, one cannot help but wonder what would be the outcry if a game show were to have celebrities on whose sole person was to raise funds solely for the benefit of saving white people.