Remembrance Special Highlights

Congratulations to all the members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces and celebrity contestants who appeared in the hot seat for our Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Remembrance Special!

The show began to the sound of the Royal Marines Corps of Drums and our entire studio audience consisted of members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces. Between our Armed Forces audience they have been on over 400 missions, received 216 medals and served a total of 1181 years in places as far afield as Afghanistan, Iraq, Bangladesh, Japan and Alaska.

Also in the audience were three war veterans; one from each section of the military: sea, land and air, all of whom served in the Second World War. Wing Commander, Bob Foster of the R.A.F who at the age of 19 flew Hurricanes during the battle of Britain. Sergeant Bill Davies of the British Army who served in the Coldstream Guards, fought in the D-Day Invasion and the Battle of Arnhem. Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown a test Pilot in the Royal Navy, he was the first person ever to land a jet on an aircraft carrier.


The first couple to take on the hot seat were Huge Bonneville and Lieutenant Gary Beels of the Royal Navy. Gary is a submarine engineer based at Her Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Devonport, Plymouth. Gary returned only a few weeks ago from a six month tour of Afghanistan working as Operations Officer for UK MED Group at Camp Bastion.

Hugh is currently best known for his role as the Earl of Grantham in ITV1’s Downton Abbey, he has enjoyed a varied and successful acting career on television and stage. Hugh’s Father served his national service in the Royal Navy after he graduated from university and Hugh has always felt an affinity for the Royal Navy.

They played for The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity (RNRMC) http://www.rnrmc.org.uk/. The charity provides a better quality of life for serving and former Naval Service personnel.

Hugh and Gary had a great start and reached £10,000 with all lifelines still intact. Playing for £20,000 they decided to use their first lifeline Ask The Audience. With an inconclusive result they went onto use another lifeline, 50:50 which helped confirm what they thought the answer was and they managed to win £20,000!

They then reached a whopping £50,000! On the £75,000 question they used their Phone-A-Friend who was unsure but swayed towards one answer, Gary was in agreement and so they decided to play. Then the 'Smiling Tormentor', (a name Hugh has given to Chris) had us all waiting on tenterhooks as the answer would be revealed after the break!

Unfortunately they were incorrect but they still managed to walk away with an amazing total of £50,000!


Our second couple of the evening were Melanie Sykes and Major Nicola McCullough a senior doctor for the Army Reserves. She has served in Iraq and Afghanistan as an A&E doctor at Camp Bastion. Her day job is registrar at the A&E in Aberdeen. Nicola is currently revising for her final A&E doctor exams.

Melanie has a Saturday night Radio 2 show with Alan Carr, and in September was the co-host on ITV1’s Missing Millions, a primetime show where people were reunited with lost fortunes.

They hoped to raise cash for The Soldiers’ Charity which gives lifetime support to serving and retired soldiers and their families http://www.soldierscharity.org/. The ‘ABF’ provide financial assistance when Soldiers are in real need.

Melanie was slightly nervous but they played very well and managed to reach £5,000 only using one of their lifelines, Ask The Audience. They then reached £20,000 with the help of their 50:50 lifeline and were then faced with the £50,000 question. Now playing their last game against the clock they used their Phone-A-Friend who had a guess but was unsure. The girls then made the brave decision to walk away as it was not worth the risk of falling back to £1,000. Total amount won was a fantastic £20,000!

Speaking after the show Major McCullough said: "It was a good experience but very nerve-wracking. On a scale of 1 to 10 of terror, I would definitely have to say 10!"


Our last couple of the evening were John Thomson and Sergeant Derek ‘Dutch’ Holland a Career manager at the RAF. A popular figure at air command he is also the parade marshal responsible for all marches on and off base. Derek has recently completed a charity cycle ride from Lands End to John O’Groats for the RAF Benevolent Fund.

John is currently filming a History TV series with Paul Whitehouse entitled ‘No County for Old Men’ and recently appeared on ITV1’s 71 Degrees North. John has recently reunited with the cast of ‘The Fast Show’ for an online-only new series.

John and Derek were playing to raise money for the RAF Benevolent Fund http://www.rafbf.org/. The fund provides a spectrum of care, supporting everyone from children growing up on RAF stations, to those serving today to keep our skies safe.

John and Derek reached the £10,000 question where they used their first lifeline 50:50 but unsure and with only four seconds left on the BIG BAD CLOCK, they decided to use their Phone-A-Friend and then felt more confident giving their answer with TWO SECONDS left on the clock… They were absolutely correct!

Their game continued to go well and John and Derek reached £50,000 with one final lifeline still intact. They were just about to play for £75.000 and the klaxon went and unfortunately the game came to an end. They still managed to take away a tremendous £50,000!

Sergeant Holland said of his experience in the chair: "I can't put it into words yet, but, as time goes on, I'm realising how lucky I was to be chosen. Anyone who gets the opportunity to go on the show should definitely go. But it's a day that I will never forget."

You can read Sergeant Dutch Holland's blog post about the show here.