JA
These things happen all the time with big franchises, with people crawling out of the woodwork claiming to have had their ideas stolen.
GO
Although it depends on the company and show, most of the time the heads of the company will be the executive producers and will very much involved in the gallery to help steer the ship if any issues come up, or indeed run the gallery. Most of the shows I've worked on for indies have had a company head in the ear of the host but it really does depend on the show, often it will just be a series producer instead.
Remember these companies live and die by the shows they make; Millionaire was by far Celador's most important format and making a lot of money for them personally so they would definitely want to be there to ensure that such an important show was always being made to the highest possible standard.
The gallery scenes were far calmer, quieter and much less hectic than a real gallery normally is!
One aspect I thought was probably made up for Quiz was having Paul Smith and the other guy being involved in the day to day running of the show. Surely by the time the show was established, they would have passed that onto someone else.
Although it depends on the company and show, most of the time the heads of the company will be the executive producers and will very much involved in the gallery to help steer the ship if any issues come up, or indeed run the gallery. Most of the shows I've worked on for indies have had a company head in the ear of the host but it really does depend on the show, often it will just be a series producer instead.
Remember these companies live and die by the shows they make; Millionaire was by far Celador's most important format and making a lot of money for them personally so they would definitely want to be there to ensure that such an important show was always being made to the highest possible standard.
The gallery scenes were far calmer, quieter and much less hectic than a real gallery normally is!
MU
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.
Thanks for the info, I worked at ITV when they had the scheme for staff to submit ideas but didn't realise Win the Ads was borne out of that. I don't know what I was thinking of then, I was certain it was The Weakest Link that was just invented by a regular researcher - and I actually thought it was that which had inspired ITV to come up with the idea of giving regular staffers some sort of award/reward for dreaming up concepts.
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.
Thanks for the info, I worked at ITV when they had the scheme for staff to submit ideas but didn't realise Win the Ads was borne out of that. I don't know what I was thinking of then, I was certain it was The Weakest Link that was just invented by a regular researcher - and I actually thought it was that which had inspired ITV to come up with the idea of giving regular staffers some sort of award/reward for dreaming up concepts.
RE
The 19 million viewers may have been in a later series in 1999?
Pop Idol wasn't shown until 2001 so it was strange there was signage for it outside the studios early in the drama, unless they wanted people to apply for auditions in 1999, maybe they started earlier than I thought?
Don't think so, Pop Idol was 'created' and commissioned in 2001, partly inspired by Popstars.
Enjoyed Quiz, can't wait for part 2.
The post-August 2001 ITV1 logo there, incorrectly 
The 19 million viewers may have been in a later series in 1999?
Pop Idol wasn't shown until 2001 so it was strange there was signage for it outside the studios early in the drama, unless they wanted people to apply for auditions in 1999, maybe they started earlier than I thought?
Don't think so, Pop Idol was 'created' and commissioned in 2001, partly inspired by Popstars.
Enjoyed Quiz, can't wait for part 2.
JO
No, they said in the Final Answer podcast that wasn’t true.
Was the bloke whistling Who Wants to be a Millionaire really the inspiration for the name?
No, they said in the Final Answer podcast that wasn’t true.
SI
On the behind the scenes podcast (https://smarturl.it/FinalAnswerPodcast) they said it was artistic licence.
Was the bloke whistling Who Wants to be a Millionaire really the inspiration for the name?
On the behind the scenes podcast (https://smarturl.it/FinalAnswerPodcast) they said it was artistic licence.
MU
I wonder why they also changed the name of the quizzing ring to The Syndicate rather than The Consortium (as it actually was).
I'm not sure why, but I quite like how dramas deliberately change details, almost to intentionally make it a slightly parallel universe version of the actual event we're watching. For example in The Crown episode that recreated The Queen's first televised Christmas Day speech, all the prop and room details were correct, but reversed, so we got a kind of mirror image of the actual event.
I'm not sure why, but I quite like how dramas deliberately change details, almost to intentionally make it a slightly parallel universe version of the actual event we're watching. For example in The Crown episode that recreated The Queen's first televised Christmas Day speech, all the prop and room details were correct, but reversed, so we got a kind of mirror image of the actual event.
DA
That may have been for aesthetic or continuity purposes rather than a deliberate fictionalisation.
For example in The Crown episode that recreated The Queen's first televised Christmas Day speech, all the prop and room details were correct, but reversed, so we got a kind of mirror image of the actual event.
That may have been for aesthetic or continuity purposes rather than a deliberate fictionalisation.
AS
Asa
Admin
5.3m viewers last night.
A great show, as others have said seeing the bits we knew (the pitch, David's use of Ask the Audience, Cash Mountain etc.) acted out was nice to see. I'll give it 5* just for the prominent use of the two ITV logos, even if the exact timeline was a bit fluid. Nice to see a drama with more appropriate looking credits although as has been mentioned, they sadly really don't work for the ECP. (Gordon, Gino and Fred currently have credits that make full use of the screen too)
I wonder if the suspicions of the brother's repeated appearances was genuine. It seems odd to not alter the rules, even if you didn't know exactly how it was happening. Although people like him may well have been contributing well to ITV's phoneline coffers.
Full credit to the original team for turning around a turkey of a pilot into what it became, and David Liddiment for stripping it across the schedule, even moving Coronation Street one night for it.
I don't think I was aware that it had previously been pitched and rejected. Do we know the timeline of this? Was it fairly close to when it got green lit or back in the early 90s?
Think I need to listen to the podcast now...
A great show, as others have said seeing the bits we knew (the pitch, David's use of Ask the Audience, Cash Mountain etc.) acted out was nice to see. I'll give it 5* just for the prominent use of the two ITV logos, even if the exact timeline was a bit fluid. Nice to see a drama with more appropriate looking credits although as has been mentioned, they sadly really don't work for the ECP. (Gordon, Gino and Fred currently have credits that make full use of the screen too)
I wonder if the suspicions of the brother's repeated appearances was genuine. It seems odd to not alter the rules, even if you didn't know exactly how it was happening. Although people like him may well have been contributing well to ITV's phoneline coffers.
Full credit to the original team for turning around a turkey of a pilot into what it became, and David Liddiment for stripping it across the schedule, even moving Coronation Street one night for it.
I don't think I was aware that it had previously been pitched and rejected. Do we know the timeline of this? Was it fairly close to when it got green lit or back in the early 90s?
Think I need to listen to the podcast now...