Regeneration game for quiz show couple after mistake

A COUPLE who lost £325,000 on a TV quiz have been told they can return to the Channel 4 show after programme-makers admitted they had blundered.

Husband and wife Johnny and Dee will make another appearance on Million Pound Drop, presented by Davina McCall, this week.

The pair were kicked off the show on Friday when they were asked the question, "Who played Doctor Who for the longest time?"

They were asked to choose between four actors: Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, or David Tennant.

Undecided, they split their remaining 650,000 between McCoy and McGann, but were left with nothing as Davina McCall told them that Tennant, the tenth Doctor from 2005 to 2009, was correct.

However, the programme's fact-checkers have now admitted that they got it wrong, and that McCoy is technically the correct answer.

Although McCoy, the seventh Doctor, only played the role from 1987 to 1989, he starred in a 1996 film, and no-one else portrayed the Time Lord during this time.

A Channel 4 spokeswoman said: "The Million Pound Drop producers have confirmed that the correct answer to this question was Sylvester McCoy and not David Tennant as shown on the broadcast on Friday 5 November.

"This is due to Sylvester McCoy's final appearance in a 1996 TV movie."

The spokeswoman added: "We apologise for this oversight and as a result, the contestants, Johnny and Dee, will return to the show to finish the game this Friday or Saturday at 10pm on Channel 4 with the 325,000 they placed on McCoy."

Dunoon-born McCoy, the first Scot to play the legendary Time Lord, also featured in a 1993 Doctor Who charity special for Children in Need called Dimensions in Time.