Obviously I missed virtually everything from the last 2 or 3 years of the show, but I have a few questions regarding how certain events unfolded:

First of all, was 2014 the last year that they did "themed weeks"? (for instance, Halloween, Bankers Birthday, Easter, Valentines, Bonfire Night, Christmas, Summer etc). If so why weren't there any in 2015 or 2016?

On a similar theme, were the shows from the last couple of years just filmed generically where days of the week/times of the year weren't mentioned - to give them some flexibility about when they would actually air?

Thirdly, I know it took them until December 2016 to show all the games that had been recorded in the studio (with some large gaps in transmission), but when were they last filmed? I think I remember reading the last set of games were in the can for over a year IIRC?

Then at the end presumably there were 22 contestants (or perhaps 21 as the last player won't have been replaced on the wings) yet to play, so obviously the 10 who played the On Tour games were from those left, was it the longest runners who got picked for them or was there some other criteria? And presumably the 11 (?) who were left basically went home empty-handed I take it?

Hi James, good to see you posting on here again!

Yes, 2014 was the final series to do themed weeks. I defend them, but they really were scraping the barrel with the themes, only the summer ones had a reasonably good theme.

And, yes, the 2015 and 16 shows didn't specify what day it was, presumably to accomodate breaks for horse racing and the long gaps to allow Fifteen to One to be shown in the show's place.

I would guess they were all filmed in late 2014 and early 2015. In fact, one player from the final few shows, the gap between his game being recorded and broadcast was so long, he and his partner had got married and had a baby in the intervening period!

And finally, re the Farewell Tour players: as far as I understand, the 21 'leftover' players from the final studio show all had to re-audition, and ten of them were selected for the last few shows. The other 11 all missed out unforuntately. I can only hope, if the show ever does come back, they'll be the first ones to get to play.

Hope that answers everything for you!

Yeah, the show truly ended in 2015 with the final studio recordings. It was obvious the show was no more because Noel put his house up for sale that same summer, along with other bits and pieces that didn't take Poirot to clue together. I consider the autumn/winter 2016 airings to be a victory lap or 'bonus material'. When taking the actual production into account, the tombstone reads ''2005 - 2015'' in my view.

I felt bad for the 11 that never played, but realistically it was always going to end up that way. If you read threads from 2006 there's often speculation about how they'd play it fairly once the shows reaches its end, but no-one could come up with anything that would be satisfying. Having the crew or audience members opening boxes would've cocked about with the vibe of the show (there's a moment in a 2006 episode where an absent player's box was opened by Greg the floor manager and it just felt odd and tension breaking, my view is backed up by the fact it never happened again)

Cheers guys, that all makes sense now.

Must have sucked to be one of the last 11 but I guess no way round it unless they'd done 22 On Tour Shows!

Actually I've got another question which I'm not sure the answer to has been posted anywhere else; what the lowest amount of money NOT risked on Box 23? I know the highest amount risked was £20k but don't know the inverse. I'm guessing it might be around a couple of grand.

But did anyone ever say "No Deal" to Box 23 by accident if they'd won a blue - the inverse of that old lady who won the £250k (Ann was it?) who had a "Mary moment"?

The lowest amount not risked on Box 23 was £1,000 by Rosie in February 2014: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=26034&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=0

And yes, Pearl from one of these last batch of studio shows pulled a reverse-Anne and accidentally no dealt Box 23 with a blue: http://dond.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f ... 4&start=40

I'm bringing back loads of the old regulars here - cheers Ben

Glad the banker let both Ann and Pearl reverse their decisions in the end. "Great answer for Box 23" - I'd be worried if you didn't take it with a fiver.

And the no-deal on £1000 at least didn't get punished either.

There was another old lady I sort-of remember pressed the offer button when she was going to get an offer anyway but IIRC I don't think she got overly punished for that either, but can't remember her name so can't look it up!

That was Jan:

http://dond.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=26373

And she did get somewhat punished for it by the Banker low-balling her 5 box offer and her finding the £50,000 in the final box of the board, meaning she missed out on a potential circa £20,000 3 box offer. She still dealt her final offer of £9,000, though, and she
technically still spanked the Banker is that was her highest offer, though she would've definitely gotten more had she not wasted the button.

Anne also pulled a Jan with the button and used it at 5 box, and that arguably allowed her to win the jackpot as there's a good chance she would've dealt the £40,000-£45,000 offer she would've gotten had she saved it to 4 box!

Another question on this matter - it seems as though filming stopped some time around April or May 2015 and the last shows were in the can for about 18 months.

I'm wondering that save for the last On Tour shows, might the last one filmed in the studio actually been the one where Noel played himself (one I actually did watch)? Reason being I re-read the commentary for it and there was a pair who played one of the Double Trouble shows (of which I don't think I saw ANY of them) whose game hadn't aired yet opening one of the boxes in it! I remember recognizing less than half the people opening boxes there (Noel actually picked Tax-Free Harry's box dammit!) and even Bunney looked SO different (well it was 8 years) to when he was originally on!

Nope, Noel's game was recorded earlier in the last taping session. That last shows recorded before the On Tour ones were the Christmas Leftovers Double Trouble games.

That's a bit of a shame from a poetic standpoint, really...it would've been fitting to have Noel playing the last ever game.

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but trying to get a sequence of events in my head; does anyone have a rough breakdown (ie months rather than specific dates) that the last 3 or so years of shows were filmed, I'm kind of interested in them from the last set of games in the "old" studio (i.e. late 2013) all the way to the end including if any Double Trouble games were done out of sequence?

I know there was an Xmas Stars show in 2013 in the old studio which went out after the first couple of games in the new studio, and also it's been answered earlier on this thread that the last shows filmed (with the exception of On Tour) were the Xmas 2015 Double Trouble games but there were some more Double Trouble shows which went out in March 2016 so these were presumably done out of sequence I take it?

It all seems a bit complicated to someone who wasn't really following by then!

Yep, it was all a bit of a mess since around 2015. The days of the week weren't mentioned at all in the episodes (not sure if it was intentional, like they knew it was coming to an end or they cut them out to avoid confusion), but I'm pretty sure the last regular games that were aired 6 years ago this week(!) were recorded nearly 2 years prior in April 2015. The Double Trouble Christmas Specials that were aired in December of 2015 were recorded that May, after the regular shows had finished. At the end of those specials, Noel talked about all that was done in the dream factory over the years, pretty much giving away that was the last programme recorded there!