Stephen Mulhern presides over a studio dominated by a 12-metre conveyor belt that swallows palm-sized coins and spits out random fortune or ruin. Three pairs, one civilian and one celebrity each, start with whatever the host’s first roll yields, then answer multiple-choice questions to keep control of the launcher. Land in a money slot and you bank £1,000–£25,000 depending on the round; land on Bankrupt, Half or Minus and you watch your balance zeroed, halved or gouged. Answer wrongly and the next team grabs the button. After fifteen questions the richest pair enters the Bank Roll: sixty seconds of open-ended trivia turns eight blank slots into WIN or LOSE; a final roll decides whether the entire accumulated pot is kept or lost.
The maths is brutal. A perfect theoretical score tops out at £142,500, yet most contestants leave with nothing because the last roll must land in a WIN slot they may have filled in a panic thirty seconds earlier. The show’s first series ran five episodes in August 2020, the second stretched to nine episodes between July and December 2021, all shot in dock10 with the same flashing arcade aesthetic that makes the machine feel like a seaside pier dragged indoors.
ITV has kept the format on ice since 2021, but international versions already replicate the tension: Germany’s Sat.1, the Philippines’ TV5 and Saudi Arabia’s Al Saudiya each installed their own conveyor belts and let local presenters replicate Mulhern’s lightly sarcastic commentary as coins clatter towards financial ecstasy or wipe-out.
Production Details
ITV1 / 2 Seasons / 14 Episodes / 2020 - Present
Main Cast
