Who Wants to be a Millionaire? ITV1

"Welcome to the new-look, high-risk, high-speed show,” said presenter Chris Tarrant at the top of the programme. Well, sort of new-look; the opening titles are new (although they still haven't managed to put the question mark in the logo), but the music is the same and the set appears to have had no more than a dust down since the last series. But let’s not quibble, as producers Celador have indeed rung the changes and in doing so have given the long-running show a much needed fillip.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire? first aired in the UK in 1998 and is a broadcasting phenomenon. Its catchphrases - “I think I’ll phone a friend” and “Can I go 50-50, Chris?” have entered the lexicon and a fictional episode of the Indian version lies at the heart of the superlative Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. The show is now aired in more than 100 countries and is one of the UK’s most successful exports; the show was called Cash Mountain in its development stage and its creators are now deservedly sitting on a cash mountain of their own. But its USP - in Britain at least - of dispensing with speed for suspense was beginning to pall as contestants could take as long as they liked to answer and they did (pity the poor studio audience when a real ditherer was in the chair).

And so to the revamped UK edition. Taking their lead from several international versions of the franchise, the producers have dispensed with the “fastest finger first” round; contestants are now chosen before the show starts and so we immediately get down to it. Last night’s debutant was Karen, an orthoptist from Liverpool. For her benefit and ours Tarrant explained the new system: the first seven questions are now against the clock, with 15 seconds to answer the first two questions once they - not the multiple-choice answers, mind - appear on screen; a more generous 30 seconds is given for questions up to £50,000. Thereafter, questions are no longer against the clock and an extra lifeline, the “switch” (where, if they haven’t a clue about the question on screen, they can ask for a replacement) is added.

So the new format evens the contest between people sweating under studio lights and the know-alls at home because now everybody has the same time to answer, and it makes it fairer for nervous contestants who previously had time to talk themselves into using a lifeline unnecessarily when they knew the answer all along. It adds to the competitive element for viewers, too, as the show’s appeal for most of its fans - and I am one of them - is not in following the fortunes of contestants but in pitting one’s own knowledge against theirs. And, of course, feeling immensely smug when those in the studio are stumped but we know the answer, d’uh.

The producers may have made these adjustments to make the programme snappier, but for me the real bonus of “the relentless ticking of the big, bad clock” as Tarrant put it, is that we would have less time for his annoying, repetitive twaddle - “Are you sure?”, “Final answer?”, “How do you know that?”, “You could lose 19 grand”, etc, etc - which I’ve always thought was immensely off-putting for the contestants. He did his best to slip them in, however...

A worrying development, though, is Celador’s introduction of a touchy-feely element. They must have have been watching ITV stablemate Simon Cowell's X-Factor and its endless stream of contestants’ tear-jerking back stories (however hyperbolised) and thought: “We’ll have some of that.” So last night’s second contestant was Dave from Yorkshire, a retired fireman who is now the carer of a 20-year-old man with Down’s syndrome, whose mother died of cancer last year. After Dave had correctly answered two questions, they dropped in film of his wife, daughter and the young man wishing him good luck. What was the purpose of this other than to bring a lump to our throats? It’s not a show about who deserves money, surely? If that’s the case then the programme makers are rich enough just to give a cheque to those who in their opinion warrant it most, without putting them through the torment of answering questions under pressure. Besides, how unsettling for poor old Dave, who went on to answer the £50,000 question incorrectly and left with only a grand.

The zippier format certainly works, but if they are going to turn the show into another slushfest, I’ll switch, thanks.

• Who Wants to be a Millionaire? continues on ITV1 every Tuesday
• Watch this episode again on itvPlayer
• Find Who Wants to be a Millionaire? on Amazon