I've been a bit puzzled this week by Noel continually stating that Saturday will be the end of the first season of Deal or No Deal. I was under the impression that although there was no break from one series into the next, the first series contained 66 episodes up to Gill's game on 17 January, with series 2 beginning with episode 67 the following day, and slated to contain 230 episodes, which means that am I right in thinking that series three won't officially start until episode number 296 has aired sometime around Nov/Dec probably.

The question is that I gather there are still a lot of shows already recorded in the current production block for airing after the summer break, so although they are part of series two, they will air as series three. Noel of course will refer to the new set of episodes in September as series two and everything that has come before as series one.

Is everybody following this, because it is doing my brain in! Has anybody got a definative answer of how these episodes should be classified on DonD stats sites such as Wikipedia, and how Endomol or C4 are now refering to each series of the show? Have there been two series or three? And the real question - "Does it really matter?".

Hell no, but we might as well discuss something!

I would say it is Series 1, series 2 etc. Having it in seasons would be too complicated.

Well, it's really series 1 and 2. The "gap" between the 66th and 67th show only marked the end of C4's first contract with Endemol, and the beginning of the second contract. There was no on-screen break, however, so I suppose series 1 is Oct 2005 - Jul 2006, and series 2 is Aug 2006 - Jul 2007.

Like school years.

Yeah,more or less!

Is the confusion because of the difference between 'season' and 'series'? Agreed, Series 1 was the firs 66 shows (although the original run was going to be for 55 shows I believe). Series 2 started with show 67 and is continuing for whatever the commissioned number is. It won't end for some considerable time. As yet there is no series 3.

Noel has referred to season. This is the first viewer break since 31/10 when the show started so it's the end of the first season; nothing to do with series numbers. When DOND returns late August, won't it just be a new season as far as viewers are concerned?

Oh, sorry, I meant to say season when I said series!

For me, the confusing thing is trying to differentiate between the break that is coming up in TV transmission time and the ACTUAL break that will occur/has occurred in the filming schedules.

Obviously, the first game back after the summer break in TV terms will see the same group of players and perfect continuity as the show was probably recorded either a few hours or the day after the show that will be aired on Saturday.

However, the summer break in the filming schedules could lead to chaos. How many of the 21 players left to play when filming stops are guaranteed to be available in, say, three months time when filming starts again? I would imagine not all of them, which may lead to some more 'disappearing' players come the shows broadcast in the Autumn!

My guess would be that players were warned of the likelihood of this break at the time they were called to play. I believe they've been asked to try not to change their appearance too much during the time off. Whilst the lengthy break may well not be ideal, I would imagine that given the choice between going on DOND or not, virtually everyone will make sure they're available. Some people have given up their jobs, or gone awol in the past just to appear. They won't be committing to any longer overall, just split between 2 lots of filming.