Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (UK game show)
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''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' is a British television
quiz show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, sh ...
, created by David Briggs for
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
. The programme's format sees contestants taking on multiple-choice questions based upon
general knowledge General knowledge is information that has been accumulated over time through various mediums and sources. It excludes specialized learning that can only be obtained with extensive training and information confined to a single medium. General kn ...
, winning a cash prize for each question they answer correctly, with the amount offered increasing as they take on more difficult questions. If an incorrect answer is given, the contestant will leave with whatever cash prize is guaranteed by the last safety net they have passed, unless they opt to walk away before answering the next question with the money the cash prize they had managed to reach. To assist in the quiz, contestants are given a series of "lifelines" to help answer questions. The series originally aired from 4 September 1998 to 11 February 2014 and was presented by
Chris Tarrant Christopher John Tarrant, (born 10 October 1946) is an English broadcaster, television personality and former radio DJ. He presented the ITV (TV network), ITV children's television show ''Tiswas'' from 1974 to 1981, and the game show ''Who Wa ...
, airing a total of 592 episodes across 30 series. The original format was tweaked in later years, which included changing the number of questions asked, altering the payout structure, incorporating a time limit, and increasing the number of lifelines offered. After the original series ended, ITV decided to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the programme with a special series of episodes in 2018, produced by
Stellify Media Stellify Media is a Northern Irish television production company. Stellify was formed by Kieran Doherty and Matthew Worthy as a joint venture with Sony Pictures Television.
and hosted by
Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' an ...
. This proved a success with viewers and led to a revival of the programme, with new series being commissioned by the broadcaster and a spin-off ordered in 2022 called '' Fastest Finger First''. Over its history, the programme has seen a number of contestants manage to achieve the jackpot prize, but has also been involved in several controversies, including an attempt by a contestant to defraud the show of its top prize. Despite this, ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' became one of the most significant shows in British popular culture, ranking 23rd in a list of the
100 Greatest British Television Programmes The BFI TV 100 is a list of 100 television programmes or series that was compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute (BFI), as chosen by a poll of industry professionals, with the aim to determine the best British television programmes of any ...
compiled in 2000 by the
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
. Its success led to the formation of an international franchise, with several countries featuring the same general format but with some variations in gameplay and lifelines provided.


History


Creation

The creation of the game show was led by David Briggs, assisted by Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight, who had helped him before with creating a number of promotional games for Chris Tarrant's
morning show Breakfast television (Europe, Canada, and Australia) or morning show (United States) is a type of news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts live in the morning (typically scheduled between 5:00 and 10:00a.m., or if it is a lo ...
on Capital FM radio. The basic premise for the show was a twist on the conventional game-show genre of the time: the programme would have just one contestant answering questions; they would be allowed to pull out at any time, even after they had seen the question and the possible answers; and they had three opportunities to receive special forms of assistance. During the design phase, the show was given the
working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...
of "Cash Mountain", before Briggs decided upon using the name of the
song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...
written by
Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to ...
for the 1956 film ''
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'', as the show's finalised title. After presenting their idea to
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
, the broadcaster gave the green light for production to begin on a series. The set designed for ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' was conceived by British
production designer In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...
Andy Walmsley Andrew Walmsley (born September 1966) is a British-born production designer. Career Walmsley was initially involved in the theatre industry. He designed sets for several musicals, including '' Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story'' and '' Blood Brothers ...
, who focused the design towards making contestants feel uncomfortable, creating an atmosphere of tension similar to a movie thriller. The design was in stark contrast to the design of sets made for more typical game shows, which are designed to make contestants feel more at ease. Walmsley's design feature a central stage made primarily with
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, with a huge dish underneath covered in mirror paper, onto which two slightly modified, -high Pietranera Arco All chairs were chosen for use by both the contestant and the host, each having an LG computer monitor directly facing each that would be used to display questions and other pertinent information. The rest of the set featured seating spaced out around the main stage in a circle, with breaks in them to allow movement of people on and off the set. The lighting rig used for the set was designed so as to allow not only the lights to switch from illuminating the entire set, to focusing on the host and contestant on the main stage when a game was underway, but to include special lighting effects when the contestant reached higher cash prize amounts. His overall conception would eventually prove to be a success, becoming one of the most reproduced scenic designs in television history. The music provided for the show was composed by father-and-son duo
Keith Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...
and
Matthew Strachan Matthew Strachan ( or ; 11 December 1970 – 8 September 2021) was an English composer and singer-songwriter. His best known work is the music for British television game show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' written with his father Keith, ...
. The Strachans' composition for the game show helped with Briggs' tense game design, by providing the necessary drama and tension. Unlike other game show musical scores, the music provided for ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' was designed to be played throughout the entire episode of the show. The Strachans main theme for the game show was inspired from the "Mars" movement of
Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...
's ''
The Planets ''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...
''. For the main game of the show, the pair designed the music to feature three variations, with the second and third compositions focused on emphasising the increased tension of the game – as a contestant made progress to higher cash amounts, the pitch of the music was increased by a semitone for each subsequent question. On
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's ''Gameshow Hall of Fame'' special, the narrator described the Strachan tracks as "mimicking the sound of a beating heart", and stated that as the contestant works their way up the money ladder, the music is "perfectly in tune with their ever-increasing pulse".


Original series (1998–2014)

With the show created, ITV assigned
Chris Tarrant Christopher John Tarrant, (born 10 October 1946) is an English broadcaster, television personality and former radio DJ. He presented the ITV (TV network), ITV children's television show ''Tiswas'' from 1974 to 1981, and the game show ''Who Wa ...
as its host, and set its premiere to 4 September 1998. The programme was assigned a timeslot of one hour, to provide room for three commercial breaks, with episodes produced by UK production company
Celador CPL Productions (formerly Celador) is a British entertainment company originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as an independent television production company. It created and produced a number of popular light entertainment shows and is ...
. Originally, the show was broadcast on successive evenings for around ten days, before the network modified its broadcast schedule in autumn 2000 to air it within a primetime slot on Saturday evenings, with occasional broadcasts on Tuesday evenings. ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' proved a ratings hit, pulling in average viewing figures of up to 19 million during its broadcast in 1999 (the all-time high was on 7 March 1999, with 19.2 million viewers), though such figures often occurred when the programme was allocated to a half-hour timeslot. By September 2000, viewing figures had dropped to 11.1 million viewers, and by 2003 to an average of around 8 million viewers. Audiences continued to drop, and from 2005 to 2011 the show usually attracted between 3 and 4 million viewers. At one point in September 1999, an episode had 60% of the TV share and caused the
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a historic low in ratings. Over the course of his time presenting the game show, Tarrant developed a number of notable catchphrases. Notable ones include "Audience, all on your keypads please. All vote now!", said when the 'Ask the Audience' lifeline is used; "Is that your final answer?", often said to confirm the contestant's answer choice and "But we don't want to give you that", when displaying the contestant's current winning cheque, to urge them on to win more money. Since its launch, several individuals made claims over the origins of the format or elements of it, with each accusing Celador of breaching their copyrights. In three cases, the matters could not be proven by the claimants – in 2002, Mike Bull, a
Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
-based journalist, was given an out-of-court settlement when he claimed the authorship of lifelines was his work, though with a confidentiality clause attached; in 2003, Sydney resident John J. Leonard made claims in that the show's format was based on one he had made of a similar nature, but without the concept of lifelines; in 2004, Alan Melville was given an out-of-court settlement after he claimed that the opening phrase "Who wants to be a millionaire?" had been taken from a document he sent to
Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
, concerning his idea for a game show based on the lottery. One of most significant claims Celador received against them was from John Bachini. In 2002, he started legal proceedings against the production company, ITV, and five individuals who had claimed they had created ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'', stating that the idea from the show was taken from several elements he had created – a board game format he conceived in 1981; a two-page TV format, known as ''Millionaire'', made in 1987; and the telephone mechanics for a TV concept he created in 1989, ''BT Lottery''. In his claim, Bachini stated that he submitted documents for his TV concepts to Paul Smith, from a sister company of Celador's, in March 1995 and again in January 1996, and to
Claudia Rosencrantz Claudia Emma Rosencrantz FRTS (born 23 June 1959) is a British television executive and journalist. She was formerly the Controller of Entertainment for ITV, for over ten years. She was also Director of Television for Virgin Media for five year ...
of ITV, also in January 1996, accusing both of using roughly 90% of the format for ''Millionaire'' in the pilot for the game show, including the use of twenty questions, lifelines and safety nets, although the lifelines were conceived under different names – Bachini claimed that he never coined the phrase "phone-a-friend" that Briggs designed in his format. In response to this claim, Celador made a counter-claim that the franchise originated from the basic format idea conceived by Briggs. The defendants in the claim took Bachini to a summary hearing but lost their right to have his claim dismissed. Although Bachini won the right to go to trial, he was unable to attend the hearing due to serious illness. Celador eventually settled the matter with him out-of-court. In March 2006, Celador began procedures to sell the format of the show and all UK episodes, as part of their first step towards the sale of their formats divisions. The purchase of both assets was made by Dutch company
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, which were then passed on to
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in 2008 when it acquired 2waytraffic. As the original series progressed, variations of the format were created, and screened as special episodes, including celebrity editions, games featuring couples as contestants, and episodes themed around special events such as
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. The Christmas Eve celebrity special from December 2010 drew its biggest audience since 2006. To capitalise on this, and breathe new life into the show, only celebrity contestants appeared on the show from April 2011, in special live editions that coincided with holidays, events and other notable moments, such as the end of a
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. From 2012–13, special episodes entitled "The People Play" were broadcast for three consecutive nights between 9 and 11 July 2012. They featured contestants from the general public with viewers at home playing along. The special was used three more times in 2013, once on 7 May, and twice more on 21 May, before the special's format was discontinued. On 22 October 2013, Tarrant announced that, after fifteen years of hosting the programme, he would be leaving ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'', which consequently led ITV to axe the programme once his contract was finished; no more specials would be filmed after this announcement, leaving only those made before it to be aired as the final episodes. After the final celebrity editions, Tarrant hosted a
clip show A clip show is an episode of a television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows feature the format of a frame story in which cast members recall past events from past installments of the show, depicte ...
entitled "Chris' Final Answer", which aired on 11 February 2014 and ended the original series.


Revival (2018–present)

In 2018, ITV revived the show for a new series, coinciding with the programme's 20th anniversary. On 23 February, the broadcaster put out a casting call for contestants who would appear on the game show. On 9 March,
Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' an ...
was confirmed as the new host of the show. On 13 April, the trailer for the revival premiered on ITV and confirmed that the show would return in May for a week-long run. Shows aired from 5 to 11 May and were filmed in Studio HQ2 at Dock10 in
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
. The first episode drew an average of 5.06 million viewers, a 29.7% TV share. ITV renewed the show for a second series, with Clarkson returning as host. It aired for 6 episodes from 1 to 6 January 2019, with the first episode of the series being the programme's 600th episode since it first aired. The second half of the second series began on 4 March 2019 with 5 episodes, whilst a third series began on 24 August 2019 with 11 episodes, airing weekly. ITV renewed the show for a fourth series at the end of 2019, with 4 celebrity editions of the show airing on 25 December 2019, (a Christmas Special), 4, 5 January and 12 April 2020. This series continued for 6 episodes with regular contestants on 10 May 2020. In July 2020, it was announced that the programme would start airing its 35th series in September 2020. Due to the
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, there was no studio audience and the 'Ask the Audience' lifeline was temporarily suspended. It was replaced with an additional 'Phone A Friend' lifeline, giving a chance for the contestant to phone two different friends. It was broadcast across five consecutive nights from 7 to 11 September 2020. It was confirmed on 21 August 2020 that a contestant would win the £1 million jackpot, the first time it had been won during Clarkson's time as host and the first time it had been won in 14 years. The show returned on 26 and 27 December 2020, for 2 celebrity Christmas special episodes, with the Series 35 Lifeline rules being applied, as well as
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
health and safety guidelines being applied. The first part of series 36 of the show commenced on 17 January 2021, consisting of 6 episodes airing every Sunday, with the 35th series lifeline rules also being applied in this series. The second part of series 36 commenced on 10 July 2021, consisting of 7 episodes airing every Saturday, and concluded on 21 August 2021. Series 37 commenced on 16 November 2021, consisting of 5 celebrity specials, with episodes airing across five consecutive nights. Series 38 commenced on 10 June 2022 - this was the first series to feature the Ask The Audience lifeline since the COVID-19 pandemic.


Top-prize winners

Over the course of the programme's broadcast history, seven contestants have received its top prize of £1 million, including six legitimate winners and one illegitimate winner.
Charles Ingram Charles William Ingram (born 6 August 1963) is an English novelist and former British Army major who gained notoriety for his appearance on the ITV television game show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. In episodes recorded in September 200 ...
, a former Army Major, was stripped of his winnings after it was discovered he had cheated. The legitimate winners are: *
Judith Keppel Judith Cynthia Aline Keppel (born 18 August 1942) is a British quiz show contestant who was the first person to win one million pounds on the British television game show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. She has appeared on the former BBC Two ...
, a former garden designer. On 20 November 2000, she became the first contestant to win the top prize. Following her success, Keppel later went on to become part of a team of quiz experts for the BBC game show '' Eggheads''. * David Edwards, a former physics teacher of
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and
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in
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. On 21 April 2001, he became the second contestant to win the top prize. Following his success in 2008 and 2009, Edwards went on to compete in both series of ''
Are You an Egghead? ''Are You an Egghead?'' is a BBC quiz show that was presented by Dermot Murnaghan. It is a spin-off from the quiz show '' Eggheads'', with its goal to find a further Egghead to complement the existing team. The first series was aired weekdays fr ...
'', but failed to win either series. * Robert Brydges, an
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-educated banker from
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,
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. On 29 September 2001, he became the third person to win the show's top prize. *
Pat Gibson Patrick Gibson (born 19 July 1961) is an Irish quizzer. On 24 April 2004 he became the fourth contestant to win the £1m jackpot on the quiz show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. He is a multiple world champion in quizzing and one of the wo ...
, a multiple world-champion Irish quiz player. On 24 April 2004, he became the fourth person to win the top prize. Like Keppel, Gibson went on to join ''Eggheads''. * Ingram Wilcox, a civil servant and
quiz A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which players attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several specific topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief Educational assessment, assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth ...
enthusiast. On 23 September 2006, he became the fifth person to win the top prize and the last during Tarrant's tenure as host. * Donald Fear, a history and politics teacher from
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. On 11 September 2020, he became the first person during Clarkson's tenure as host to secure the top prize and sixth winner overall. He is also the first top-prize winner with lifelines to spare, using only the '50:50'.


Format


Auditioning

During the original production, persons who wished to apply for the game show were provided with four options to choose from: calling/texting a premium-rate number; submitting an application via the show's ITV website; using a system of £1 credits; or taking part in casting auditions, held at various locations around the UK. Once an application was made, production staff selected an episode's contestants through a combination of random selection and a potential contestant's ability to answer a set of test questions based on general knowledge.


Game rules

Once contestants audition for a part on the programme and filming takes place, they undertake a preliminary round called "Fastest Finger First". Initially, the round required contestants to provide the correct answer to a question, but from the second series onwards, they are tasked with organising four answers in a specific sequence stated within the question (i.e. earliest to latest). The contestant who answers the question correctly, and in the fastest time, plays the main game. In the event that nobody answers the question correctly, a new question is asked. If two or more contestants gave the correct sequence at the same time, a tiebreaker question is held between the victors to determine who proceeds to the main game. The round is primarily used to determine the next contestant for the main game, and is typically played more than once per episode. In the event there are visually impaired contestants, the answers will be read out before the timer starts. After completing 'Fastest Finger First', the contestant begins the main game, tackling a series of increasingly difficult questions. The questions are valued at progressively higher sums of money, up to the top prize of £1,000,000. The stacks of 15 questions are randomly chosen from a list of pre-generated questions based on general knowledge. For each question there are four options to choose from, labelled ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’. During the game, contestants are allowed to use three lifelines to help them with a question at any time, and two monetary milestones are provided. If a contestant answers a question incorrectly, but previously passed a milestone during their game, they leave with that capped amount as their prize. Contestants are allowed to 'walk away' from any question, leaving the game with the cash amount they had already banked. While the initial questions are generally easy, more challenging questions require the contestant to confirm that their answer is final, at which point their submission becomes locked in and cannot be reversed. As a rule, the presenter is not shown the correct answer on their monitor until a contestant has given their 'final answer'. If the episode has reached the end of its allotted time, an audio 'klaxon' is cued to highlight this; contestants who are still playing would return in the next episode to complete their progress. For special editions of the show, such as celebrity episodes, this is not the case and the contestant leaves with their banked amount. During the live specials whilst Tarrant was host, the contestant's game ended and any question in play would be null and void unless they gave a final answer before the klaxon sounded. Over the course of the show's history on British television, the format of the programme has seen various changes to gameplay, mainly towards the setup of questions and the payout structure used in the show, along with minor tweaks and changes in other aspects: * Between September 1998 and July 2007, the original format focused on fifteen questions, with all three lifelines available at the start of the game, two milestones placed at £1,000 and £32,000, and ten contestants given the opportunity to participate in each episode. * Between August 2007 and February 2014, the number of questions was reduced to twelve, with most cash values adjusted; the second milestone was also adjusted to £50,000 as a result. * Between August 2010 and February 2014, contestants were pre-selected by production staff, and were given a time limit on the first seven questions, similar to the American 'clock format' between 2008 and 2010. The clock would begin once all answers were displayed 15 seconds for the first two questions; and 30 seconds for the next five questions and would pause when a lifeline was used. This format also included a fourth lifeline, 'Switch'. * From 2011 to 2014, most episodes were live celebrity specials in these episodes, a minor adjustment was made to one of the lifelines. * From 2018 onwards, the show's revival returned to the original 1998–2007 format, with some differences. The number of 'Fastest Finger First' contestants was reduced to six and a new 'Ask the Host' lifeline was introduced. A major change involved contestants customising where the second milestone could be placed after reaching £1,000. The host would only ask before each question is presented, routinely until the thirteenth question.


Lifelines

During a contestant's game, they may make use of lifelines to assist them on a question. Each lifeline can only be used once. Throughout the course of the show's history, these lifelines involve the following: * 50:50: (1998–present): Two random incorrect answers are eliminated, leaving the correct answer and a remaining incorrect answer, thus granting the contestant a 50/50 chance of answering the question correctly. * Phone a Friend: (1998–present): The contestant calls one of their friends, and has 30 seconds to read the question and answers to them. The friend uses the leftover time to offer an answer. ** Since 2011, a member of the production team accompanies the friend to prevent cheating, such as reading books or the Internet. Since 2018, they are verified by the presenter before the contestant can confirm. ** During the 2012–13 specials, friends were accompanied to production and filmed, and both the friend and contestant were able to see and communicate with each other. ** If a contestant is visually impaired, the presenter will read out the question and answers to the friend on the contestant's behalf. * Ask the Audience: (1998–2020; 2022–present): Audience members use keypads to vote on what they believe to be the correct answer to the question they've been asked. The percentage of each option selected by the audience is displayed to the contestant and audience after this vote. ** From 2020 to 2021, this lifeline was temporarily suspended because the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions prevented a studio audience to be present during filming; in its absence, the lifeline was replaced with a second Phone a Friend for contestants to use. * Switch (2002–2003, 2010–2014): The computer replaces one question with another of the same monetary value. Any lifelines already used on the original question are not reinstated. ** In its original run, the lifeline was originally called Flip and could only be accessed if the contestant traded an unused lifeline for it, using it up to three times. From 2010–14, it became a unique lifeline and was available after the contestant answered seven questions correctly. * Ask the Host (2018–present): The contestant consults the host for guidance on the question. The host usually discloses that they have no contact with outside sources, and there is no time limit as to how long they can offer help. When a question is answered, the correct answer is revealed to the host and contestant at the same time.


Series overview


Main series


Specials

*''Is that Your Final Answer?'' – a one-hour documentary about the show, which aired on ITV on 24 December 1999. Directed and produced by Robin Lough, it featured rare footage from the unaired pilot version of the programme, which has completely different music and behind the scenes footage from the programmes aired in Series 4 (September 1999). A similar documentary of the same name was also aired in Australia during 2000. A shorter half-hour Russian version was aired on 4 November 2000. Both of these primarily concentrated on their own versions of the show and featured the local hosts. *''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Night'' – a two-and-a-half-hour long special, which included parts of ''Is that Your Final Answer?'', that aired on digital channel
ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...
in 2000. Hosted by Tarrant, it looked back on the first two years of the UK version, showing some of its best moments. It also looked at the original
U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
and Australian versions. *''Judith Keppel: Millionaire'' – a half-hour documentary about Judith Keppel's run to winning the million pound top prize, which aired on ITV on 31 December 2000. *''Who Wants to be a Millionaire?: Major Fraud'' – A special episode of ''
Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...
'' which focused on the 2001 cheating scandal, hosted by
Martin Bashir Martin Henry Bashir (born 19 January 1963) is a British journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's ''Panorama'' programme, for which he interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales in 1995. Although the intervie ...
. It featured key segments of Charles Ingram's run as well as interviews by the witnesses of the ensuing trial, such as fellow contestants and members of the production crew. It was broadcast in the UK on 21 April 2003 (before airing in the US on 8 May 2003 as a special episode of
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
's ''
Primetime Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
''). An additional 2-hour documentary on the scandal entitled ''Who Wants to Steal a Million?'' was also shown in the US, which featured Ingram's full unedited run. *''
Quiz A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which players attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several specific topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief Educational assessment, assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth ...
'' – A drama in three parts, each one hour in length, which aired on 13, 14 and 15 April 2020 and is based on James Graham's
play of the same name Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...
which centres on the 2001 Ingram cheating scandal. *''Who Wants to be a Millionaire?: The Million Pound Question'' – a six-part documentary series about the first seven contestants who've correctly answered the million pound question, including Charles Ingram's scandal (under the title ''Who Wants to be a Millionaire?: A Very Major Scandal''). The series also included other big moments from the show's archives. It was shown across six weeks from November 2020–January 2021. It is narrated by
Stephen Mangan Stephen James Mangan (born 16 May 1968) is an English actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He has played Guy Secretan in ''Green Wing'', Dan Moody in '' I'm Alan Partridge'', Seán Lincoln in ''Episodes'', Bigwig in ''Watership Down'', Postma ...
.


Text game (2004–2007)

On 23 October 2004 the show included a new feature called the "Walkaway Text Game". The competition was offered to viewers at home to play the text game where they had to answer the question, if a contestant decided to walk home with the cash prize they have got, by choosing the letters 'A, B, C or D' within 30 seconds to a specific mobile number. The viewer who answered the question won £1,000 by having their entries selected randomly. On 9 September 2006, there were some changes. The competition stayed the same but this time, they played it before some commercial breaks. A question to which the contestant had given their final answer, but the correct answer had not yet been revealed, was offered as a competition to viewers. Entry was via
SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
text message at a cost of £1 per entry, and the competition ran through the commercial break, after which the answer was revealed and the game continued. One viewer who answered the question correctly won £1,000. The text game ended on 28 July 2007.


Controversies


Incorrect answer to question accepted

On 8 March 1999, contestant Tony Kennedy reached the £64,000 question. He was asked "Theoretically, what is the minimum number of strokes with which a
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player can win a set?", and given four possible answers – twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six, and forty-eight. Kennedy, who calculated that a player would need four shots to win a game, with six games in a set, answered twenty-four, and was told the answer was correct. However, the right answer is actually twelve. One viewer explained to ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'': :"A tennis player needs six games to win a set. Let's assume he serves
aces ACeS (PT Asia Cellular Satellite) was a regional satellite telecommunications company based in Jakarta, Indonesia. It offered GSM-like satellite telephony services to Asian market. The coverage area included Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Phili ...
for his three service games – four shots for three games which equals 12 strokes. Now, if his opponent double faults all their serves – so losing love 40 – the player hasn't had to make any strokes." The production staff acknowledged the mistake and apologised for it, but allowed Kennedy to keep his prize money (an eventual £125,000).


Career criminal contestants

On 30 July 1999, production staff withdrew the winnings of three contestants who had appeared in the programme between January and March, after each was discovered to be an active criminal, one of whom was wanted by police. After each had appeared on the programme, several viewers contacted staff to report about their criminal past, leading to their winnings, a combined total of £80,000, being frozen until the allegations were checked. They eventually discovered that all three had lied on their application forms, breaching a rule that stipulated that "anyone with a criminal record – unless it is spent – is not eligible to enter". The programme's executive producer at the time made clear that while anyone was eligible to enter, attempts to deceive staff would eventually be found out.


Schedule rigging allegation

When
Judith Keppel Judith Cynthia Aline Keppel (born 18 August 1942) is a British quiz show contestant who was the first person to win one million pounds on the British television game show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. She has appeared on the former BBC Two ...
's victory as the first UK jackpot winner on ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' was announced by ITV on the day that the corresponding episode was to be broadcast, several allegations were made that
Celador CPL Productions (formerly Celador) is a British entertainment company originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as an independent television production company. It created and produced a number of popular light entertainment shows and is ...
had rigged the show to spoil the BBC's expected high ratings for the finale of ''
One Foot in the Grave ''One Foot in the Grave'' is a British television sitcom written by David Renwick. There were six series (each consisting of six half-hour shows) and seven Christmas specials over a period of ten years from early 1990 to late 2000. The first fi ...
''. Richard Wilson, the lead star on the sitcom, was quoted in particular for saying that the broadcaster had "planned" the win, adding "it seems a bit unfair to take the audience away from Victor's last moments on earth."
David Renwick David Peter Renwick (; born 4 September 1951) is an English author, television writer, actor, director and executive producer, best known for creation of the sitcom ''One Foot in the Grave'' and the mystery series ''Jonathan Creek''. He was awar ...
, writer of the sitcom, voiced annoyance that the episode would draw away interest from the sitcom's finale, believing that a leaked press release on ITV's announcement had been "naked opportunism", and it "would have been more honourable to let the show go out in the normal way", pointing out that it "killed off any element of tension or surprise in their own programme", but that "television is all about ratings". Richard Webber's account, in his 2006 book, cites "unnamed BBC sources" as those who "questioned the authenticity of Keppel's victory". The allegations, in turn, led to eleven viewers making complaints against the quiz show, of a similar nature, to the
Independent Television Commission The Independent Television Commission (ITC) licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom (except S4C in Wales) between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003. History The creation of ITC, by the Broadcasting Act ...
(ITC). In response, ITV expressed distress at the allegations, claiming that it "undermined viewers' faith in the programme." Leslie Hill, the chairman of ITV, wrote to Sir
Christopher Bland Sir Francis Christopher Buchan Bland (29 May 1938 – 28 January 2017) was a British businessman and politician. He was deputy chairman of the Independent Television Authority (1972), which was renamed the Independent Broadcasting Authority in th ...
, the chairman of the
Board of Governors of the BBC The Board of Governors of the BBC was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It consisted of twelve people who together regulated the BBC and represented the interests of the public. It existed from 1927 until it was replace ...
, to complain about the issue. The corporation apologised, saying that any suggestion of 'rigging' "did not represent the official view of the BBC", while the ITC's investigation cleared the programme of any wrongdoing.


Ambiguous question

On 11 February 2006, celebrity couple
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen Laurence Roderick Llewelyn-Bowen (; born 11 March 1965) is an English interior designer and television personality best known for appearing on the BBC programme '' Changing Rooms''. Name He is sometimes credited as "Laurence Llewelyn", and th ...
and his wife Jackie took on the game show to raise money for their chosen charity – The Shooting Star Children's Hospice. Having reached the final question of the quiz, they were asked "Translated from the Latin, what is the motto of the United States?", to which the Bowens answered with "
In God We Trust "In God We Trust" (also rendered as "In God we trust") is the United States national motto, official motto of the United States and of the U.S. state of Florida. It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956, replacing ("Out of many, one"), whic ...
", only to learn that the question's correct answer was "One Out of Many" – the English translation for the Latin ''
E pluribus unum ''E pluribus unum'' ( , , ) – Latin for "Out of many, one" (also translated as "One out of many" or "One from many") – is a traditional motto of the United States, appearing on the Great Seal along with ''Annuit cœptis'' (Latin for "he ...
''. However, Celador later admitted that the question had been ambiguous and not fair to the pair – although ''E pluribus unum'' is considered the de facto motto of the United States, it was never legally declared as such; ''In God We Trust'' has been the official motto of the country since 1956, and was not translated from any form of Latin. Following this revelation, the production company invited the Bowens back to tackle a new question, with their original winnings reinstated; the couple chose not to risk their winnings on the new question, and left with £500,000 for their charity.


Charles Ingram cheating scandal

In September 2001, British Army Major
Charles Ingram Charles William Ingram (born 6 August 1963) is an English novelist and former British Army major who gained notoriety for his appearance on the ITV television game show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. In episodes recorded in September 200 ...
correctly answered the £500,000 and £1,000,000 questions, after initially favouring an incorrect answer for each; this led to suspicion of cheating. While reviewing the recording, the production staff made a connection between Fastest Finger First contestant Tecwen Whittock's coughing and Ingram's answers; they also noticed that Ingram's wife Diana had coughed before Ingram changed his answer on the £32,000 question. Believing that cheating had occurred, the production company
Celador CPL Productions (formerly Celador) is a British entertainment company originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as an independent television production company. It created and produced a number of popular light entertainment shows and is ...
withheld the winnings, suspended the broadcast of Ingram's run, and reported the incident to police. Both the Ingrams and Whittock were charged with "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception", and taken to
Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...
in 2003. During the four-week long trial, the prosecution presented a recording of Ingram's second day on ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'', pager telephone records which were theorised to be a result of practice for a discarded scheme in which four pagers would be hidden on Ingram's body, and testimony from one of the production staff and a "Fastest Finger First" contestant attending the recording, Larry Whitehurst. Although the defence provided evidence claiming Whittock's coughing was a result of dust allergies and a hay fever he was suffering from, and Whittock himself testified against the accusations, footage showed that Whittock was not coughing when he became a contestant after Ingram. On 7 April 2003, the group were found guilty, with all three given suspended prison sentences and fines. The Ingrams were later ordered to pay legal costs within two months of the trial's conclusion. On 24 July 2003, the British Army ordered Charles Ingram to resign his commission as a Major, in the wake of the trial. To this day, they are still trying to appeal their case, evidently continuing to deny their wrongdoings. In the aftermath of the trial, the scandal became the subject of an ITV documentary entitled ''Millionaire: A Major Fraud'' (aired as an edition of ''
Tonight with Trevor McDonald ''Tonight'' (often referred to as ''The Tonight Programme'') is a British current affairs programme, produced by ITV Studios (formerly Granada Television) and ITN for the ITV network, replacing the long-running investigative series ''World ...
'') presented by
Martin Bashir Martin Henry Bashir (born 19 January 1963) is a British journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's ''Panorama'' programme, for which he interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales in 1995. Although the intervie ...
and broadcast on 21 April 2003, with a follow-up two weeks later entitled ''Millionaire: The Final Answer''. The documentary featured excerpts from the recording that had been enhanced for the Ingrams' trial, footage of the actions made by Ingram's wife in the audience, and interviews with production staff and some of the contestants who had been present during the recording. None of the defendants in the case took part, with Ingram later describing ''Major Fraud'' and a subsequent programme of the matter, shown on
ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...
, as "one of the greatest TV editing con tricks in history". Chess grandmaster
James Plaskett Harold James Plaskett (born 18 March 1960) is a British chess grandmaster and writer. Biography Early life and personal life Plaskett was born in Dhekelia, Cyprus, on 18 March 1960 and was educated at Bedford Modern School, England. In the 1 ...
later wrote an essay arguing in favour of the group's innocence; this was noticed by journalists
Bob Woffinden Robert Woffinden (31 January 1948 – 1 May 2018) was a British investigative journalist. Formerly a reporter with the '' New Musical Express'', he later specialised in investigating miscarriages of justice. He wrote about a number of high-profi ...
and
Jon Ronson Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker whose works include '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004), and ''The Psychopath Test'' (2011). He has been desc ...
. Woffinden collaborated with Plaskett on a book titled ''Bad Show: The Quiz, The Cough, The Millionaire Major'', published in 2015, arguing that Ingram's appearance on the show coinciding with Whittock's was "chance". ''Quiz'', a 2017 play based on the events of the scandal, was written by James Graham'','' and a
TV adaptation An adaptation is a transfer of a work of art from one style, culture or medium to another. Some common examples are: * Film adaptation, a story from another work, adapted into a film (it may be a novel, non-fiction like journalism, autobiography, ...
was commissioned by ITV starring
Matthew Macfadyen David Matthew Macfadyen (; born 17 October 1974) is an English actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he gained prominence for his role as Mr. Darcy in Joe Wright's ''Pride & Prejudice'' (2005). He currently stars as Tom Wambsgans ...
,
Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage role ...
and
Sian Clifford Sian Clifford (born 7 April 1982) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Claire, the older sister of the titular character in the BBC comedy-drama series ''Fleabag'' (2016–2019) and also portrayed Martha Crawley in the ITV/Amazo ...
, which aired in April 2020.


The Syndicate

The Phone-a-Friend lifeline provided multiple instances of controversy during the show's run. In March 2007 various UK newspapers reported that an organised syndicate had been getting quiz enthusiasts onto the show in return for a percentage of their winnings. The person behind the syndicate was Keith Burgess from Northern Ireland. Burgess admitted to helping around 200 contestants to appear on the show since 1999; he estimates those contestants to have won around £5,000,000. The show producers are believed to have been aware of this operation, with Burgess stating: "The show knows about me and these types of syndicates, but they cover it up to keep the show going." An earlier version of a Phone a Friend syndicate was reported in the ''Northampton Chronicle and Echo'' during 2003. Paul Smith, the managing director of Celador Productions, stated: "We are aware of Paddy Spooner and what people similar to him are doing, and we have made a priority of changing our question procedure. We are confident we have now made it impossible for anyone to manipulate the system." Since then, the options of people that can be called have a picture of themselves shown on-air. During the 2010–14 era and with the show's relaunch in 2018, every person listed as a friend who might be called had a person from the production company present to video their actions. In April 2020, the ''Daily Mirror'' provided more up-to-date details on how the syndicate run by Keith Burgess and Paddy Spooner had operated. Burgess admitted to getting five people on to the show within one hour.


Filming locations

Since airing in September 1998, ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' has been filmed at 3 locations throughout its 22-year run. It was originally filmed at the now-defunct
Fountain Studios Fountain Studios was an independently owned television studio in Wembley Park, northwest London. The company was last part of the Avesco Group plc. Several companies owned the site before it was bought by Fountain in 1993. Originally a film st ...
in London until the end of the third series which aired in March 1999. Production moved to
Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...
in Hertfordshire for series 4, which aired in September 1999 and continued production until the end of its initial run in February 2014. Since 2018, production moved to Dock10 in Salford.


''Fastest Finger First''

''Fastest Finger First'' is a spin-off series commissioned by ITV and produced by Stellify Media, and filmed at dock10 studios in Manchester. The winner of an episode is awarded the opportunity to play as a contestant for ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. Unlike the main show, ''Fastest Finger First'' is hosted by
Anita Rani Anita Rani Nazran (born 25 October 1977), better known as Anita Rani, is an English radio and television presenter. Early life Rani was born and brought up in Bradford, West Yorkshire to a Hindu father and a Sikh mother. In an episode of ' ...
. The first series premiered on 29 August 2022 with a five-episode run until 2 September 2022. The five winning contestants in this series became the first five contestants of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' in its 38th series.


Format

The format is based on the first ''Fastest Finger First'' round of the main series. In the beginning quickfire round, five contestants must answer a series of open ended questions to ascend a question ladder. If a contestant correctly answers twelve questions in a row, they automatically qualify to the second round. An incorrect answer resets their position to the bottom of the ladder. If the contestant does not know an answer, they can secure a safety net to remain at the same position of the ladder, and the same question is prompted to other contestants to buzz in. This cycle continues until a klaxon sounds, and the contestant in play proceeds to the second round. When two contestants have secured a place in the second round, the winners play in a head-to-head duel where they must answer multiple-choice questions in a set sequence. If both contestants answer the sequence correctly, the contestant who scored with the fastest time wins. In this round, there are a maximum of seven sequences to answer. This round ends once all sequences are played, or it is impossible for a contestant to beat the other. The contestant who identified the least correct sequences returns to the contestant pool to play another quickfire round. These two rounds cycle three times in a row, after which a final head-to-head duel is played, where the winner of this round wins the game and secures their place as a contestant for ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.''


Reception


References


Footnotes


Bibliography

* * * *


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (British game show) 1998 British television series debuts 1990s British game shows 2000s British game shows 2010s British game shows 2020s British game shows Television shows shot at Elstree Film Studios ITV game shows Carlton Television Television series by Sony Pictures Television English-language television shows British television series revived after cancellation Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Television series created by Steven Knight