maiden name, Owen, adding the initial of his mother's, Brown. The advent of Granada TV’s The Comedians in 1971 gave him the opportunity to appear on national television, which ultimately helped persuade him to become a full-time entertainer. Television opportunities followed, and he made appearances in Last of the Summer Wine as a library attendant, and on Granada's The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club. He also starred alongside Ray Burdis, John Blundell, Pauline Quirke and the pop group Flintlock in two series of Thames Television's children's sketch show You Must Be Joking in 1975 and 1976. Bowen also appeared in TV dramas and comedies. In 1981 he played "Dad" in the Victoria Wood television play Happy Since I Met You. He played a crooked accountant in ITV's 1982 mini-series Muck and Brass, and later guest-starred in BBC1's Jonathan Creek and Channel 4's Phoenix Nights, playing the hotel owner Frank "Hoss" Cartwright. He subsequently appeared in Peter Kay's 2005 Comic Relief video for "Is This the Way to Amarillo"? Bullseye In 1981, Bowen became the presenter of a new ITV gameshow, Bullseye, which mixed general knowledge questions with darts. The show quickly became a popular feature of ITV's schedules on Sunday early evenings, achieving 15–20 million viewers and at times obtaining higher ratings than prime-time soap operas. It ran for fourteen years. On the back of his fame, he delivered several speeches at the Oxford Union. Bowen was the presenter throughout, along with Tony Green as the darts commentator, and several of the catchphrases he used on the programme became well-known (though he claimed never to have said "Super, smashing, great"). He would warn contestants that if they gambled and lost, all they would receive was their "BFH: Bus Fare Home". "Keep out of the black and in the red; nothing in this game for two in a bed" referred to how contestants would win a prize by hitting the appropriate part of the dartboard, but would lose the prize if they hit it twice. He always asked contestants who lost the gamble to "look at what you could have won". Radio and stage In 1999, Bowen began presenting on BBC Radio Lancashire but in 2002, after working there for three years, he resigned after referring to a guest on his show as a "nig-nog". He apologised for the remark almost immediately, and afterwards stated "No racial connotation was ever intended".