007: Road to a Million
Contents |
Host
The Controller (Brian Cox)
Broadcast
72 Films and MGM Alternative in collaboration with EON Productions for Amazon Prime Video, 10 November 2023 to present
Synopsis
Nine couples are tasked to grab cases that are secured in a series of James Bond themed stunts, each case contains a question with multiple choice answers, if they get it right, they bank a stack of cash, if they get it wrong, they take home the winnings they've won up to that point. If they get all ten correct, they win a life changing sum of £1,000,000.
Here's the money tree on how the game goes throughout the show:
Level 1
- £5,000
- £10,000
Level 2
- £25,000
- £50,000
Level 3
- £100,000
Level 4
- £200,000
- £300,000
Level 5
- £500,000
Final Level
- £700,000
- £1,000,000
Worth Bonding?
The show is a good mix of Race Across the World with its reality travel style format, Treasure Hunt with its case locations based on The Controller's clues, and The Mole with its action/adventure style stunt challenges. But the structure on how they show the couples adventure is all over the place and at a couple of points, a waste of time.
First of all, we briefly get introduced to all nine couples at the start of the series, but two of them get a proper introduction filled with interviews and backstories. The second episode starts us off by introducing us to our third and fourth couples, who are searching for their third question. Huh? And then we get a flashback of both couples in Scotland on how they got there. What was the point of that? We already know they're gonna get the questions right so the tension is lost there. The fifth couple introduced at the start of the third episode got a better introduction, which was at the start of their game, same goes with the sixth couple that were introduced in episode four, well, they started at question two rather than the first, so a bit of dodgy skipping there. So, we're halfway into the series now and there's three couples left to introduce, so what does the show do? Introduce the seventh couple on the third question, but they don't get a flashback or get a introduction to who they are and they get eliminated, so they're out before we know who they are. The eighth couple only got 30 seconds of screen time as they were eliminated on the first question, which is a shame because the second couple got the exact same result in the first episode, but they had a full introduction into who they are. The ninth and final couple were introduced in question four, but we do get to know a bit more about them in episode six. So, why have nine couples if you're going to just cram in the latter third halfway into the series to introduce briefly? Five couples sounds about right for an eight episode run, not nine.
On the positive side, they have not simplified the stunts on the show, the contestants experience it just like the James Bond movies, but they do get safety gear so that they are safe and sound. Quite a ballsy move considering there's £1,000,000 on the line. Mind you, Squid Game: The Challenge came out the same month and year as this show with a lot more contestants and a bigger prize pot.
The Mastermind behind these ordeals is The Controller played by Brian Cox, who acts more like The Banker from Deal or No Deal than he does a James Bond villain, but he's still good nevertheless. All in all, an action packed reality show that knows what it wants to be by the quality and content of the stunts.
All eight episodes were released simultaneously on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video. Could this have worked as a weekly series into ITV's Saturday night schedule considering they hold the television broadcast rights to the movies? Who knows.
The Controller will return...
Two months before the first series was released, a second series was commissioned. To improve the show's structure, we hope they either cut down the number of couples taking part or extend the episode run to give all nine couples the proper introductions they and we deserve.
Theme music
Sam Thompson
Web links
Amazon Prime Video programme page
