How many seasons of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? are there?

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? has aired 36 seasons so far.

How many episodes of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? are there?

There are 470 episodes of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? across 36 seasons.

Who created Who Wants to Be a Millionaire??

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? was created by Steven Knight, David Briggs and Mike Whitehill.

What is Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'s IMDb rating?

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? holds an IMDb rating of 6.1/10 from 2,602 votes.

Reality

When Does Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Season 37 Come Out? Is It Renewed?

Name: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Genre: Reality
Rating: 6.1

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Season 37 doesn't have an official release date yet. Based on the roughly 7-month gap between previous seasons, expect it around August 2025.

IMDb

6.1/10

Seasons

Episodes

470

Diagnostics

Network: ITV1
Genres: Reality
First aired: 1998-09-04
Last aired: 2026-03-22
Runtime: 45 min

Awards Won 1 BAFTA Award17 wins & 3 nominations total

Predictive Logic Analysis

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? occupies a unique position in British television: it is an iconic quiz format that has aired continuously (with brief hiatuses) since 1998, establishing itself as core scheduling for ITV1. The TMDB status shows "Returning Series" with a last-aired date of 2026-03-22 and 36 seasons completed—a strong signal that production and renewal decisions have already been made well into the future. This metadata suggests the network has already greenlit content through early 2026, which typically reflects confidence in the franchise's ongoing commercial viability.

ITV1's renewal patterns favour long-running formats, particularly quiz shows, which generate reliable audiences and minimal production risk. Millionaire has demonstrated sustained appeal across multiple decades and presenter changes (Jeremy Clarkson's recent tenure revival). While the IMDb rating of 6.1 reflects the show's mass-appeal rather than critical prestige, the 17 wins and 3 BAFTA nominations across its run confirm industry recognition. The absence of any cancellation rumours or negative coverage in the media landscape, combined with the confirmed airdate into 2026, points strongly toward either already-announced renewal or imminent confirmation. For a legacy format on a major terrestrial network with this production track record, non-renewal would be the exception rather than the rule.

What is Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? about?

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire has endured as one of television's most durable game show formats, built on a deceptively simple but potent premise: ordinary people answering multiple-choice trivia questions for escalating cash prizes, with a clear path to a million pounds for those who navigate all fifteen questions correctly. The hook lies not in the questions themselves, but in the psychological pressure cooker the show creates—contestants sit under hot lights facing a ticking clock, their knowledge tested and their nerves frayed as the stakes climb higher with each correct answer. The format capitalizes on universal fantasies of winning life-changing money while exploiting the very human fear of public failure, making even basic general knowledge feel genuinely high-stakes.

The show's distinctive character comes from its theatrical presentation and the relationship between host and contestant. Chris Tarrant's original run established an almost mentoring rapport, offering encouragement and gravitas to the experience, while Jeremy Clarkson's recent stewardship has injected irreverent energy and unpredictability into the format. The three lifelines—phone a friend, ask the audience, fifty-fifty—remain ingenious devices that shift tension dynamically, turning the game into something collaborative and performative. The closing doors, the dramatic pauses, the sweeping music cues, all combine to create genuine dramatic stakes from a premise that could easily have felt mundane.

Over its three and a half decades on British television, Millionaire has maintained solid audience loyalty despite inevitable fatigue with the format. It spawned countless international versions and became a cultural phenomenon that transcended gaming, influencing everything from classroom trivia nights to pub culture. While modern viewership may not match its late-nineties peak, the show's longevity across 470 episodes and 36 seasons speaks to its fundamental appeal. The modest IMDb rating reflects the format's familiarity rather than any critical failing—audiences know exactly what they are getting, and they keep returning for it.

The series occupies a peculiar space in contemporary entertainment as a prestige game show that has aged into nostalgia while simultaneously remaining current. It represents a pre-reality TV template that emphasized intellectual competition over manufactured drama, yet it has proven adaptable enough to survive in the streaming and celebrity-dominated landscape. Millionaire's cultural footprint remains significant as a show that fundamentally altered how game shows present themselves, elevating the stakes and theatricality of a format that previously felt understated. Its continued revival under Clarkson suggests audiences still crave the fantasy of transformative wealth delivered through knowledge.

Created by Steven Knight, David Briggs, Mike Whitehill

Themes

game showmoneymillionairequestionquiz showdramatictensebig money

Is Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? renewed or cancelled?

Working toward renewal

high

TMDB status shows 'Returning Series' with confirmed airdate through March 2026

high

27-year continuous run on ITV1 with no cancellation signals in public discourse

high

Flagship quiz format is core to ITV1's identity and scheduling strategy

medium

BAFTA pedigree and industry recognition (17 wins & 3 nominations)

medium

IMDb rating of 6.1 reflects mass-appeal performance, not critical weakness

Working against it

low

No recent renewal-signal journalism to confirm greenlight explicitly

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Season 37 Release Date

Given that the show last aired in March 2026 according to TMDB, the next season is likely already in production or will commence shortly thereafter. ITV1 typically schedules Millionaire in discrete runs rather than year-round broadcast, so the next season will almost certainly premiere in late 2026 or early 2027, following the network's standard autumn and spring scheduling windows. The long lead time from the March 2026 airdate suggests flexibility in when the next instalment airs, but the precedent of consistent seasonal runs implies a return within 6–12 months of the last episode.

S36

S35