So the daily viewer's competition has returned after many years. From what I can recall three members of the audience were picked to open just one box of a selection of three boxes that had different financial amounts up to £5,000
Can anyone remember why it was taken off and why it's taken so long to return in its new manifestation?

Noel hated it. I presume he still does. A peculiar decision.

I think it was stopped because of the fiasco with game shows and phone-in competitions around late 2007-time, after allegations of rigging in one show or another which subsequently meant all of the shows with phone-in competitions had to pull their respective contests, or something like that. It was a fair while ago, though...