<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> External links </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Official UK version website </Th> <Td> millionaire.itv.com/home/ </Td> </Tr> <P> Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (informally Millionaire) is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight . In its format, currently owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television, large cash prizes are offered for correctly answering a series of multiple - choice questions of increasing (or, in some cases, random) difficulty . The maximum cash prize (in the original British version) was one million pounds . Most international versions offer a top prize of one million units of the local currency . </P> <P> The original British version of the show debuted on 4 September 1998, and aired on ITV with Chris Tarrant as its host until 11 February 2014 . International variants have aired in around 160 countries worldwide . The show's format is a twist on the game show genre--only one contestant plays at a time (similar to some radio quizzes), and the emphasis is on suspense rather than speed . In most versions there are no time limits to answer the questions, and contestants are given the question before they must decide whether to attempt an answer . </P>

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