Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

It was all going so well until the last line...wonder if Chris will make an appearance at some point during the week

Wasn't there talk of a change to the phone a friend format to stop that person from using the internet to look up the answer. Maybe phone a friend will involve Skype?

I'm glad it's being recorded rather than being Live like it was in the final few years. The live editions were really poor - rushing in the last few minutes, poor camera work, musical cues used incorrectly and incorrectly mixed music and underscores being used incorrectly or missing completely.

I hope this is a really polished bit of quality television when it returns next weekend!! I hope the audience seating is also steeped up like it used to be to create dramatic effect, which isn't shown in the picture above.

If you're talking non-scripted, then it's probably top over The Weakest Link, The Chase, Wheel Of Fortune and The Price Is Right.

If we're talking all sets, then it's up there, in the conversation with the bridge of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek, the Tardis Console Room from Doctor Who and the Batcave from the Batman TV series.

The Tardis control room always changes drastically though and won’t enjoy the same profile in all countries. So I’d say it beats that. I’ve no idea what the Batcave looks like and few under the age of 30 will.

Could be a close one with things like Star Trek and the Friends apartment which for example is huge in China.

I would actually argue that the cosmetic changes don’t matter. If you were to show anybody any version of the console room set, they’d identify it as the Tardis Console Room. It’s that iconic that all the visual changes don’t detract from it’s profile and maybe even enhance it.



Trust me, if you see it once you will never forget it. That giant nuclear power reactor at the back, with the batmobile parked mid ground with the bat poles on the left hand side, it’s unmistakably the Batcave.



Forgot about the Friends apartment. That’s a good call.

I class as anybody, and I wouldn’t be able to identify the Tardis control room. Same for the Batcave.

Millionaire was probably one of the most tightly controlled worldwide formats of all time - there was very little, if any, compromise on the look in the early years at least. When Big Brother followed a year later their approach was quite different with countries encouraged to develop a look that suited their home country.

The Strictly / Dancing With The Stars staging is pretty recognisable - even if some shows were bought early enough that they have more local control of the set.

The first version sold internationally was to Australia. Initially it only had 10 questions and there was a weird font on the cash graphics. This soon changed though. The US version was identical although I don’t really see Regis Philbin as a proper Millionaire presenter as he lacked the ability to create any tension.

Here’s a documentary detailing just how involved Celedor and by this time 2 Way Traffic were in establishing the international versions.

Australia for the first few years at least always used to have different opening titles and variations of the opening theme as well.

Speaking of Australia, has anyone ever seen Millionaire Hot Seat which is essentially a more fast paced version of the show