Episode 1 Letterbox

This is the letterbox.

Inside this box is ?2,500.

The only way to get the cash is to work out an eight-letter password.

It's a bit like online banking, but much more fun.

Who's going to win the money? Well, let's find out.

Welcome to Letterbox.

APPLAUSE

CHEERING

Hello, and welcome to Letterbox,

the show that's all about cracking passwords.

Let's meet our first two pairs

hoping to get their hands on the cash.

Greg and Becky.

CHEERING BOTH: Hi!

So lovely to see you, Greg and Becky.

You look absolutely gorgeous.

Aww, thanks. Thanks.

Greg, I'm a big admirer of your teeth.

Oh, really? Yes, they're so white!

Aw, very kind. Can I ask, what's...? What's your relationship?

Um, we've been going out for a year now.

Yeah. Oh, loves, come on, get close.

So you're still at the stage

where you're not finding each other annoying.

No, where on a game show, so... No.

Oh, listen, there's a lot riding on this.

Very, very lovely to have you here. Welcome, welcome to Letterbox.

Thank you. Thanks so much.

And Greg and Becky are up against Kieron and Simon.

CHEERING

Now, Kieron and Simon,

you put me in mind of The Proclaimers.

We were thinking that. Are you brothers?

No, no, we're good friends. Friends.

Aw, and you've sort of melded into each other's looks.

We have, yeah. Same beards. Exactly.

We didn't obviously discuss our wardrobe before we came here.

No, we didn't. Now, Kieron and Simon,

who's going to be playing first out of the two of you?

That would be me. Kieron.

And, Greg and Becky, who's going to go up first?

That'll be me. That'll be Greg. Got the short straw.

OK, take your positions, let's play.

Greg, Kieron, here is your first password.

Let's have a little look at this.

Oh, it's a six-letter word.

And the hint for this word is - let's have a look...

City.

We tossed a coin backstage - oh, yes, we did -

and, Greg, you're going to go first now.

OK. So, your first letter, Greg, come on, what's it going to be?

Can I have an O, please, Mel?

Going for a vowel, an O.

Yeah, cheeky vowel. Is there an O in there?

Oh, Greg. No worries, early days.

Over to you, Kieron. Mel, I'd like an E, please.

Have we got an E?

Oh, no!

That's two vowels down, guys!

Greg, what's your next choice?

Can I have an A, please, Mel?

A - going for a vowel again.

Have we got an A in this word?

Right. Come along, Kieron. Let's go with another vowel.

I'll go with I. I. Hopefully, I.

I.

Oh, well done, Kieron.

APPLAUSE

Off the blocks.

That means you stay in play, Kieron,

so what's your next letter choice to be?

N

Let's see, have we got an N?

Have we got an N?

Oh, no N!

OK, Greg, what's your letter choice?

Ooh, let's have a think.

I'll go with a... I'll go with a T, please.

Have we got a T in this city?

No T. Oh, Greg.

Teeth are still looking good, though, my love.

Oh, thank you. Seriously, don't you worry...

Still got the teeth. Good, always got the teeth.

Kieron? It looks a toughie.

Yes. Let's go with a V.

Let's have a little look.

Is there a V?

No!

Bold choice, didn't quite pay off. No.

Greg, what are you thinking?

I'll go for an R, please. You're going to go for an R?

Yes, please, yep.

R for ram-a-lama-ding-dong.

Yeah, that's it. There we go.

Let's have a look, is there an R in this pesky city?

Let's have a look.

Yes! Well done, Greg.

APPLAUSE

Becky very, very pleased with your performance there.

Now, Greg.

I'll go for a U, please. A U? Yeah, cheeky U.

U, U, U - it's all about U?

All about me. Always, Greg, it's all about you.

Let's have a look, have we got a U in this city?

Oh! Very good.

Oh! Yes.

Greg, what are you thinking now?

I think... I shouldn't say this, but I think I've got it.

Oh, hello. So I'm going to go for a Z. OK.

let's see if there's a letter Z in this city.

Yes!

Oh, Greg.

I'll go for a C, please, Mel.

All right, let's see if there's a little C in this city.

Yes, we do.

Kieron, I'm always here for you.

And then may I finish off with a H, please, Mel?

H? Yes, please. Let's see if there's an H. Yes.

Yes. Zurich.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Are we pumping or are we fiving, or...I don't know.

Everything, everything at once.

Greg, that was absolutely tremendous work.

You cracked the first password. Super.

As you know, there are 26 letters in the alphabet,

and they're all here, hidden in our letterbox.

The eight red ones spell out the final password

that will unlock the box -

that leaves 18 mystery letters for you two to choose from.

So, as a reward for cracking the first password, Greg,

you can now pick.

Pick two of them. Very exciting.

Yeah, pick two of them. Let's go for one of these.

Quite quickly, if you will.

And one of those. There we go. Lovely.

Now, Greg, you know now that those two letters will not feature

in that final password. Yeah.

OK? OK. Don't even look at it, Kieron. Don't even look at it.

It's best-of-three,

so don't worry, Kieron and Simon,

because it's now time to play password two.

A little light Letterbox do-si-do

brings Becky and Simon into the fray.

Becky, is he a keeper?

I think so, yeah, we'll see how it goes this round.

Might you consider living with him?

Oh, gosh, that's a bit much, isn't it?

No, just thinking, you've been going out for a year,

those kind of questions will be coming up soon.

OK. Just hurrying things along a bit.

Now, Becky, you are up 1-0.

Yes. Very well done.

If you crack this next password, you're through to the semifinal.

Simon, you need, very much, to crack this next password.

OK? Here is the second password.

Have a look at this.

Right, we're looking for a six-letter word,

and the hint for this word is...

Film.

Now, Simon, can I have your first letter, please?

Let's start with an E, please.

E? OK.

Yes. Have we got an E in this six-letter word?

Oh, very strong.

Next letter, please.

OK, we're going to go with an I, please.

An I?

Have we got an I?

No. Simon, never mind, you're doing well.

You've got the E. Becky?

I'll go for an S.

S? Yes. So let's have a look and see if we've got an S in that word.

No. Oh, no.

No S. Simon, back with you.

I'm going to go with an O.

An O.

Yes, please. OK doke.

Very, very good indeed.

What are you thinking, Simon?

Not much at the moment. Anything coming to you?

I don't know what film this is.

Yes, I know. I'm not sure I've seen it. I've got no idea.

OK, let's go with...

a C, please.

C, OK.

Have we got C?

Oh, no. Man alive!

Becky?

Can I have an R, please.

An R.

R

Oh, well done.

Look at that, you've got lots of letters in there now.

What's your choice going to be?

Can I have an N?

An N.

N! Well done.

APPLAUSE

Still quite a few letters.

P? P.

Have we got a P in there?

No.

Right, Becky, we're going over to Simon.

Fairly confident. Oh, no.

Yes. I'll have an F, please.

Have we got an F?

Yes, we do.

We do. What do you think that last letter is?

OK, I'm going to go with a Z.

Have we got a Z?

Yes!

CHEERING

Simon, listen, well done, you've cracked the second password.

And you may now choose two letters from the letterbox -

don't come anywhere near the reds.

Nope. But do, go ahead, choose two. OK.

Let's go with...

Lovely. That one... Very good. And that one, please, Mel.

I saw both of those, but it doesn't matter.

Now, both pairs have cracked one password each so, excitingly,

we're going to be having a decider

to see who goes through to the semifinal.

Before we see that password,

who is going to play?

Well, Greg got the first one right, so he's going to do this one again.

Ah, OK, and what about Simon?

And we're going to go with Kieron.

Right, gang, let's play the third and deciding password.

Do-si-do.

Right, OK, have a look at this.

We are looking now for a seven-letter word.

The hint for your word is - let's have a look...

Human body.

Now, Greg, it's your turn to go first this time, OK?

Yeah, no problem. So can I have your first letter, please?

I'll start with an E, please, Mel.

Yes!

Oh, that's a nice one!

End of the word is an E.

An A, please. An A.

Yes, please. Sticking with the vowels? Let's see if there's an A.

Come on.

Oh! No A.

No A to speak of.

Kieron, my love. Yep.

What's that letter going to be?

That letter's going to be an O, please, Mel.

An O. Is there an O to speak of?

OK, you've been very vowel-centric.

I'm going to change it up a little bit...

Yes. ..and go for a cheeky S, please.

Cheeky S? Yeah, cheeky consonant - we'll go for an S.

The human body.

S, no!

Kieron?

An I.

An I. Yes.

Lovely.

No. No I.

Greg, what's it to be?

Right, let's go back to the vowels, cos there's only one left.

There's only one left. So we'll go for the U, please.

Very well done, very well done. OK.

Next letter, please.

I'll go for an R, please, Mel.

No R. Back to Kieron.

The letter M, please.

M

Have we got an M?

No Ms at all.

Greg. I'm going to go for an L, please.

Yes! Well done.

Has that opened things up a bit for you, Greg?

Not really. No? I just can't see it.

I'm going to go for an N, please, Mel.

N? Yeah.

N, let's see if there is a lovely N in that word.

N?

Oh, very good. Very, very good indeed.

Ooh-hoo, I think I've got it! I think I've got it.

Have you, Greg? I think I've got it, yeah.

Have you got it, Kieron? Yep, I have. Have you? Yeah.

I literally haven't. I'm not going to lie to you.

I'm going to go for a K, please, Mel. A K? Yep.

Is there a little K?

Is there a K?

Oh, yes! Yes, thank you.

Yes, calm. We're not going to high-five just yet.

No, not just yet.

I will go for a C, please, Mel.

A C? Yep. Let's have a little look.

There you go, Greg!

We should do a knuckle.

We should do a little...

A little knuckle celebration.

You've won the all-important third and deciding password,

which means that you and Becky are very much through to the semifinal.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Sadly, Kieron, Simon, this is the end of the road for you -

on Letterbox, not in life.

No. Just on Letterbox.

Kieron and Simon!

Thank you. Thank you, guys. So nice.

APPLAUSE

Now, I have to ask you, in a ceremonial way,

can you please hand your letters over to Greg and Becky,

who are going to be taking them through to the semifinal with them.

Important moment.

OK, so now you've got four letters - that's very good -

that you know are not in this final password.

So, keep them safe,

as it's time to meet our next contestants in Heat Two.

APPLAUSE

Hello and welcome, Reema and Harrie.

Lovely to see you, Reema and Harrie, thank you so much for being here.

No problem. Now Reema, I know that you're a lawyer, is that right?

That is. So you're dealing with a lot of words.

Yes, I am, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be good at this.

And you two are old pals, aren't you? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Let's meet your competitors, and they are Steve and Mike.

Now, how are you two connected?

We're brothers.

Oh, you're brothers. Who is big brother and who is...? Well, me.

Yes... Older brother. I looked very much at you as I said that, Mike.

Thank you, Mel. I know I slightly...

I had an inkling that you might be.

I look after him.

Now, Reema and Harrie, who is going to be playing first?

I am. What about you, Steve and Mike?

Well, Mike has assured me he's going to win the first one.

He's going to do well, Mel.

OK. I can feel it. All right, good, so listen,

everybody, please take your positions and let's play.

APPLAUSE

Here is your first password, have a look at this.

So we're looking for a seven-letter word here.

What's that hint going to be?

Animal kingdom!

Reema, you're going to go first, aren't you? I am.

OK, can I have your first letter, please?

A, please. A, let's have a look.

Ooh, Reema. APPLAUSE

Two As. What are you going for next?

Um...

an N, please.

Have we got an N?

No N. Did you have an animal in mind?

No. No, OK, honest, I like that.

Honest. That's very good for a lawyer, to be honest, good.

Unusual. Mike! LAUGHTER

Only joking, only joking.

Can I have an I?

An I, you most certainly can, Mike, with my pleasure.

Let's see if there's an I.

Have we got an I?

No I.

Reema. E, please.

Let's have a little look.

No E. Lads, somebody's got to get a letter soon.

Ooh. Mike, what are you thinking?

An L. Let's have little look.

Oh, very well done. APPLAUSE

Ooh. Right.

Mike. Can I have a Y?

You certainly may have a Y.

Why? Because you've asked for one.

Thanks very much for your laughter, Steve.

APPLAUSE Very good.

Mike. W.

Let's see if we've got a W.

Have we got a W? Yes, we do.

Very well done. One letter to go, Mike.

Do you know what is? That'll be a B.

A B? Let's see if that is indeed the letter.

Wallaby! APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Mike.

Very, very good.

Please go ahead and choose two letters.

They will help you later, should you get to that final.

Don't worry, it's the best of three.

Yep. Never forget. So it's time to play password two.

APPLAUSE

How are you feeling, Harrie?

OK, a bit of pressure.

Yes. I can feel it but...

You've got your nails, they're looking very strong.

Don't tap them too much, though.

Sorry. That always makes me feel a bit tense.

Does it? I'm sorry. Yeah, Steve, have you got any nails? No.

No. You're a little... You're a biter, aren't you?

No, I'm a filer.

You're a filer? Yeah, yeah.

Well, I never... Do you have quite a sort of male file, like a big...?

Uh, yeah, a big emery board type of thing.

LAUGHTER Big emery board?

They're good, aren't they, Harrie? Not bad! Very good.

I think he's buffed them, as well. I think he has buffed them.

I think he's buffed them. Yeah. Right, here is the second password.

Here we go. What have we got?

Ooh, it's a long one, seven letters.

And the hint is food and drink.

Steve, it's your turn to go first, so, please,

can I have your first letter?

Can I have an E, please, Mel?

An E?

Very good.

Third letter, straight in.

Steve. Can I have an R?

An R?

Oh.

Now, what are you thinking now,

the play is still very much with you, Steve?

Do you know what?

I think I'm going to go for a T.

Come on, babe. Is there a T up there?

No, sadly not.

Harrie, come on!

Could I go for a...

..N, please?

Have we got an N? Yes!

Very good.

Could I go for a...

..A, please? A, you'd like an A.

Let's see if there is an A in this word.

No. Steve.

Can I have an H, please?

Have we got an H?

Very well done.

Mike knows what it is.

Mike, pipe down.

An S, please?

S for Steve? Yes.

Let's have a look. Have we got an S?

No. Come on, Harrie, you can do this.

No S. Right, you can hear her behind you.

Come on.

P, please. P?

In the mix? No, there's no Ps.

OK, I think I know it, Mel.

Can I have a K, please?

A K?

Yes.

OK, very good.

Can I have a G, please, for golf?

You certainly may.

Let's see if there's a G in that word.

There is indeed.

Now...

Can I have an I for India, please?

I for India. Let's see if we've got an I.

Well done.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Listen.

Well done, Steve.

You and Mike together have cracked two passwords...

Thank you. Which means you are sailing through to the semifinal.

Huge congratulations.

Partners, come and join.

Now, once again, as a reward for cracking the old password,

you get to choose two more letters from our letterbox.

Can I have those two on the end then, please, Mel?

Shall I pass those over?

Please. Not looking, there you go.

Now, Reema and Harrie, it's been a sheer delight

to have you on the show.

Thank you. Thank you so much for playing.

Harrie and Reema, everybody.

Lovely.

So guys, you now have four letters

that you know are not going to be in this final password, OK?

Which is a good place to be.

Hang onto them, as it's time now to play the semifinal.

APPLAUSE

Now, Greg and Becky, Steve and Mike,

in this semifinal, there is just one password to crack,

and it's the name of a famous person,

and they can be alive or dead.

OK? The team that cracks the password

will go through to the final and play for the money.

Here is your semifinal password.

Have a look at this.

It's a person. Could be dead, could be alive.

Five letters in the first name, eight in the surname.

Now, we did toss a coin backstage.

Greg and Becky, you won the toss, the lovebirds,

so you get to go first.

Can I have your first letter, please?

Shall we go for it? Yeah, can we go for an A, please?

An A? Let's have a look and see if A is in that name.

Oh, very good.

Straight off the chalks.

That means you get to choose another one.

Yeah. Can we go for an E, please?

An E? Get some vowels out the way.

Let's have a little look. Have we got an E?

Oh. No E.

In all those letters, not a single E.

Takes it over to the bruvs.

Can we go for an L, please, Mel?

You'd like an L? Yeah.

Let's see if there's an L amongst those names.

Have we got an L?

No. Not an L in sight.

Back to you, Greg and Becky.

I think we're going to go for an I please, Mel.

An I? Yeah.

Yes, there very much is.

APPLAUSE

Well done. Things are heating up.

Can we go for an N, please?

N? Yes.

In that famous name, yes, we do.

That's a big old clue.

Right, you two, come on.

What are you thinking, guys?

Can we go for an S, please, Mel?

S? Are you sure, Greg?

Why not? You want to go for an S?

Oh, no S, that takes it over.

What are you thinking, gang?

Come on, brothers. O, please, Mel.

Let's have a little look. Have we got an O?

Ooh! Lots of Os.

Steve and Mike, have you made up your mind?

R, please, Mel.

R? Have we got an R?

An R?

No R.

What are you thinking?

Can we go for a T, please, Mel?

A T? Yeah. Let's have a look.

Any Ts in those names?

No. My gosh!

Not a single T.

We'll go for a V, please.

A V? Yeah?

Let's see if we've got a V.

V! APPLAUSE

Go for a C.

C, please, Mel.

You'd like a C. Let's see if there is a C in this name.

Have we got a C?

We do, at the end of the surname.

K, please, Mel.

A K? Have we got a K in this name somewhere?

Have we got a K?

We've got two Ks.

Now, still playing with you.

J? Is there a J?

There is.

A D, Mel. Are you sure about this?

Let's go for a D.

Is that the missing letter?

D!

Novak Djokovic.

Guys, come on, bruvs, congratulations.

You've cracked the semifinal password

which means you're through to the final.

APPLAUSE

The brothers were very strong, weren't they, Greg and Becky?

They were good.

Listen, I am genuinely sad to see you leave.

That's all right. We've had a great time.

I know that your love will keep you strong through this.

Now, please, I'm afraid, hand those letters over to Steve and Mike.

Good luck, guys. Yeah, really good luck.

In the meantime, please give it up for Greg and Becky.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Take a deep breath, it's time to unlock the letterbox.

Steve and Mike, is it going to be Brothers Grimm or Brothers In Arms?

You've done brilliantly to get this far

and now just one final password

stands between you and the ?2,500 cash

literally inside the old letterbox.

Here it is, here's your password.

This time we're looking for an eight-letter word

with no repeat letters.

I'm afraid to say, there is no hint to help you,

but what you do have instead

are the eight letters you've already won along the way

which we know are not going to be featured in that final password.

So, come on, Steve, pass them over.

Here are the letters we've earned, Mel.

Thank you, my love. Let's see what we can get rid of.

There will not be an E...

Or an X.

Or an F.

Or a Q.

Yeah, massive help!

Y.

U.

That's good, good to get rid of a vowel.

R.

Or V.

OK? Now, the good news is,

you've eliminated those letters from the final password,

and that is going to be a big old help to you.

The bad news is, every time you make a mistake,

you will lose ?500 of your ?2,500 prize money, OK?

Let's unlock the letterbox.

APPLAUSE

Right. Let's go A.

You're going to go A?

Yes! Well done, guys.

APPLAUSE

Third letter.

You're still on the ?2,500 mark.

It could be a plural because the S is still there.

L is looking good. I like L.

It could be somewhere. Are we agreed on L for the next one?

Let's do L. Have we got an L?

Please, come on. Let's have an L.

Oh.

There's no L. It's just gone down to two grand.

It's gone down to two grand.

Still, that's a lot of money, Steve, don't worry.

We'll have to focus, Mike.

Focus in, guys.

Post is still there.

Do we go for the O or the I?

Or the S. You wanted to go S.

Go on. S, please, Mel.

You're going to go S?

No. OK, listen, all is not lost.

There's a good, healthy ?1,500 still to play for.

Is I-N-G still there?

ING is there, so why don't we go for the I?

It could end in ING.

I, please, Mel. You're going for another vowel?

Let's see if there is an I in your final password.

Yes.

APPLAUSE

Well done. Can we have an N, please, Mel.

Let's see if there's an N.

Yes. Oh, hang on.

Hang on. There's an O in it.

That's put the cat among the pigeons.

I-C-N, no, I-D-N, no.

I-O-N, yes.

Let's go O, please, Mel.

Let's have a look, is there an O?

Oh, very well played. APPLAUSE

It could be a C.

D, let's take that out.

It could be lion, no L.

K, no?

MION, no. ION...

So we'll go T. You're confusing me now, brothers.

T, please, Mel.

T? Let's see if we've got a T.

T?

Right, OK, this is why you need to go through every single...

You're down to ?1,000, brothers.

K.

I know what it is. Fourth from the bottom is a P, isn't it?

You're going to go P? Are you sure?

Yes. Let's see if P is in your final password.

Bro, you've got to pay attention.

Stop arguing.

P. Well done.

APPLAUSE

Now, you've got ?1,000 still to play for.

Yes. Let's have your next letter.

An M, please, Mel.

An M?

Oh, well done.

APPLAUSE

C, please, Mel. You're going for a C?

C. Over to you.

Mike? We'll finish with an H.

You're finishing with an H?

Yes!

CHEERING

Wow! Show me the money!

Look at that.

There we go, my loves.

You've unlocked the letterbox

and you have won ?1,000.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

There you go, my loves.

Mike, Steve, well done.

Thank you so much for playing and listen, let's show you this,

just so you know it's true.

C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N,

which is what you two are very much today on Letterbox.

Join us next time for more letterboxing.

Goodbye.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

From status symbol

to guilty pleasure,

BBC TWO reveals the bittersweet history of sugar.

This is really a chance to create pure magic.