British “Millionaire” Might Be Axed

20 Jun

Posted by Alex Davis as UK, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

The original British edition of the hit game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? might be facing cancellation, according to host Chris Tarrant. The show, which launched in 1998, was stripped weekly and saw audiences as high as 13 million viewers. It is now in a regular Saturday time slot and gets around 3.1 million viewers per episode. Host Chris Tarrant has stated, “Of course, next year is our tenth anniversary and we may play about with it, we might move it off Saturday nights . . . or it might be a good place to stop.”

One idea which has also been tossed around is moving the show to a 5PM weekday time slot. ITV is denying the cancellation claim, though. Chris Tarrant has signed on to host a bluffing quiz show opposite Deal or No Deal. To our UK friends: do you think if Millionaire adopted a US style of show, which is basically lowering some parts of the chain a bit and making the game really hard, they could have some new success versus Deal or No Deal?

4 Responses

Intelligentfan777
1
June 20th, 2007 at 5:00 pm

Aw C’mon! The Brits can’t really cancel Millionaire…..can they?

I mean, I understand that it’s more of a hit in certain countries as opposed to others, but this is where it all began! This the origin!

Look, I may not be British, but I know a lot about Britain and it’s T.V. over there. Canceling Millionaire would be a total disservice to that country, and to T.V. in that country, in my opinion.
David Palomares
2
June 20th, 2007 at 7:30 pm

“Look, I may not be British, but I know a lot about Britain and it’s T.V. over there. Canceling Millionaire would be a total disservice to that country, and to T.V. in that country, in my opinion.”

I guess you weren’t around when Doctor Who was canceled in 1989.
Gene
3
June 20th, 2007 at 10:18 pm

Wow i throught uk millionaire will be on forever. The arab verson uses the uk set so i wonder what will happen when they cancled it. BBC should get rid of weakestlink now its boring
Chris
4
June 21st, 2007 at 11:45 pm

Why… WL cost BBC (the UK’s PBS) next to nothing in prize money per episode, and ppl do still watch, so its a fit for where it is… If it was on ITV or some other UK channel, it would of been gone by now