Name: The National Lottery Live.
Age: Twenty-two years and just over a week.
Appearance: Jazzy, snazzy, pizzazzy, fronted by Gaby Roslin-y.
Ooh, the lottery! It was a triple rollover at the weekend! I got my usual numbers of 53, 54, 55, 56, 57 and 59. I don’t trust 58. Any joy?
They failed to come in but, even so, what fun! It’s the experience of The National Lottery Live that makes it what it is, rather than the actual winning of £13.4m. Hmm. Well, I may have a bit of bad news about …
Ah, yes, the national lottery TV draw and all its attendant add-ons is surely the cornerstone of any Saturday night, more so than those fly-by-night shows such as Strictly Come Dancing, The X Factor and Casualty. Yes, well, have you seen the news that …
Who can forget such masterly lottery gameshow innovations as Wright Around the World with Ian Wright, and Come and Have a Go If You Think You’re Smart Enough? THEY’RE TAKING THE SATURDAY-NIGHT SHOW OFF BBC1!
And those slight format changes to freshen things up! Such as doubling the price of tickets and adding 10 extra numbers to make a jackpot win more or less imposs… Wait, what? The Saturday-night show is being axed from BBC1 as of January 2017 in a new three-year deal with Camelot.
I seem to have something in my eye ... It is going digital-only, as is often the way of things nowadays. As of next year, if you want to watch the draw, you’ll have to do it on iPlayer.
What is the meaning of this outrage? Camelot’s Tim Copper says: “We’re embracing changes in players’ results-checking habits – providing content that they can access at all times, across multiple different touch-points.”
“Results-checking habits”? “Multiple touch-points”? Sounds like a load of bonus balls to me. I think it’s a way of politely saying that nobody watches the programme any more.
Scandalous! I watch every show. Mind you, I do have a shrine to Gaby Roslin in my garden shed. What does the BBC have to say for itself? Director of BBC content Charlotte Moore reassures us that “this new deal reaffirms the BBC’s commitment to the national lottery and our ongoing relationship with Camelot”.
Will Nick Knowles’ spinoff programmes be adversely affected? We can only hope.
Do say: “Sod the format, just show me the money.”
Don’t say: “Weeeelll, it hasn’t been the same since Noel was presenting.”
