Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Press release I saw said Manchester, but I presume they mean MediaCity - unless they’re hiring another space

Is there any studio space in central Manchester these days?

There’s Studio 12 at The Old Granada Studios
http://oldgranadastudios.com/spaces/studio-12/

I expect it may have been real considering they did similar things with other shows practically every episode.

I thought that might be the case as most programmes that were featured were mainly for background noise, but it wasn't often that what was on the TV became the focus of attention, and in turn, part of the episode.

Some of the music cues were missing (mostly the question music), and the lighting seemed to be off (to hide an empty audience, perhaps?).

It was a real episode according to this website - http://millionaire.wikia.com/wiki/Arlene_Harper Arlene Harper was the third contestant from the very first series of Millionaire in 1998 and apparently it was shown. This might explain why the look of the episode might be a bit off, as after the very first run of episodes, the Millionaire production team tweaked the lighting, graphics etc.

It might be filmed in HQ1 at Dock10 Studios in Salford. At 12,550 Sq Ft, it is large enough for the millionaire set.

Also the "Fastest Finger First" round in the Royle Family episode was a simple "answer the question correctly" rather than "put the following 4 answers in x order."

That's how it was on the show's earliest episodes. They were repeated on Challenge a few years back.

Serves me right for not watching much of that first series repeat run!

Though if it wasn't surely they'll just build the set to fit the studio they have?