| Alt Name: | The 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: | Alan Dedicoat (1995–) Charles Nove (Stand-in, 1995–2016) |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Location: | BBC Television Centre (1994–2006) Arqiva Chalfont Grove (2006–2013) Pinewood Studios (2013–16) |
| Runtime: | 10–60 minutes |
| Channel: | BBC One (1994–2016) BBC iPlayer (2017) Facebook Live (2017–) YouTube (2016–) ITV (2018–) |
| Company: | Endemol (2006–2014) Princess Productions (2014–2016)[1] ITN Productions (2016–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.
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]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 | ||
| 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 | ||
| On the Spot | 29 July 2000 | 2 September 2000 | 1 | Des O'Connor | |
| Jet Set | 20 January 2001 | 8 August 2007 | 8 | ||
| 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 | ||
| 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 | ||
| 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 | ||
| Who Dares Wins! | 17 November 2007 | 7 September 2019 | 12 | Nick Knowles | |
| This Time Tomorrow | 5 July 2008 | 23 August 2008 | 1 | ||
| Guesstimation | 11 July 2009 | 29 August 2009 | 1 | ||
| 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 were held each year and aired on BBC One between 2010 and 2019. Until 2015, the ceremony's name was The National Lottery Awards.
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] [10]
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.