‘Not the Final Answer’: Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Revisiting Critical Approaches to the Quiz Show

The article aims to address and explore the apparent neglect of the quiz show in television and cultural studies by focusing on the programme Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (1998–, UK). Existing work in the field emerged in the late 1970s/early 1980s, and this article argues that a key reason for critical neglect of the quiz show is the centrality of 'class' in the genre – a focus which has increasingly receded from view in television and cultural studies. The article operates under the assumption that as television studies develops a longer history of critical and theoretical approaches to the medium, it becomes crucial to respond to innovations by developing 'new' methodological approaches and to reconsider the relevance and dynamics of existing models. In this respect, an analysis of Millionairesuggests that the emphasis on 'class', work and production remains central to the quiz show, and its political and ideological significance

Timing of collision initiation and location of the Scandian orogenic suture in the Scandinavian Caledonides

The Scandinavian Caledonides represent a classical example of a deeply eroded Himalayan-style orogen formed during Baltica–Laurentia continent collision. We propose that initial contact along continental-margin promontories led to a drop in convergence rate, resulting in increased slab rollback along parts of the margin still undergoing oceanic subduction. Slab rollback caused extension of the overlying lithosphere with orogen-wide emplacement of mafic layered intrusions, ophiolite formation and bimodal magmatism at 438–434 Ma, in what immediately thereafter became the upper plate (Laurentia) in the Scandian continent–continent collision. A compilation of magmatic ages provides evidence of long-lived, Ordovician arc magmatism in units above the suture, which is essentially absent below the suture. This model provides a tight constraint on the timing of collision initiation, and provides a framework by which tectonic units comprising the Scandinavian Caledonides can be assigned a Baltican or more exotic heritage