It's fun... a bendy Bully and a game of darts

Cricket legend and TV presenter Freddie Flintoff tells YOLANTHE FAWEHINMI why Bullseye is an such an iconic game show

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THROWERS AND KNOWERS: Three teams of contestants MASTER OF CEREMONIES: Richard Ashdown

FREDDIE Flintoff remembers watching Bullseye on a Sunday with his family as a child in the 1980s.

So when the former England cricketer signed on to present the darts-themed game show last year - for its Christmas special - he decided to relive some of his earliest memories and watch it back.

Freddie, 47, was fascinated by how Bullseye was filmed back then, and the relaxed manner of its presenter Jim Bowen, who brushed off any mistakes with ease.

"There's something really nice about that. At the end of the day, it's fun - it's a bendy Bully and a game of darts," says Freddie, who is back hosting ITV's new four-part series of Bullseye with English darts master of ceremonies Richard Ashdown as the scorer. “We stop when I mess up on the autocue.”

The upcoming episodes will be in the same classic format of three teams of contestants, where an amateur darts player - known as the “thrower” - and a quizzing expert - or the “knower” - compete to win cash and prizes.

At the heart of the original game show, which ran between 1981 and 1995, was the famous animated brown bull mascot Bully with his red and white striped shirt and blue trousers.