The National Lottery Draws

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The National Lottery Draws
Graphics used from 2006–13
Also known asThe National Lottery Live (1994–97, 2013–16)
The National Lottery Draw(s) (1997–2013)
The National Lottery Stars (1999–2001)
The National Lottery Results
Voices ofAlan Dedicoat (1995–)
Charles Nove (Stand-in, 1995–2016)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Production locationsBBC Television Centre (1994–2006)
Arqiva Chalfont Grove (2006–2013)
Pinewood Studios (2013–16)
Running time10–60 minutes
Production companiesEndemol (2006–14)
Princess Productions (2014–2018)[1]
ITN Productions (2018–present)
Original release
NetworkBBC One (1994–2016)
BBC iPlayer (2017)
Facebook Live (2017–)
YouTube (2016–)
ITV (2018–)
Release19 November 1994 (1994-11-19) –
present (present)

The National Lottery Results (previously The National Lottery Live, The National Lottery Draw, The National Lottery Stars and The National Lottery Draws) is the television programme that broadcasts the drawing of the National Lottery in the United Kingdom.

History[edit]

The programme launched on 19 November 1994 on BBC One, and was initially broadcast live on Saturday nights, before expanding to Wednesday nights in 1997 and Friday nights in 2008. From January 2013 to December 2016, the programme aired only on Saturday nights. Since January 2017, the live draws are no longer broadcast on television and are available to watch online at the National Lottery website and YouTube.

Since April 2018, a new show called The National Lottery Lotto Results has aired on ITV on Wednesday and Saturday nights during commercial breaks. Presented by Stephen Mulhern, the show features that night's winning Lotto numbers, and spotlights a National Lottery-funded location. The actual Lotto draw itself is not broadcast, and remains online.[2]

Presenters[edit]

The first show was presented by Noel Edmonds. Afterwards, it was co-presented by Anthea Turner and Gordon Kennedy, later replaced by Bob Monkhouse, all of them assisted by the psychic Mystic Meg and numbers expert Sam Weren.[3] Carol Vorderman had a segment during the early years of the show whereby, she would use mathematical techniques to predict the winning numbers. When Gordon left, Anthea remained as solo host and was followed by a number of presenters over the years.

Commentary on the draws has, since 1995, been provided by Alan Dedicoat, who earned the nickname The Voice of the Balls. During the live show era, in the event of Dedicoat being unavailable, commentary was provided by fellow BBC Radio 2 announcer Charles Nove.

Draw masters[edit]

  • Paul Van Den Bosch
  • Matthew Chamberlain
  • Jeff Brewin
  • Julie Hamilton
  • John Willen
  • Martin McClure
  • Mick Lawes
  • Paul Cartwright
  • Louise Walters

Stand-in presenters[edit]

Current shows[edit]

Saturday night draws[edit]

From 1998 to 2016, the Saturday night draws were usually presented as part of a game show that is shown to be associated with the lottery branding. Most of the game shows were previously broadcast live, with the game show host also presenting the lottery draws, though since 18 May 2002, there would also be a draw presenter that would tell the viewers about how to play the draws and what the Lotto jackpot is, etc. Since 23 September 2006, most of the game shows were pre-recorded, with the live lottery draws included as a separate segment with a different presenter. The draws on Saturday night consisted of "Thunderball" followed by "Lotto" a few minutes later, though in the past "Lotto Extra" and its replacement "Dream Number" would also be shown too; both now retired draws. Since 2014, "Lotto Raffle" is no longer featured during the draws. These gameshows usually aired at about 8.00pm, meaning the draw was a lot earlier than when there is no gameshows, when the draw was around 10.00pm. A new gameshow has been released every year, except 2010, 2012, and 2016.

Gaby Roslin hosted the final live draw on 31 December 2016, with Alan Dedicoat joining her in vision to close the show. From 7 January 2017, with the move to the BBC iPlayer, the programme featured no presenter with Dedicoat continuing to announce the draws using pre-recorded commentary. This lasted until April 2017.

Lottery update[edit]

On BBC One on Saturday nights straight after the BBC Weekend News (previously Match of the Day), a segment known as Lottery update was broadcast showing the results of the day's Lotto and Thunderball draws and also how many winners there are. It was also broadcast on BBC One on weeknights after the local news opt-out whenever there were lottery draws taking place, such as the midweek Lotto and Thunderball draws and the Tuesday and Friday EuroMillions and UK Millionaire Raffle draws. This was discontinued at the end of February 2020, bringing to an end the BBC's association with the draw. Since 2020, only the Saturday night Lotto draw results are broadcast on ITV during a commercial break.

Former shows[edit]

Wednesday night draws[edit]

A new midweek National Lottery Draw was introduced and aired on BBC1 from 5 February 1997 to 26 December 2012. From 2 January 2013, the Wednesday draws are available to watch exclusively on the National Lottery's website.

Wednesday night presenters

Friday night draws[edit]

The Friday night draws showed the EuroMillions results and the Thunderball draw and are usually broadcast at 23:15. The Friday night draws were the only draws not to be broadcast live. From January 2013, the Friday draws are available to watch exclusively on the National Lottery's website. There is still a results update on BBC One at 22:35.

Friday night presenters

Saturday night game shows[edit]

Between 1998 and when the televised draws were decommissioned at the end of 2016, eighteen National Lottery game shows had aired. Who Dares Wins, hosted by Nick Knowles, continued to air until 2019, but without the National Lottery branding.

Show Start date End date Series Presenter(s)
Big Ticket 28 March 1998 11 July 1998 1 Patrick Kielty and Anthea Turner
We've Got Your Number 27 February 1999 22 May 1999 1 Brian Conley
Winning Lines 12 June 1999 16 October 2004 6 Simon Mayo (1999–2000)
Phillip Schofield (2001–04)
Red Alert 13 November 1999 8 April 2000 2 Lulu & Terry Alderton
On the Spot 29 July 2000 2 September 2000 1 Des O'Connor
Jet Set 20 January 2001 8 August 2007 8 Eamonn Holmes
In It to Win It 18 May 2002 16 July 2016 18 Dale Winton
Wright Around the World 25 October 2003 8 January 2005 2 Ian Wright
Come and Have a Go If You Think You're Smart Enough 3 April 2004 25 June 2005 2 Nicky Campbell (2004)
Julian Clary (2005)
Millionaire Manor 3 December 2005 4 March 2006 1 Mark Durden-Smith
1 vs. 100 30 September 2006 23 May 2009 4 Dermot O'Leary (2006–07)
Ben Shephard (2008–09)
The People's Quiz 24 March 2007 23 June 2007 1 Jamie Theakston
Who Dares Wins! 17 November 2007 7 September 2019 12 Nick Knowles
This Time Tomorrow 5 July 2008 23 August 2008 1 Tess Daly
Guesstimation 11 July 2009 29 August 2009 1 Nick Knowles
Secret Fortune 12 February 2011 29 December 2012 3
Break the Safe 27 July 2013 30 August 2014 2
Win Your Wish List 27 December 2014 7 May 2016 2 Shane Richie
5-Star Family Reunion 25 July 2015 15 October 2016 2 Nick Knowles

National Lottery Stars[edit]

National Lottery Stars were held each year and aired on BBC One between 2010 and 2019. Until 2015, the ceremony's name was The National Lottery Awards.

Presenters[edit]

Studios[edit]

The National Lottery draws were originally filmed at BBC Television Centre in London. From 2006 to 2013, it was filmed at Arqiva Chalfont Grove studios in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire in a set known as Lottery HQ.[4][5] From January 2013, it has been filmed from Pinewood Studios.[6] The EuroMillions draw takes place in a dedicated studio in Paris, France.[7] The draw is occasionally shown at other locations for special events such as The National Lottery Awards ceremony.[8][9]

Broadcasting[edit]

Until 2017, the programme was usually broadcast on BBC One, although it was occasionally shown on BBC Two if BBC One was unable to show it. The BBC were granted the rights in 1994 after defeating a rival bid from ITV. The programme was also broadcast on BBC Radio 1 (or Radio 1 FM as it was then known) and later, it was broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live. For the first few years of the lottery's existence, the results were also announced on ITV either by an ITN presenter relaying the results of the draw, or overlaid over regular programming at the bottom of the screen.

Incidents[edit]

  • On 30 November 1996, live on air, the draw machine failed to start, causing the draw to be delayed by 50 minutes; Bob Monkhouse, the host that night, said that Mystic Meg had been predicting it all day.
  • In the Thunderball Draw that took place on 17 February 2001, during the Jet Set programme that evening, the column that lifts the balls up in the first draw machine initially failed to lift a ball for the second number, with the column eventually lifting without a ball and then not lowering for some time for it to retry lifting a second ball. It later repeated this for the fifth ball.
  • On 20 May 2006, during the draw on the National Lottery game show Jet Set, several members of the group Fathers 4 Justice protested on the set, causing the show to be taken off air for several minutes while the protesters were removed from the studio. The Lotto and Lotto Extra draws then took place quickly and finished on time for the broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 on BBC One, as missing the start of the contest would be a breach of rules.
  • On 7 November 2015, the Lotto draw machine failed to release all the balls, causing the draw to be postponed. The draw later took place off air, and the results were posted on the website.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Princess wins Lottery deal from Endemol". Broadcast. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  2. ^ "National Lottery results will air on ITV for first time". Digital Spy. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  3. ^ "The National Lottery Live with Sam Weren". Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  4. ^ Oatts, Joanne (22 September 2006). "Lottery gets its own studio as birthday present". Digital Spy. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  5. ^ "TV Studio For National lottery". UK National Lottery. 21 September 2006. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Pinewood to host new look National Lottery show on BBC One". The Knowledge. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  7. ^ Gagnant, Tirage. "ᐅ • Euromillions : arnaque ou pas ? Découvrez les coulisses d'un tirage". Tirage-Gagnant.com ᐅ • Portail Jeux de hasard et de loterie (in French). Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  8. ^ "BBC – The National Lottery Awards: Celebrating 25 Years – Media Centre". BBC. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Events at Television Centre". BBC Studioworks. Retrieved 10 June 2020. For two consecutive years (2018 and 2019), we have hosted The National Lottery Awards...

External links[edit]

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