30 - Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Often shortened simply to 'Millionaire' this first entry is perhaps one of the most easily recognised and probably one of the most successful Game Shows.  The show, as of May 2012 [last Wikipedia entry update] the show has been in production for 14 years here in the UK where it originates.  It has run for 29 series with a total of 574 episodes.

This show is not without its controversies.  The format is rather simple, a contestant must consecutively answer 15 multiple choice questions.  There are four possible answers and the contestant has 3 possible lifelines they can use one and only once, they are 50:50, ask the Audience and Phone-a-friend; with 50:50, the computer will remove 2 wrong answers and leave one remaining wrong answer and the correct answer; with ask the audience the audience votes on their keypads which answer they think is right; with phone-a-friend the contestant gets to call a friend live on TV and ask them for the answer.  While this format is deceptively simple the difficulty of the questions increases as the game progresses.  There are 2 milestones in the streak of questions one for £1,000 and one for £32,000 which once passed are guaranteed prizes for the contestant whatever happens.

Perhaps most famously the UK version became the subject of controversy when a contestant, Major Charles Ingram, cheated his way to the million pounds.  The show in question was pre-recorded and was not aired live.  The producers did not air the programme and the contestant along with his accomplices became the subject of a Police Investigation which ultimately saw charges brought.

Despite its controversies I have included it due to the success of this Game Show and the inspirational [entirely fictional] Movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' which centred around its central character Jamal Malik, a kid from the slums who happened to know all the answers due to a remarkable coincidences recounted throughout the Movie, leading to the Movie's tag-line "It is written" owing to the character's success being depicted in the Movie as 'destiny'.

The video I include is of that of the UK's first ever winner of the Million Pound Jackpot, Judith Keppel.  I would also ask for confirmation of my opinion that the original UK version when compared with the various International adaptations is significantly harder.