JO
The Australian version later came more into line with the UK in terms of logo* graphics + money tree. I think one issue is much smaller budgets and a much smaller studio space.
It was one of the first few international versions (2nd or 3rd) which I think gave them a bit of licence with how to do things. It was also established before 'final answer' became a thing and fastest finger became more than just a regular question, which were not adopted and adopted much later. Celador probably felt able to exert a bit more authority on international versions after the US version which was pretty much identical had been such as a success.
*Original Aussie logo, which we've discussed before.
Why did Australia’s version look so cheap? The graphics and set are awful. Even to this day with Hotseat.
The Australian version later came more into line with the UK in terms of logo* graphics + money tree. I think one issue is much smaller budgets and a much smaller studio space.
It was one of the first few international versions (2nd or 3rd) which I think gave them a bit of licence with how to do things. It was also established before 'final answer' became a thing and fastest finger became more than just a regular question, which were not adopted and adopted much later. Celador probably felt able to exert a bit more authority on international versions after the US version which was pretty much identical had been such as a success.
*Original Aussie logo, which we've discussed before.
IS
No one ever did a competition for potential hatmakers called Who Wants to Be a Milliner
The Big Breakfast ran a competition called "Who Wants To Win A Mini On Air?" which I thought was a great name.
No one ever did a competition for potential hatmakers called Who Wants to Be a Milliner
IS
Yes that was great, and it included elements of the opening of ITV in 1955
https://youtu.be/xZy_wYqzrYU
No, although both had the same top prize and multiple choice questions the formats are totally different
I liked the opening titles with the montage of old ITV game shows. They certainly never gave away a million pounds on 321 or Bullseye.
Yes that was great, and it included elements of the opening of ITV in 1955
https://youtu.be/xZy_wYqzrYU
Quick question, was The Million Pound Drop, Channel 4’s version of WWTBAM?
No, although both had the same top prize and multiple choice questions the formats are totally different
JO
You could actually visualise the real life panic that must have been taking place behind the scenes when the very first contestant manages to get up to £64,000 without too much difficulty, with it feeling a bit like a pilot show, and then the relief when Rachel provided a game that was a literally perfect demonstration of the format!
By Episode 2 Chris is well into the swing of things already (‘you know the drill!’) and the rest is history...
Million Pound Drop did a lot of things right, look a real million pounds in front of you! Davina! LIVE! Sadly I think the novelty wore off quite quickly when people realised how tricky it was to walk away with any money at all, not sure if there were actually any winners at all during the first ‘series’!
By Episode 2 Chris is well into the swing of things already (‘you know the drill!’) and the rest is history...
Million Pound Drop did a lot of things right, look a real million pounds in front of you! Davina! LIVE! Sadly I think the novelty wore off quite quickly when people realised how tricky it was to walk away with any money at all, not sure if there were actually any winners at all during the first ‘series’!
JE
That's Smith who wanted it in the charts. Although I'm sure Cowell would have been keen for that to happen too.
Jenny
Founding member
According to this: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=D4obDAAAQBAJ&pg=PP139&lpg=PP139&dq=take+me+over+the+rainbow+and+up+to+cloud+nine+simon+cowell&source=bl&ots=bRhraY8OMZ&sig=ACfU3U149IlzZXJ4_CSSdaxWnkRQ9PGeRg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiLlO_6xeboAhUITxUIHSN1AisQ6AEwCXoECA8QKg#v=onepage&q=take%20me%20over%20the%20rainbow%20and%20up%20to%20cloud%20nine%20simon%20cowell&f=false
Simon Cowell was involved in the pilot theme tune and wanted it in the charts before the show premiered.
Simon Cowell was involved in the pilot theme tune and wanted it in the charts before the show premiered.
That's Smith who wanted it in the charts. Although I'm sure Cowell would have been keen for that to happen too.
MU
[quote="Joe" pid="1224541"]
I think it is most likely that some senior executive watched it back afterwards, or from the gallery, decided it was awful and it was ditched going forward.
If you can get the phone audio on the broadcast, you can pipe it anywhere you want in the studio and pump whatever you want back down the phone. The physical phone is a prop.
This is true, but if that were the case, why go to the effort of using a prop? Unless the intent was to test if it worked well on TV or something.
What effort is there in using a prop? It's definitely a prop.
This is true, but if that were the case, why go to the effort of using a prop? Unless the intent was to test if it worked well on TV or something.
What effort is there in using a prop? It's definitely a prop.
I think it is most likely that some senior executive watched it back afterwards, or from the gallery, decided it was awful and it was ditched going forward.
SW
Sunday 7th March 1999 was an amazing night for ITV - the night before they moved the news to eleven, fact fans - with an hour-long Corrie, imperial phase Millionaire and a new series of A Touch Of Frost when that was the biggest drama on TV, all of which got absolutely enormous ratings and completely blew BBC1 off screen, which was showing this ropey schedule - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1999-03-07
What with that, and then all the big film premieres and dramas ITV showed for the first few weeks of the news at eleven, I really feared for BBC1 at the time as it was in a bit of a state and the scheduling was all over the place. Obviously, I wasn't to know ITV would be running out of big shows in about a month.
In those days of course Millionaire would be on for short runs of ten days or so a couple of times a year - it would usually be on in January, March, September and November. The November 1999 run was a bit interesting because for a few years around that time ITV would have a big week in November where they'd have extra episodes of Corrie and Emmerdale and launch a few new series off the back of it, a bit like sweeps on American telly when they load the schedules with a load of big shows, the November date coinciding with when pre-Christmas advertising is at its peak. These days they have I'm A Celebrity filling that role.
It was in September 2000 that they started running it a couple of times a week every week for several months, and it was never quite the same after that, but you can't blame ITV for wanting to make the most of it while it was still a national talking point. For the first few months of that pattern it was on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays but ITV would always, always show an episode opposite a new drama or other big show on BBC1 to try and dent it, you could guarantee it.
Yes, I remember reading that they were going to schedule Raise The Roof opposite the lottery, the idea being that the lottery show fell flat because you didn't see anyone actually winning it and here you would, but in the end they chickened out - and in the end it was broadcast opposite Casualty on Saturday nights which at the time was an absolute dead slot for ITV because Casualty was doing 16 million viewers a week. As you say, it flopped because while the prize was impressive, the format itself was incredibly boring.
Yes, The $64,000 Question was allowed to breach the prize limits because the format meant it wasn't possible to give that prize away on every show.
The show's record audience of 19.21 million was on 7th March 1999, which wasn't a big episode at all but happened the same night as a massive hour long episode of Coronation Street which got almost 20 million - Sharon and Ian's wedding. Everyone tuning in for that simply stuck around afterwards for Millionaire, and both episodes were the top 1 and 2 of both programmes in 1999.
Series 2 and 3 (January & March 1999) were genuinely huge though, reaching up to 17-18 million with ease. Surprisingly the highest rated episode of 2000 wasn't Judith Keppel, but the night after Peter Lee became the first £500,000 winner in the January - 15.88 million, highest rated non-soap of the year. Keppel got 14.87 million in November, just beating One Foot In The Grave's 12.84 million which it was very infamously scheduled against.
Series 2 and 3 (January & March 1999) were genuinely huge though, reaching up to 17-18 million with ease. Surprisingly the highest rated episode of 2000 wasn't Judith Keppel, but the night after Peter Lee became the first £500,000 winner in the January - 15.88 million, highest rated non-soap of the year. Keppel got 14.87 million in November, just beating One Foot In The Grave's 12.84 million which it was very infamously scheduled against.
Sunday 7th March 1999 was an amazing night for ITV - the night before they moved the news to eleven, fact fans - with an hour-long Corrie, imperial phase Millionaire and a new series of A Touch Of Frost when that was the biggest drama on TV, all of which got absolutely enormous ratings and completely blew BBC1 off screen, which was showing this ropey schedule - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1999-03-07
What with that, and then all the big film premieres and dramas ITV showed for the first few weeks of the news at eleven, I really feared for BBC1 at the time as it was in a bit of a state and the scheduling was all over the place. Obviously, I wasn't to know ITV would be running out of big shows in about a month.
In those days of course Millionaire would be on for short runs of ten days or so a couple of times a year - it would usually be on in January, March, September and November. The November 1999 run was a bit interesting because for a few years around that time ITV would have a big week in November where they'd have extra episodes of Corrie and Emmerdale and launch a few new series off the back of it, a bit like sweeps on American telly when they load the schedules with a load of big shows, the November date coinciding with when pre-Christmas advertising is at its peak. These days they have I'm A Celebrity filling that role.
It was in September 2000 that they started running it a couple of times a week every week for several months, and it was never quite the same after that, but you can't blame ITV for wanting to make the most of it while it was still a national talking point. For the first few months of that pattern it was on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays but ITV would always, always show an episode opposite a new drama or other big show on BBC1 to try and dent it, you could guarantee it.
And before Millionaire was the seldom-remembered Raise the Roof, which like Millionaire, made the prize and its value the attraction to the show, but failed to do so in an endearing way. Millionaire’s success was in a way a 1-2 punch: the prize, and the suspense of the format.
Yes, I remember reading that they were going to schedule Raise The Roof opposite the lottery, the idea being that the lottery show fell flat because you didn't see anyone actually winning it and here you would, but in the end they chickened out - and in the end it was broadcast opposite Casualty on Saturday nights which at the time was an absolute dead slot for ITV because Casualty was doing 16 million viewers a week. As you say, it flopped because while the prize was impressive, the format itself was incredibly boring.
I think that was done only asking the jackpot question every 2 weeks.
Yes, The $64,000 Question was allowed to breach the prize limits because the format meant it wasn't possible to give that prize away on every show.
MU
Unless I missed it from the drama, who actually came up with the concept of WWTBAM? Was it one of the executives, or a lowly researcher? I seem to remember hearing that the Weakest Link was invented by a regular BBC staffer and as such she never received any remuneration for the format other than her regular salary.
SW
The Weakest Link was invented by Fintan Coyle and Cathy Dunning, neither of whom were on the staff on the Beeb - Coyle was a doctor turned writer who later wrote the BBC sitcom TLC (starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, funnily enough) and Dunning was a stand-up comedian. I remember she was the subject of one series of the C4 show Edinburgh or Bust which followed comedians round the Fringe, and at the end it announced she'd just sold a quiz format to the Beeb. The doc suggested she didn't do very well at the Fringe, presumably not that it mattered in the end.
Millionaire was created by David Briggs, Steve Knight and Mike Whitehill. Knight and Whitehill were comedy writers, and the famous fact is that in The Detectives they named Robert Powell's character David Briggs after their mate (Jasper Carrott's character Bob Louis was named after the former Head of Entertainment at Thames, presumably an associate from when they created Everybody's Equal). Knight of course is now the creator and writer of Peaky Blinders. They all made a lot of money out of it.
The format for Win The Ads on Saturday Night Takeaway was invented by a researcher on the Granada staff, it was part of a drive for all members of staff to come up with new ideas. But they certainly got more than their regular salary for it, they were given a whopping bonus.
Unless I missed it from the drama, who actually came up with the concept of WWTBAM? Was it one of the executives, or a lowly researcher? I seem to remember hearing that the Weakest Link was invented by a regular BBC staffer and as such she never received any remuneration for the format other than her regular salary.
The Weakest Link was invented by Fintan Coyle and Cathy Dunning, neither of whom were on the staff on the Beeb - Coyle was a doctor turned writer who later wrote the BBC sitcom TLC (starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, funnily enough) and Dunning was a stand-up comedian. I remember she was the subject of one series of the C4 show Edinburgh or Bust which followed comedians round the Fringe, and at the end it announced she'd just sold a quiz format to the Beeb. The doc suggested she didn't do very well at the Fringe, presumably not that it mattered in the end.
Millionaire was created by David Briggs, Steve Knight and Mike Whitehill. Knight and Whitehill were comedy writers, and the famous fact is that in The Detectives they named Robert Powell's character David Briggs after their mate (Jasper Carrott's character Bob Louis was named after the former Head of Entertainment at Thames, presumably an associate from when they created Everybody's Equal). Knight of course is now the creator and writer of Peaky Blinders. They all made a lot of money out of it.
The format for Win The Ads on Saturday Night Takeaway was invented by a researcher on the Granada staff, it was part of a drive for all members of staff to come up with new ideas. But they certainly got more than their regular salary for it, they were given a whopping bonus.
IS
It was invented by three producers at Celador, though it was based on a quiz that they'd previously done for Chris Tarrants radio show
Unless I missed it from the drama, who actually came up with the concept of WWTBAM? Was it one of the executives, or a lowly researcher?
It was invented by three producers at Celador, though it was based on a quiz that they'd previously done for Chris Tarrants radio show
MA
It was invented by three producers at Celador, though it was based on a quiz that they'd previously done for Chris Tarrants radio show
Yes, David Briggs was (at one point) head of talk programming at Capital
Unless I missed it from the drama, who actually came up with the concept of WWTBAM? Was it one of the executives, or a lowly researcher?
It was invented by three producers at Celador, though it was based on a quiz that they'd previously done for Chris Tarrants radio show
Yes, David Briggs was (at one point) head of talk programming at Capital