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With the show created, ITV assigned Chris Tarrant 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.
The original British version debuted on 4 September 1998 on the ITV network, hosted by Chris Tarrant, and ran until 11 February 2014. A revived series of seven episodes to commemorate its 20th anniversary aired in May 2018, hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, and ITV renewed the show for several more series.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire first aired in the UK on 4 September 1998. This popular UK quiz show is one of the longest-running and most successful game shows of all time. As the first-ever UK game show to offer an ultimate prize of £1 million, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is one of the most lucrative game shows in history.
Sep 2, 2023 · Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was revived by ITV in 2018 with Jeremy Clarkson filling Tarrant’s shoes – but only one contestant hit the £1million jackpot.
- Game Series
- History
- Gameplay Elements
- Competitions For Viewers
- Parodies
- Trivia
Specials
1. 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 o...
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 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...
Original series
With the show created, ITV assigned Chris Tarrant 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. 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...
Revival
In 2018, ITV revived the show for a new series, as part of its 20th anniversary commemorations of the programme. On 23 February, the broadcaster put out a casting call for contestants who would appear on the game show. On 9 March, Jeremy Clarksonwas 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 M...
Fastest Finger First
Ten (or six, for the 2018 reboot and for later seasons) new contestants are introduced each night after a previous Hot Seat contestant exits. In the first series, after the introductions, the contestants are asked a multiple choice question similar to those given to Hot Seat contestants, and must enter the correct answer on their keypad within 20 seconds. After the time is up, The computer will then give the correct answer, check who got it right, and flash the player who got it in the fastes...
Money tree
The original show had a 15-question money tree from 1998-2007. This was used again on the reboot series in 2018 and every series thereafter, albeit with a slight change: the contestant can set the second milestone level anywhere between the £2,000 question and the £500,000 question. From 2007-2014, the show had a 12-question money tree.
Lifelines
There were 3 lifelines available to all contestants prior to the 2010 clock version, when Switch the Question was introduced. Some celebrity specials also allowed a fourth lifeline, and a few of the 'milestone' shows. 1. 50:50:The computer eliminates two incorrect answers, leaving one incorrect answer and the correct answer. 2. Phone-a-Friend: The contestant calls one of up to 3 friends, who provided their phone numbers to the producers in advance. The contestant has thirty seconds to read th...
Telephone Game
The show featured a special telephone game which ran throughout Series 15, where viewers had to phone in and to answer questions so that they could win up to a virtual million pounds. The telephone number was 09064 72 72 72. Phone charges were via BT Landline at a cost of 60p for up to one minute.
Text Game
The text game ran between 23 October 2004 & 28 July 2007 on the UK version of the show. In Series 16, 17, 18 & 19 it was only played after a contestant decides to take the money, however this was later changed for Series 20 & 21when it was played during the commercial break after the contestant gives a final answer which has not yet been revealed. Chris Tarrantreads out the question and its choices to the viewers. The viewers had to text the letter of the correct answer (A, B, C or D) within...
Tonight's Viewer Question
From S22 EP1, the show featured a competition game called "Tonight's Viewer Question". The competition offered viewers at home to play the game where they had to answer a four-choice question similar to those in the main game, either via SMS or BT Landline. The competition ran through most of the programme, after which the answer was revealed and the programme ended. A random viewer who answered the question correctly would then win £1,000. The telephone number 09012 93 1000 and text number 8...
The IT Crowd
1. In the third episode "Fifty-Fifty", Daniel Careywas a contestant on the show. But, not physically shown in the episode.
The Jonathan Ross Show
1. In an episode of the show with Jonathan Ross as host and Chris Tarrant as contestant, a parody was shown.
Kelly
In episode on 22 November 2001, Gerry Kelly, a host of a UTV talk show Kelly (1989-2005) appeared in a 'special' edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Chris Tarrant (without the studio audience), who also appears as a guest on the chat show. This episode was broadcast shortly after it was revealed that criminal proceedings had started against Charles Ingram, who won £1,000,000 by cheating. Mr. Kelly walked away with £32,000, answering the £500,000 question wrong.
The original idea was for the show to have twenty questions, ranging from £10 to £5,242,880. However, when a potential audience was surveyed people preferred being able to call themselves instant m...In the earliest series, the show had a clear glass briefcase containing £1,000,000 in cash. In the event there was a million-pound win, Tarrant was intended to open the briefcase. It was dropped in...The old episodes of the show are still being repeated on the Challenge game show repeats channel, ITV1 also broadcast interesting moments from the old episodes of English and foreign versions in "C...The oldest ever contestant on the show was 75-year-old Bernard Marco on 11 November 1999, and the youngest ever contestant on the show was 18-year-old Michelle McGeachyon 5 March 1999. The average...Apr 15, 2020 · The original series aired for from September 4 1998 to February 11 2014, and was presented by Chris Tarrant. What happened to Charles Ingram? The Army Major at the centre of ITV...
Sep 9, 2021 · It was almost three years after Robert Brydges’ triumph that Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? celebrated another £1m win, which came when Pat Gibson answered this question in April 2004.
