British Game Show hosted by Davina McCall and airing live on Channel Four. Pairs of contestants start the game with £1,000,000 in bundled cash and have to bet all of it on answers to a series of multiple-choice questions by putting bundles onto trapdoors ("drops") corresponding to the choices. The drops for all the wrong answers then open, and any money placed on them is dumped down a chute and out of play. If the contestants finish the game with any money left, they get to keep it. They get their choice of two categories before each question, but the titles aren't always straightforward.
Game Show Tropes in use:
- All or Nothing: The final question.
- In Series 10, any team that answered all seven questions correctly could either quit and keep their cash, or go for an eighth "Final Drop" question that was double-or-nothing.
- Celebrity Edition: Rather than full celebrity editions, some episodes open with a celebrity pairing as the first contestants.
- Foreign Remake: Many, including the short-lived American adaptation, Million Dollar Money Drop.
- Golden Snitch: About as extreme as they get. The last question's no different than the others in terms of basic rules (you have to risk all your money, but leave one answer open). Problem is, there's only two answers. And the question is arguably the hardest in the game.
- Personnel:
- Game Show Host: Davina McCall.
- Studio Audience
- Whammy: Nothing's more straightforward than losing all the money you put on a wrong answer.
- Who Wants to Be "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?": Oh yes. Dramatic music, huge set, a million pounds in CASH...
Tropes:
- Downer Ending: Any time a team loses the million... ESPECIALLY on the very first question.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In the earlier series, Davina would have to physically count the money on each drop. Starting in Series 6, the video displays show how much cash is on each drop.
- New Season, New Name: The lower-budget daytime revival is titled The £100K Drop.
- Ripped from the Headlines: The questions are frequently taken from that day's news.
- Stage Money: Averted. The bundles contained actual cash, obtained from a bank somewhere in the United Kingdom, and security personnel were present in the studio to safeguard them and remove any that fell out of play.