The National Lottery Big Ticket

Associated With

BBC One - broadcaster; Camelot - National Lottery operator; Anthea Turner and Patrick Kielty - presenters

Defining Feature

A BBC game show linked to Camelot’s £2 TV Dreams scratchcard

Status

Discontinued - completed its documented 16-week run in July 1998

Overview

The National Lottery Big Ticket was a BBC One game show tied to a £2 TV Dreams scratchcard in 1998.

Presented by Anthea Turner and Patrick Kielty, the programme combined studio challenges involving celebrities and representatives of lottery-funded causes with a game viewers could play from home using their scratchcards.

Qualifying cards offered cash prizes through TV Home Play, while others gave holders the chance to appear on the programme and compete for up to £100,000.

Why It Mattered

The programme blurred the boundary between BBC entertainment and a commercial lottery product: taking part depended on buying Camelot’s £2 scratchcard. That link prompted criticism in Parliament, while the BBC Governors defended it as part of the broadcaster’s National Lottery obligations.

It was also an ambitious piece of Saturday-night television design, built around an enormous glass-block wall, moving platforms, lifts, a hydraulic safe and the computer-generated home-play character Bernie.

How the TV Dreams Card Worked

• The £2 scratchcard offered instant cash prizes of £2–£1,000 for three matching amounts.
• Three matching TV symbols unlocked TV Home Play, where viewers compared four card numbers with those revealed on television, in order, for prizes of up to £50,000.
• Three stars guaranteed £1,000 and offered an opportunity to attend a studio recording, with a possible £100,000 prize.
• The programme's game material was prerecorded, while the National Lottery draws were presented separately.

Building the Big Ticket Set

• A BBC team made a non-transmittable pilot in Holland in July 1997 and adapted a similar Dutch programme for the UK production.
• Chris Webster designed a set dominated by an approximately 50-by-100-foot wall containing 8,000 glass blocks.
• The production used lifts, rolling risers and a hydraulic safe; Bernie was generated in real time and voiced by Kate Robbins.

Broadcast Run and Parliamentary Concerns

• The programme ran on BBC One from 28 March to 11 July 1998, completing its planned 16-week run.
• MPs questioned whether linking a BBC entertainment programme to Camelot's £2 scratchcard amounted to promoting a commercial gambling product through public-service broadcasting.
• The BBC Governors defended the programme as part of the broadcaster's National Lottery responsibilities, while critics raised concerns about encouraging scratchcard purchases.
• BBC Saturday lottery coverage continued as The National Lottery on Tour from 18 July.

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