ITV don’t seem to have a press release yet but Variety has, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? returns in the Spring for a week-long run hosted by Jeremy Clarkson. “New twists and turns” are promised, which may be worrying or the shot in the arm the show needed.
It will be filming in Manchester.
Press release now up:
https://twitter.com/itvpresscentre/status/972064774015025153?s=21
Back to 15 Qs.
Elsewhere, Broadcast are reporting that Tipping Point is moving to Bristol and has had a big new order. 330 episodes total across series 9 and 10 (presumably 165 each) plus 24 new episodes of Lucky Stars.
That should take it to 1000 episodes, which is amazing for any show, but a show that to me sounded awful on paper, but I’ll give it credit, it just works well on screen…
Still think it’s awful on screen myself. Honestly think Take on the Twisters was better.
Then again I also preferred The Fuse to The Chase, so what do I know!
Bristol seems a bit more of a nightmare logistically for Ben Shepherd to be travelling to and from to film 330 episodes!
Completely unexpected twist: couples episode!
Completely unexpected turn: share-or-shaft round after the questions!
In other near-topic news, Digitiser retro gaming show Kickstarter: here.
You have messed up. Huss!
HUGE win on Soliti Ignoti! almost half a million euro!
https://twitter.com/RaiUno/status/971856656580644865
Marginally more seriously, I reckon the twist will be that at least some of the contestants will be selected so that Jeremy Clarkson will have reason to want them not to succeed and there can be some compelling (*) tension (*) as viewers take either the contestant’s side or Clarkson’s side. Clarkson has enough enemies: political targets, environmentalists, people who work on other motoring programmes, former Stigs, whoever pied him in 2005, Piers Morgan, the list goes on. Wouldn’t Clarkson v. Morgan be so ITV? Apparently they’re supposedly friends these days, but that could be conveniently forgotten. It would all be highly, highly… tiresome.
Why on earth are they filming in Manchester? Presumably very prosaic reasons like studio availability.
Surprising ITV didn’t go for Morgan really if they were after someone unpopular – and to be fair I think Morgan would do a pretty decent job. Let’s just say Clarkson should be “interesting” – he’ll either fit to it really well and somewhat reinvent himself, or be a complete disaster. Glad though ITV are taking more risks with hosts lately though – they must have lost Stephen Mulherns number.
P.S. As well as studio availability surely if they’re going back to civilians and wanting contestants from across the country Manchester makes much more sense logistically than London.
It feels a bit sad to move it from Elstree, I remember when I went to be in the audience and in the queue thinking ‘Crikey that’s the Big Brother house just behind!’
There used to be a banner on the outside wall of the studio/stage at Elstree, where Who Want’s To Be A Millionaire used to be recorded in. It was a photo montage of contestants, Tarrant and programme logo.
Last year when I wandered past last year, that had been replaced by a similar banner for Netflix ‘The Queen’, so I assume the ‘old’ studio isn’t available anymore.
But you’d assume there are other similar sized spare studios on the site, or just down the road at BBC Elstree studio D.
Maybe MediaCity/Dock10 studios are cheaper.
I suspect you mean the current ongoing series ‘The Crown’ rather than the one-off play ‘The Queen’ from some years back starring Helen Mirren, which might be available on Netflix but certainly wasn’t made by them.
*bashes head repeatedly on desk.. *
Thanks for putting me right. It was The Crown.
Applied a couple of weeks ago and had a phone interview today. It’s filming the first week in May, don’t know if that is the broadcast date though.