Television series
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is the quiz show that turned a single contestant, a hot seat and a rising graph of cash into primetime theatre. The questions are simple multiple-choice, but the lighting, the music and Tarrant's needling "is that your final answer?" turn them into genuine nail-biting drama. Comfort telly with real jeopardy — perfect for shouting answers at the screen.
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The Chaser2008
The closest thing telly has to Millionaire's tension, but with a villain built in — the Chaser snapping at your heels turns every answer into a getaway. Bradley Walsh's warmth balances the menace perfectly.
But The gimmick of the pursuing Chaser can feel gimmicky itself if you prefer Millionaire's quieter, one-on-one nerve.
Pointless2009no page yet
Swap big jackpots for the joy of obscurity — the winning answer is the one nobody else thought of. Alexander Armstrong's gentle chat with contestants makes it the comfort-food version of the quiz show.
But Stakes are minuscule by comparison — no six-figure sums, no lifelines, just a modest cash pot and a lot of chat.
University Challenge1962no page yet
Teams instead of solo contestants, students instead of the public, and questions pitched to make you feel gloriously stupid. The buzzer-race format adds a different kind of urgency to the genre.
But It can feel like homework if you're not already quick on general knowledge — there's less time to think than Millionaire allows.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Squid Game2021
Both structure everything around an ascending ladder of money with escalating risk, and around desperate people staking their nerve on the next round rather than walking away safe.
The money ladder and lifelines become literal life-and-death stakes in this Korean drama — desperate players climb a prize structure while the games themselves turn lethal. It's Millionaire's engine wearing a horror mask.
But The violence is graphic and the tone is bleak — nothing like the safe, cosy jeopardy of a Saturday night quiz.
More like this (5)
Deal or No Deal2005
All tension, zero trivia — just boxes, nerve, and a banker offering you a way out. If you loved Millionaire's slow squeeze more than its questions, this distills that feeling perfectly.
But There's no knowledge involved at all, which can feel hollow if quizzing was the actual appeal for you.
Weakest Link2000no page yet
Anne Robinson turns elimination into blood sport — contestants vote each other off between rounds, adding a nasty social game to the general knowledge test. Sharper, meaner, funnier.
But The cruelty is the point, and that tone might grate if you prefer Millionaire's gentler, contestant-on-your-side warmth.
Jeopardy!1964no page yet
The American answer to the quiz show, running decades longer, with the delightfully backwards format of answering in the form of a question. A genre landmark in its own right.
But The category board and lightning buzzer speed reward quickness over Millionaire's slower, patient one-question-at-a-time build.
Quiz Show1994
It's the origin story for the anxiety every big-money quiz show carries: that the spectacle of knowledge under pressure can be gamed, and the show becomes complicit in its own myth.
Robert Redford's drama dramatises the real 1950s American quiz show scandals, where rigged answers turned trivia into television's first great moral crisis. It's the dark, glossy ancestor of everything Millionaire pretends can't happen.
But It's a slow, talky courtroom-adjacent drama rather than a quiz — don't expect any actual game-show fun.
Spellbound2002
Strip away the cash and the format and what's left is the same thing Millionaire sells: one person's knowledge tested in public, live, with no way to hide from the answer.
A documentary following ordinary kids competing in America's National Spelling Bee, sweating under studio lights for pride rather than cash. Same nervous-single-person-in-the-spotlight tension, entirely different stakes and no jackpot.
But No prize money, no lifelines, and it's a two-hour documentary rather than an ongoing series — a much quieter kind of drama.
People
Cast
Chris TarrantHost
Jeremy ClarksonHost