Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (UK game show)

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Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Wwtbam-uk-2010.png
Format Game show
Created by David Briggs
Presented by Chris Tarrant
Composer(s) Keith Strachan
Matthew Strachan
Ramon Covalo (2007–present)
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of series 28
No. of episodes 571 (as of 3 January 2012)
Production
Running time 30–75 minutes
Production company(s) Celador (1998–2007)
2waytraffic (2007–2010)
Sony Pictures Television (2008–present)
Victory Television
(2011–present)
Broadcast
Original channel ITV
Picture format SDTV: 576i (1998-99)
HDTV: 1080i (1999–present)
Original run 4 September 1998 (1998-09-04) – present

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a British television quiz show which offers a maximum cash prize of one million pounds for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The show is exported to many other countries, all of which follow the same general format (see Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?).

The programme is hosted by Chris Tarrant and produced by Sony Pictures Television and 2waytraffic (previously Celador) for the ITV network. It is based on a format devised by David Briggs, who, along with Steven Knight and Mike Whitehill, devised a number of the promotional games for Chris Tarrant's breakfast show on Capital FM radio. The original working title for the show was Cash Mountain.

The programme first aired on 4 September 1998. One contestant played at a time and originally had no time limit to answer questions. Contestants were presented with the question and possible answers before they decided whether to attempt an answer or walk away with what they have already won.

Rights to both the format and all UK episodes of the show were put up for sale by Celador in March 2006, as the first step toward the sale of Celador's formats division. These were acquired by the Dutch company 2waytraffic, and in 2008 following 2waytraffic's acquisition, by Sony Pictures Television.

Contents

[edit] Broadcast details

Originally broadcast on successive evenings for around ten days, it now appears weekly on ITV in a primetime slot on Saturday evenings, and also occasionally on Tuesday evening. The show lasts for one hour (including commercial breaks). The first contestant was Graham Elwell, who won £64,000.

At its peak in 1999, the show pulled in up to 19 million viewers (an astonishing one in three of the British population), often when it only had a half-hour timeslot, before declining to around 8 million by 2003.[1]

In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? was placed 23rd.

Tarrant's catchphrases on the show include "Is that your final answer?", "But we don't want to give you that" (meaning that he would like the contestant to go on and win even more money), and more recently at the end of the show, "But the cashpoint is now closed for tonight."

Variants on the format are screened from time to time as specials – such as celebrities playing for charity, couples games (where both partners must agree on the answer), Mother's Day specials, etc.

[edit] Gameplay

Payout structure
Question number Question value
1998–2007 2007–present
1 £100 £500
2 £200 £1,000
3 £300 £2,000
4 £500 £5,000
5 £1,000 £10,000
6 £2,000 £20,000
7 £4,000 £50,000
8 £8,000 £75,000
9 £16,000 £150,000
10 £32,000 £250,000
11 £64,000 £500,000
12 £125,000 £1 million
13 £250,000
14 £500,000
15 £1 million

Members of the public apply to appear on the show by calling a premium-rate telephone number or sending a premium-rate text message. Applications can also be made at the ITV website via a system of £1 "credits", as well as through a contestant casting audition. Such auditions are held around the UK at various locations. Contestants are chosen from the large number of applicants through a combination of random selection and ability to answer test general knowledge questions.

Contestants answer a list of 12 increasingly-difficult questions to win the top prize of £1 million. Contestants can choose to leave the game at any point and claim the prize for the last correctly-answered question without penalty. Answering the second question correctly guarantees that a contestant will leave with no less than £1,000 if they provide an incorrect answer to a later question, and answering the seventh question correctly increases the minimum payout to £50,000. A contestant who answers either the first or second question incorrectly leaves with nothing.

Contestants must answer the first seven questions within a specific time limit: 15 seconds for questions one and two, and 30 seconds for each question thereafter.[2] Questions eight to twelve are not timed.

Three lifelines are presented at the beginning of the game in order to aid contestants:

  • Ask the Audience: Audience members use touch pads to designate what they believe the correct answer to be. The percentage of the audience choosing each specific option is displayed to the contestant.
  • 50/50: The computer eliminates two incorrect answers, leaving one incorrect answer and the correct answer.
  • Phone-a-Friend: The contestant calls one of up to five friends, who provided their phone numbers in advance. The contestant has thirty seconds to read the question and answer choices to the friend, who then has the remaining time to offer input.
  • Switch the Question (2010–present): The computer replaces, at the contestant's request, one question with another of the same monetary value. Any lifelines used on the original question prior to the switching are not reinstated.

The clock is stopped when a contestant chooses to use a lifeline on questions one through seven.

At the end of each program when there is a contestant in the hotseat, a siren is sounded as an alert that the show is about to end. If a contestant has not answered a question incorrectly or walked away, that contestant will continue playing on the next programme.

[edit] 1998–2007 format

Prior to 2007, ten contestants competed against each other on each episode in the "Fastest Finger First" round in order to determine which contestant would play the main portion of the game. A question and four answers were presented, and each contestant ordered those answers in the manner specified. The contestant who achieved the correct order in the fastest time moved to the second portion of the game. If that contestant chose to stop the game early or was eliminated following an incorrect answer, a new contestant was chosen in the same manner from the remaining nine contestants.

Additionally, contestants were required to answer 15 questions to win the top prize. The minimum payouts were £1,000 for answering five questions correctly and £32,000 for answering ten questions.

[edit] Text game

Since 2004, the UK version has included a feature called the "Text Game". Played before some commercial breaks, a question to which the contestant has given their final answer, but the correct answer has not yet been revealed, is offered as a competition to viewers. Entry is via SMS text message at a cost of £1 per entry, and the competition runs through the commercial break, after which the answer is revealed and the game continues. One viewer who answered the question correctly wins £1,000.

Currently, the host will offer the Viewer Game question to the viewing audience at home near the start of the show, and also after the first and second commercial break (via voiceover). The viewer game is closed a few minutes before the show ends. A graphic will be shown 1 minute before the lines close. The answer is revealed at the end of the show. One viewer who answered the question correctly will win £1,000.[3]

Previously, the text game was called "Walkaway" (and it is still referred to as such on the ITV website)[4] and was played when a contestant elected to keep their current prize rather than offer an answer to the current question.

[edit] Top prize winners

See also: List of top prize winners on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Five contestants have won £1,000,000: Judith Keppel (20 November 2000), David Edwards (21 April 2001), Robert Brydges (29 September 2001), Pat Gibson (24 April 2004), and Ingram Wilcox (23 September 2006). In a celebrity couples special (which was screened on 11 February 2006), one pair, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and his wife, Jackie Llewelyn-Bowen answered the final question incorrectly, losing £468,000. However, the question was later discovered to be flawed, and the pair were invited back to the show with their £500,000 reinstated. Upon their return, the couple were presented with a new £1 million question but this time chose to walk away.

[edit] Celebrities

Several celebrities have appeared as contestants on the programme. Occasionally celebrities appear on special episodes that coincide with holidays, such as Christmas, Mother's Day, Remembrance Day or coinciding with the end of a school term.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Incorrect answer to question accepted

In March 1999, contestant Tony Kennedy was asked "Theoretically, what is the minimum number of strokes with which a tennis player can win a set?", with possible answers of 12, 24, 36 and 48. He calculated that a player would need four shots to win a game, with six games in a set, giving an answer of 24. This won him the £64,000 question.

The Daily Mirror newspaper reported the next day, with the pun headline 'Fault!', that a player could win a game without playing a shot if their opponent double-faulted on every serve. This would allow a winning match in 12 strokes. The programme acknowledged the mistake and apologised for it, but Kennedy was allowed to keep his prize money (an eventual £125,000).[citation needed]

[edit] One Foot in the Grave

The broadcast of Judith Keppel's victory as the first jackpot winner on the UK version of Millionaire coincided with the transmission of the final episode of the popular BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave.[5] The news of Keppel's win, recorded the preceding Sunday, was leaked to the press; ITV announced Keppel's success at a press conference on the day of broadcast. David Renwick, writer of One Foot was annoyed that this would take "audience interest" away from the sitcom. He said that the early announcement of the outcome of Millionaire was "naked opportunism", and it "would have been more honorable to let the show go out in the normal way". He pointed out that they also "killed off any element off tension or surprise in their own programme", but "television is all about ratings".[5]

It was alleged that Millionaire's production company Celador had rigged the show to spoil the BBC's expected high ratings for the sitcom's finale. Richard Wilson in particular was quoted as saying that ITV had "planned" the win, adding "it seems a bit unfair to take the audience away from Victor's last moments on earth."[6] Richard Webber's account, in his 2006 book, cites "unnamed BBC sources" as those who "questioned the authenticity of Keppel's victory".[5] ITV was upset at the allegation, claiming that it "undermined viewers' faith in the programme." Leslie Hill, the chairman of ITV, wrote to Sir Christopher Bland, the chairman of the BBC Board of Governors, to complain about the issue. The corporation apologised, saying that any suggestion of 'rigging' "did not represent the official view of the BBC."[7] Eleven viewers complained about the quiz show to the Independent Television Commission (ITC), but Millionaire was cleared of any wrongdoing.[8][9][10]

[edit] Ambiguous question

On a special Valentine's Day celebrity edition of the show in 2006, which aired three days before the actual Valentine's Day, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Jackie Llewelyn-Bowen reached the £1,000,000 question, which was "Translated from the Latin, what is the official motto of the United States?" The Bowens chose answer A, "In God, We Trust", but the correct answer given was actually answer B, "One Out of Many," which is the English translation for the Latin E pluribus unum. Because they answered the £1,000,000 question incorrectly, they lost £468,000. However, the question turned out to be ambiguous, as "In God, We Trust" is the legal motto for the United States; the phrase is found on many American monetary coins. Because of this, they were invited back to play again, reinstating their previously lost £468,000 to bring them back up to £500,000. The contestants decided not to risk it this time and left with the £500,000.[11]

No other contestant since then has ever lost £468,000. Before that, the most money ever lost was £218,000, which has occurred twice when contestants have answered the 14th question incorrectly, lowering their prize from £250,000 to just £32,000. The two contestants were Duncan Bickley and Rob Mitchell in October 2000 and October 2003 respectively.

[edit] Charles Ingram affair

Main article: Charles Ingram
Charles Ingram and his wife Diana.

In an episode of the show recorded on 9 and 10 September 2001, Charles Ingram won the £1 million prize. During the recording it was noticed that a suspicious pattern of coughing could be heard. Ingram's unusual behaviour in the hot seat also drew attention. Analysed, it was believed that another contestant, Tecwen Whittock, sitting behind him, was offering him prompts in the form of coughs, indicating the correct answers. On some of the questions, Ingram read aloud all of the four answers, until a significant cough was heard, before choosing his answer. In some cases, he dismissed an answer, read aloud the answer choices again, and then picked the answer which he had earlier dismissed. It also appeared on the tapes that after Ingram repeated a particular incorrect answer several times believing it to be correct, Whittock coughed and then loudly whispered 'No!'

After Ingram won the million, Tecwen Whittock won the next Fastest Finger game and so took to the hotseat. He reached the £4,000 mark, but dropped back to £1,000 after answering a cookery question incorrectly.

The Prosecution suggested that Ingram's wife, Diana (who had won £32,000 on a previous show, as had her brother), had organised the scam. Pager telephone records revealed what appeared to be a practice session for another plan to cheat the system that was not subsequently carried out. The Prosecution claimed that the original plan was for Ingram to hide four pagers on his body that would vibrate when an accomplice called the pager indicating the correct answer.

Following a trial at Southwark Crown Court lasting four weeks, Ingram, his wife Diana and Tecwen Whittock were convicted of "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception" on 7 April 2003. Ingram and his wife were each given suspended 18-month prison sentences and fined £15,000, while Tecwen Whittock received a 12-month suspended sentence and was fined £10,000. Together with legal costs, the Ingrams had to pay £115,000, in addition to not receiving his £1,000,000.

Despite the conviction, the Ingrams and Tecwen Whittock continue to deny that they colluded or acted dishonestly. They appealed against the conviction. An ITV documentary entitled Millionaire: A Major Fraud, presented by Martin Bashir, was broadcast in Britain on 21 April 2003 with a follow-up two weeks later, Millionaire: The Final Act. The first advert in the first advertisement break in Major Fraud was for cough medicine, after a brainwave in the broadcaster's advertising department. Excerpts from the recording were broadcast but with enhanced audio highlighting the coughs emanating, the Prosecution alleged, from Tecwen Whittock. Immediately after Major Fraud the uncut recording, but again with enhanced audio, was broadcast on ITV2. Major Fraud included additional video recorded during the programme of Mrs Ingram sitting in the audience and apparently prompting Major Ingram with her own coughing and making glances in the direction of Tecwen Whittock. Major Fraud also contained interviews with production staff and some contestants present at the recording describing how they felt that something unusual had been happening. Notably, none of the defendants were interviewed. Ingram described Major Fraud and the programme broadcast on ITV2 as "one of the greatest TV editing con tricks in history".

On 24 July 2003, the British Army ordered Charles Ingram to resign his commission as a Major.

James Plaskett has argued in favour of the innocence of Ingram, his wife and Whittock.[12] Plaskett's essay led to journalist Bob Woffinden, who had a long-time interest in miscarriages of justice, publishing a two-page article in 9 October 2004 edition of the British newspaper the Daily Mail entitled 'Is the Coughing Major Innocent?' Jon Ronson, who attended the trial and had written two articles about it in The Guardian, wrote a piece published on 17 July 2006, entitled 'Are the Millionaire three innocent?'.[13]

Plaskett may also be heard at Episode 29 of The Pod Delusion podcast[14] being interviewed by political blogger, Mark Thompson, who was himself led by Plaskett's essay to take an interest in the case of The Millionaire Three. In January 2006, Plaskett himself made it into the hot seat and won £250,000. He subsequently sponsored Ingram for £25,000 to run the 2006 Flora London Marathon for the charity SENSE.

[edit] Phone a Friend

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 rate varied between a quarter and a half depending on the stage reached by the contestant. For this, the contestant received help in getting onto the show. In many cases, the initial calls were made on their behalf. In other cases the contestants made the calls and had the costs refunded but received help with the call back tie-breakers via Skype. In most cases, when the contestants were in the hot seat, they again received help with the phone a friend question which involved the syndicate using Google to find the answers.

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, for which he estimates to have made around half a million pounds. The show producers are believed to have been aware of this operation.[15]

An earlier version of a Phone a Friend syndicate was reported in the Northampton Chronicle and Echo during 2003.[16]

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."[16]

[edit] Spin-off

ITV are planning a spin-off called Millionaire: 50:50 which will be based upon the 50:50 lifeline on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. Such a game show has been airing for some years in Spain.[17]

[edit] Transmissions

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 4 September 1998 25 December 1998 11
2 1 January 1999 13 January 1999 13
3 5 March 1999 16 March 1999 12
4 3 September 1999 14 September 1999 13
5 5 November 1999 26 December 1999 18
6 16 January 2000 22 January 2000 7
7 26 March 2000 1 May 2000 13
8 7 September 2000 6 January 2001 55
9 8 January 2001 26 April 2001 45
10 4 September 2001 29 December 2001 43
11 5 January 2002 9 April 2002 55
12 31 August 2002 28 December 2002 19
13 4 January 2003 31 May 2003 22
14 30 August 2003 27 December 2003 21
15 3 January 2004 5 June 2004 23
16 18 September 2004 25 December 2004 16
17 1 January 2005 11 June 2005 24
18 17 September 2005 31 December 2005 11
19 7 January 2006 8 July 2006 27
20 9 September 2006 6 January 2007 13
21 10 March 2007 28 July 2007 17
22 18 August 2007 30 October 2007 11
23 1 January 2008 3 June 2008 19
24 16 August 2008 31 January 2009 18
25 13 June 2009 20 December 2009 20
26 13 April 2010 8 June 2010 8
27 3 August 2010 23 December 2010 11
28 2 April 2011 19 December 2011 6
29 3 January 2012[citation needed]

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ "Millionaire: A TV phenomenon". BBC News. 3 March 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2783505.stm. Retrieved 25 September 2007. 
  2. ^ Daniel Kilkelly (23 June 2010). "Format changes ahead for 'Millionaire'". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a231867/format-changes-ahead-for-millionaire.html. Retrieved 8 July 2010. 
  3. ^ http://millionaire.itv.com/viewergame.php?howtoplay=1[dead link]
  4. ^ "Millionaire—Walkaway Game". itv.com. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080724192629/http://millionaire.itv.com/millionaire/howtoplaywalkaway.php. Retrieved 25 September 2007. 
  5. ^ a b c Webber 2006, p. 184
  6. ^ "Wilson: Millionaire win 'planned'". BBC News. 22 November 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1035069.stm. Retrieved 28 January 2007. 
  7. ^ Judd, Terri (2 December 2000). "BBC apologises for `Millionaire' dirty tricks slur". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/bbc-apologises-for-millionaire-dirty-tricks-slur-627167.html. Retrieved 8 August 2010. 
  8. ^ "Millionaire? cleared of ratings 'fix'". BBC News. 15 January 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1118212.stm. Retrieved 28 January 2007. 
  9. ^ Casey & Calvert 2008, p. 128
  10. ^ Dyja 2002, p. 20
  11. ^ Llewelyn-Bowen gets second chance at 'Millionaire' jackpot after unfair question Retrieved 14 January 2011
  12. ^ www.themillionairethree.com
  13. ^ Ronson, Jon (17 July 2006). "Are the Millionaire three innocent?". London: The Guardian. http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jon_ronson/2006/07/could_the_who_wants_to_be_a_mi.html. Retrieved 25 September 2007. 
  14. ^ The Pod Delusion Episode 29 – 9th April 2010. 9 April 2010.
  15. ^ "Phoney a Friend". SundayMirror.co.uk. 18 March 2007. http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/tm_headline=phoney-a-friend--&method=full&objectid=18772147&siteid=62484-name_page.html. Retrieved 25 September 2007. 
  16. ^ a b "Millionaire syndicate is probed". northamptonchron.co.uk. 23 April 2003. http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/Millionaire-39syndicate39-is-probed.518314.jp. Retrieved 5 October 2007. 
  17. ^ "ITV opts for 50:50 spin-off". The Sun. 30 August 2007. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2001320029-2007400375,00.html. Retrieved 25 September 2007. 

[edit] Bibliography

  • Casey, Bernadette; Calvert, Ben (2008). Television Studies: The Key Concepts (2 ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415371490. 
  • Dyja, Eddie, ed. (2002). BFI Film and Television Handbook 2002. London: British Film Institute. ISBN 9780851709048. 
  • Webber, Richard (2006). The Complete One Foot in the Grave. London: Orion. ISBN 9780752873572. 

[edit] External links
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