ITV's latest quiz show has become a talking point across the nation and prompted normally mild-mannered individuals to reach for the telephone in a frenzied a bid to become a contestant. Not since the launch of the National Lottery has the thought of getting rich quick gripped the country's imagination. So when Chris Tarrant asked the question Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? reporter AMANDA KILLELEA shouted: "I do!"

MARTIN Skillings, from Norfolk, was handed a cheque for £125,000 - and the millions of people who have tuned in every night to scream the answers at their TV screens thought "I could do that."

I mean, how difficult can it be to answer 15 general knowledge questions to win that cool £1,000,000?

So on Saturday night I decided to find out.

To be quite honest, questions about nuclear physics seem like child's play compared to the task of actually getting through to the show's phone line - the first step on the way to the cash.

Every time I dialled those magic numbers all I heard was the dreaded voice saying that the network was busy.

Yes, every man and his dog across Britain was frantically pressing the redial button on their phones, spurred on by the dream of cash, cash and more cash.

Nobody seems to care that it costs the price of half a lager every time you try to get through to Chris and his big money game show.

In fact Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is the only millionaire to be created so far, as the show has made more money from the phone lines than it has actually given away.

But who cares?

I came up with a cunning plan. I set my alarm clock for 3am and got up, bleary-eyed, to try my luck again.

Bingo! I got straight through to a taped message from Chris Tarrant who was ready to test my general knowledge.

Which car manufacturer makes a model called a Pony?

"I know this," I screamed as I jumped around the kitchen, and when choice B offered Hyundai as the answer I knew I was on my way to Contestant's Row.

After leaving my name and telephone number on Chris Tarrant's answer machine, I went back to bed dreaming of my 15 minutes of fame.

The tension won't get to me. I'll be as cool as a cucumber, I thought.

No screaming and shouting, just calm and collected as I give my final answers to Chris.

And when he hands over the cheque? Well, I'll accept it with dignity then head off to the pub with my friends for the best-ever booze-up.

But Sunday morning came and went and still Chris hadn't given me a call. And in the afternoon I was heading off to the football - what if he called then?

With only two shows left in this series I was beginning to panic. What if I'd given the wrong phone number? What if he rang when I was out? What if my phone wasn't working?

By Monday morning I'd checked my answer machine about 10 times and I was sick of sitting by the phone and sighing every time one of my friends rang to see if Chris Tarrant had been in touch.

But I've not given up hope. The phone lines closed yesterday. The last show is on tomorrow tonight, so there are still a few hours for Chris to give me the call I've been waiting for. If not, there's always the next series to try for.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.