Episode 4 Letterbox

Let me introduce the Letterbox.

Don't be fooled by its harmless appearance

as it's been known to reduce a clever clog to, well, a clog.

All you have to do is crack its eight-letter password and you could

walk away with up to ?2,500.

Just think of the clogs you could buy with that.

Let's play Letterbox.

APPLAUSE

Hello there, 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,

Anna and Lisa. Hey, Anna and Lisa.

Hello.

APPLAUSE

You two are pals, aren't you?

Yeah. She's basically the 10-year younger version of me.

Oh, really? I live my life through her.

I still pretend I'm young.

She's a bad influence. Is she?

Why? It's awful.

Go to the gym, have a brownie.

Do you like the gym, you two?

We pretend to like the gym.

What's that awful machine...?

Cross trainer. Exactly.

What is that?

I'm not a fan. No.

No. Horrid machinery.

We normally do classes at the gym.

Do you?

You know burpies?

Lots of burpies.

Is that a burpy? That's a squat.

I'm not doing a burpy in this dress.

Let see how the burpies are on this side.

We have Phil and Ben, your competitors today.

Welcome to the show. Thank you.

APPLAUSE

Phil, the left hand casually just in the...

What do you think?

I think that's working for you.

Is that all right? Girls, what do you think?

Very nice. Yeah.

Distracting. Ben, a bit more formal.

Yeah, wasn't sure what to do with the hands.

Put forward, behind, not sure.

Prince Charles.

Good.

You're old pals, aren't you?

Old old. Since when?

Very old. Since school.

We went to secondary school together over 20-odd years ago.

Are you going to keep your hand in the catalogue pose?

Don't know, what do you think?

I'm slightly obsessed now. Is it better like this?

No, definitely not that.

That's good. Casual, lean forward.

Very awkward. We'll enjoy watching your poses throughout the show.

Thank you.

Phil and Ben, who is going to be playing first?

I'll be playing first. Ben, you're going to go first. Yeah.

Ladies? That will be me. Anna. Yeah.

Shoulders Anna is going first.

Fantastic.

Do take your positions, and let's play.

APPLAUSE

OK, here is your first password.

Have a look at this.

We are looking for a six-letter password.

City is your hint.

Tossed a coin backstage and, Ben, you are going to go first,

so can I have your first letter please, Ben?

I think I'll start with an A, please.

A very good place to start.

Let's have a little look.

Is there an A in this city?

Well done, Ben, good start.

Still with you. What do you think?

I think I'll go for an R.

Straight into a consonant. Let's have a look.

Yes, there is.

Goodness... Lisa has probably got it she thinks.

I think I've got an idea of what it could be.

What? How?

Totally in...

A-r...

D, please.

D.

No. It's not what I thought.

Anna, what do you think?

Can I please go for an H, please?

OK, let's have a little look. H.

No H. It's not what I thought it was.

Ben, what do you think?

I think I will go for an E, please.

An E, let's have a look.

Have we got an E?

Yes, we have.

I don't know. Ben, still with you.

Er, go for a T, please.

T. T.

No. Not a T. Anna, back to you.

Can I go for

an N?

N? N. N, let's have a look.

No N.

Over to you, Ben.

It's a bit tricky this, isn't it?

It is, yeah. I'll go for S, please.

S.

S for sugar. Let's have a look.

No. What is this?

Can I please go for an F?

F for Frederick.

Let's have a look.

No. Ben.

Still no idea. I'll go G, please.

I was literally about to say... Let's go G.

Gorgeous.

Surely... Yes.

SHE MOUTHS

I still don't know it.

That's really bad, isn't it?

Ah. B, please.

B, let's have a look. B.

Yes. Well done.

And that last little letter?

Z. Is it a Z?

Yes.

Zagreb.

Well done.

Quite tricky, wasn't it?

It was, yeah. You cracked the first password, which is Zagreb.

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

They are all here hidden in the Letterbox.

The eight red ones spell out the final password

that will unlock the box.

That leaves 18 mystery letters for you to choose from.

Go ahead and choose. Thank you.

I'll go with these two. Lovely.

That's your reward for getting the first password.

Two letters. You know that those two letters are not going to feature in

the final password.

Now, Anna, it's the best of three.

OK. All is not lost.

It's now time to play password two.

APPLAUSE

Right, Lisa, Phil...

Indeed. Look at that, the hand is still in the left pocket.

Cemented right there.

Lisa, you need to crack this next password.

Pressure. Let's see what the second password is.

What is it? You've got a five-letter word.

And our hint is...

band.

Lisa, it's your turn to go first now.

Can I have your first letter? I will have a Y, please.

Going straight in with a maverick letter.

I've got an idea in my head and it's probably wrong but we'll try.

Y. Let's have a look.

Is there a Y?

You see, I thought it was going to be the first letter.

It's not the era I was thinking.

OK. I'm going to go for an M.

M, for marvellous, let's have a look.

Lisa...

The revenge, this is.

Do you know what it is? Yeah.

Right, Lisa, give us another letter, please.

A C.

I've no idea. C.

Oh, very good.

What are the next letters, Lisa?

I'll go for an L for my name.

L for Lisa.

Let's have a look.

Very strong. And the last letter would be?

An F.

F. F-f-f. Let's see if there is an F.

What a comeback.

Lisa and Anna.

You smashed that second password.

She's good, isn't she? I don't even know how she got that.

That is extraordinary.

I thought it was Yazoo.

With three Os.

Anyway, listen, you can now choose

two of these lovely grey letters.

Not the red ones, please.

I'll go opposite side.

OK, lovely. Both players have cracked one password each so we will

be going to a decider to see who goes through to the semifinal.

Phil, who is going to play?

Luckily, Ben is going to play.

Ben is back in the hot spot.

I'll miss this.

I know, it's fine. If we should come back I'll pose again, don't worry.

Keep it tight. No problem.

Lisa, who is going to play?

Me.

She's going to stay. I know.

Right, this is exciting.

Let's play the third and deciding password.

Here we go.

Now, here is your deciding password.

Have a little look.

It's a long one. Nine letters we're looking for.

And the hint for this word is...

sport.

Ben, you're turn to go first.

Please give us your first letter.

I'll go for an A, please.

A, straight in there, let's have a look.

Have we got an A?

No.

In all those letters, not a single A.

Lisa, over to you.

I will go for an I.

I for igloo.

Yep. Let's have a little look.

Well done, Lisa.

OK, so I'm thinking I might know what is at the end of that word

from that letter. So I will have a go. N?

N.

Oh. Never mind. Ben.

Got to be more vowels in there, I think, so I'll go for an E.

Let's go for an E. OK. Let's have a look.

Is there an E in this sport?

Ah. Interesting.

Still with you, Ben. I'll go for R, please.

R. Rumbunctuous.

Have we got an R in there?

No. Excellent.

Lisa, no messing.

I'll go for an S.

S. S, S, S. Saucy.

Yes, we do. Still with you, Lisa, go for it.

I will go for a T.

T. Let's have a little look.

No T.

Back to you, Ben.

Any thoughts?

I'll go for an H, please.

H. Harrowing.

Let's have a look.

I think I have an idea.

Do you? Yes.

Ah...

Oh, dear, lots of noises.

Right, come on, Ben. I'll go for an L, please.

L.

I see what you're doing.

B, please. B.

Very strong. Right, what next?

Better go for an O, I think.

O. Have we got an O up there?

Yes, we do. And then a G, please.

And a G.

Well done.

APPLAUSE

Ben, listen, congrats.

Thank you. You have won the all-important third and decider round which

means that you and Phil, posing Phil, are through to the semifinal.

Well done.

Come on back. Anna and Lisa, I have really enjoyed having you.

Thanks. We've enjoyed being here.

Good. Short but sweet. Well done, guys.

Thank you very much. I must ask you,

please can you hand your letters over to the lads?

Thank you. You're going to be taking those through with you to the

semifinal, which is very good news.

Thank you so much for playing, everybody.

APPLAUSE

Good news for you guys.

You have got four letters that you know are not going to be in the final password.

Keep them safe.

It's time to meet our next contestants in heat two.

Hello, and welcome, Mikie and Debbie.

Great to see you here, guys.

Can I just ask, what is the connection between the two of you?

This is my younger brother, Mikie.

Younger. Younger.

Is she a good older sister, Mikie, or is she a little bit bossy?

A bit of both sometimes.

I do have to put her in her place sometimes.

Do you? She gets too big for her boots sometimes.

It's really lovely to have you on the show.

You must meet your opposition.

Here they are. They are up against Tom and Emma.

Hello, Tom and Emma. Nice to see you.

What is the link between the pair of you?

Well, we're together.

Together. We're practically married. We've been together nine years,

we've got a house and three cats.

Gang, tick tock, come on.

You've been saying this all the time.

Have you got a poorly knee or something?

You can bend down.

Not on television, no.

You've got the neatest hair, Tom, I've ever seen.

Thank you. I was in make up for a while.

You are looking very dapper, actually, very dapper, all of you.

Mikie and Debbie, who is going to be playing first?

Mikie. Mikie is going first.

What about you guys? I have been informed I'm going first.

Please take your positions and let's play. Lovely.

APPLAUSE

There was a really fake smile there, exchanged.

There was a kind of...

Guys, here is your first password.

Have a look at this.

We're looking for a six-letter word.

We're going to give you a hint.

Animal kingdom.

We tossed a coin backstage.

Tom, you're going to go first.

We'll start with a vowel, let's go for an I.

An I. OK.

Let see if we've got a little I.

Hope it's got two, really.

No.

No, no I. What are you going to go for?

I'll go for an S.

S. OK.

Very well done. OK.

What are you thinking, Mikie?

An O. An O. OK...

No. Tom, back to you.

OK, let's go for an E.

E. OK. Another vowel.

Have we got an E?

No. Mikie, back to you.

OK, I'll go for an R.

R. R.

Yes. Served you well.

Mikie. I'll go for the U.

U. OK. The U.

Yeah. Mikie, still with you.

A. A. OK.

Have we got an A in this animal?

Let's have a look.

Yes, we very much do.

Right, Mikie, I need a letter.

T. T, let's have a look.

All right, all right. It's enough!

Have we got a T in this animal?

No T. Which wings it over to you, Tom.

Let's go for an L.

An L.

There is an L. And the last letter would be? It's a W.

W.

Walrus.

Oh, oh, Mikie. Couldn't see it, couldn't see it.

Sometimes you can't. Sometimes you can't. Sometimes you can't.

Aw, listen. Well done, Tom.

You've cracked that first password.

Which was, of course, walrus.

Tom, as you know, you get to choose two letters from the Letterbox,

so go for it.

Those letters are important,

because they're not in that all-important final password.

OK, which unlocks the Letterbox.

Mikie, don't worry, it's best of three.

So it's time to play password two.

OK, here's the second password.

Let's have a look.

Eight-letter password, with a hint, of course...

food and drink.

Now, Debbie, it's your turn to go first.

OK. So let's have your first letter, please.

Can I have an O, please?

O. O.

O... Oh... O!

BOTH: OH!

Right, next letter, please.

Right, can I have an A, please?

A, let's have a look.

Ooh...

OK, over to you, Emma.

I'll go for I. I, OK.

Let's see if there's an I involved in this foodie, drinky word.

What have we got? No I.

Goodness. Debbie. Can I have a T, please?

A T, you most certainly can.

T. T.

Yes.

What's your letter, Debbie? An M.

M. M. M.

Emma? I'm going to stick with the vowels and go for a U.

OK, let's see if there's a little U tucked away in that food and drink.

U. Ooh!

Oh, wow. Two Us.

Right, Emma, still with you, what are you thinking?

Can I go for an N, for...N?

N. N for N.

Yes! N for N.

Yes. There is an N there.

Now, Emma.

Tom's tapping his feet, possibly a little bit impatiently.

I will go for a D, please.

A D. Let's have a look.

Yes, well done.

She broke out the dance.

Can I go for a G, please? You certainly can go for a G.

Yes. Please spell this right...

Can I go for a H, please?

H, have we got a little, cheeky H in there?

Yes. Well done.

Emma, well done.

You two have cracked two passwords on the trot,

which means you're through to the semifinals.

Well done. Doughnut.

Partners, please come and join.

Please come and join.

APPLAUSE

Now, Tom and Emma once again, you get to choose two more letters.

Remember, please stay away from the red.

Here we go.

And... Good. But now, Mikie and Debbie,

I'm afraid that's curtains for today.

Listen, it's been brilliant having you on the show, seriously.

Thank you. I hope you've had a good time. Yes. Yes.

APPLAUSE

Right, so brass tacks, you've got four letters that you know

are nothing to do with the final password, OK?

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

Phil and Ben, Tom and Emma, welcome to the semifinal.

Now, listen. There's just one password to crack, OK?

Good news, it's the name of a famous person,

and they can be alive or dead.

The team that cracks the password will go through to the final and

play for that cash. It would good to see Phil actually choose a letter.

It would, yeah. Hasn't actually chosen a letter yet.

No. No, nothing.

I'm looking forward to it.

Good. Now, let's play.

So, here is your semifinal password.

Have a look at this.

Oh, seven apiece.

Looking for a famous person.

We tossed a coin backstage.

Tom and Emma, you won the toss.

Sure. Emma, what are you thinking? Do you want to say it?

We are going to go for an M. An M. Yeah.

No. Now, Phil and Ben.

OK. Happy with that.

Do you want to say it, so you can pick a letter, Phil?

Yes, yes. Yes, Phil, your first letter!

Come on. Hello. May I please have an A?

An A, Phil.

Let's have a look and see if there is an A.

Have we got an A? Yes, we do.

First letter, you got it.

Well done. Right, still with you guys.

I'm happy with a vowel. Yeah, you say it this time.

All right. I will go for an O, please.

An O, Ben. OK.

Have we got an O?

Yes, we do.

On a roll, lads.

Right, what's next?

I like, I like F... N. You like N?

OK. Yeah. N, please.

N. Nn.

Yes, please.

On you go, boys.

Put an E in there. We will go for E, please.

An E. Let's have a look and see if we have got an E.

Oh, very strong.

Go for it. May we please go for S?

So polite, isn't he? Thank you.

S.

No. OK.

Over to you, Tom and Emma.

OK, yeah. We will go for I.

I? OK.

Let's see if there is an I.

No.

Phil and Ben. We will go with U, please.

U? Got to be another vowel, we think.

OK. Let's have a look, see if there is a U somewhere.

No.

Tom and Emma.

There's not enough vowels left, so should we go for that?

It's a big risk. Oh, they're going risky.

Y. I think.

Y? Oh, well...

Ooh.

It's not what I thought it was.

What do you think?

We are going to go for an L. An L, yeah?

Yeah. L.

Well done. Building up slowly.

It's so tense. It is quite tense.

I know. I've got a bit of sweat building up,

I'm not going to lie to you. LAUGHTER

Tom and Emma. We'll go for a T.

A T. Please. T.

Let's have a look.

Oh. Ooh! Do you know it?

Oh!

Oh, apparently. Oh, my God!

Right. Go for an H, please.

Have we got an H, there.

Yes, we do. Oh, OK.

Right. What next?

I'll go for a G, please.

G.

G, yep. We do.

W. W.

Have we got a W?

Gwyneth somebody.

I'll go for a P, please.

Lovely. We'll go for an R.

R, let's see if you are correct.

Yes, Gwyneth Paltrow!

Well done, guys.

You've cracked the very important semifinal password which means you

are going through to the final.

APPLAUSE

I'm not having this.

I can't lose you, Phil and Ben.

It's been marvellous having you on the show.

Keep up the signature pose please, Phil.

Just for you. Keep it up always, at all times.

Now, please could you hand your letters over to Tom and Emma?

Absolutely. Good luck in the final.

Thank you. Ah, so gentlemanly.

Phil and Ben, thank you so much for playing.

Lovely to see you.

Tom and Emma. Yeah, counting them,

eight letters to help you crack the final password.

So it's time to unlock the letterbox.

Tom and Emma, you have done so well to get this far,

and now you know what I'm going to say.

Just one final password standing between you

and the ?2,500 cash prize

housed inside the letterbox.

Here it is.

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

No repeat letters.

OK? It can be any word, and there is no hint.

What you do have instead are the eight little letters

in front of you, which we know

are not going to be in this final password.

So, come on, Tom.

Hand them over.

Let's have a look at what we can get rid of.

OK. No K.

No A.

No U.

No Y.

No R.

No Q.

No F.

And no Z.

Good to know that there's no Z in there, that's helpful.

Yeah, yeah, along with the Y(!)

The good news is that you have eliminated all these

letters from the final password. The bad news is, every time you make

a little mistake, ?500 will be sliced away...

AUDIENCE GROAN Yeah, I know.

..from the ?2,500 prize money.

If you should make five mistakes, it's nothing.

You get nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Listen, good luck, Tom and Emma.

I've got high hopes. Let's unlock the letterbox.

Do you want to do the vowels, first?

I think we should do an E to start off with.

E. Have we got an E?

Yes.

That paid off. Phew.

What's your next choice?

Well, we've still got the two vowels left.

Yeah, but I think we should go for an I rather than the O.

Let's go for an I. Yeah.

Deffo? Yes. Let's go for an I.

OK.

Oh.

Listen... That was a handbag.

Only one handbag?

That's a very expensive handbag, Miss Emma.

That would be a handbag to live in. I have expensive taste.

Wow. All is still good.

?2,000 still to play for.

What's your next letter choice going to be?

How likely is it to have an O in it?

Very likely. OK.

We'll have to go for an O. OK, let's go O, then.

OK, let's go O.

Well done. Excellent.

Right.

What's it going to be now?

Let's think of what it could be at the end,

it could be an "ost", with an S and T.

Or an N, S. Or an N, S.

Yeah. So shall we go for an S? We'll go for an S.

S for spaghetti, let's have a look.

Have we got an S in there?

Oh.

Thought you were sure. That's a pair of shoes, Emma.

That's the matching shoes to the handbag.

Listen, it's still a lot of money.

?1,500.

Keep going, gang.

Shall we go for a D?

I was thinking a D. Yeah.

We will go for a D. Are you feeling the D?

Yeah.

Come on.

Yes.

Excellent. Right.

T comes before E and after E quite often, doesn't it?

I think we should go for T. Go for a T.

OK. T. OK.

Let's have a look.

Yes.

Wasn't where I thought it was going to be.

I know, exactly.

Oh!

It's what I'm about to have.

Yeah, OK. We will try an N, then.

We are going to go for an N. N.

Ooh!

Shall we go for the W? Yeah, we are going to go for the W.

W, W.

Let's have a look.

Yes. Right, what's next?

We are going to go for an L.

L, L.

Yep.

And finally? What do you think it is?

An M, please.

An M. Yes, please.

You're so excited.

I'm so... Yay!

APPLAUSE

Look at this.

Look at that. It's real.

Genuine stuff. I'll let you do the honours. Oh, Emma, love.

I'm so excited.

There you go, ?1,500.

See you later. Yeah, yeah.

Now, what are you going to spend that on?

I think we're going to go on a nice holiday together.

Yes. Maybe it could be a very special holiday, Tom?

What are you talking about?

Big holiday, come on.

Anyway. It's absolutely well-deserved, you two.

Very good indeed.

Well done, thank you so much for playing.

Throw it in the air.

And just to make sure our final password was indeed...

M-E-L-T-D-O-W-N

for meltdown. Well, listen.

That's it for today's Letterbox.

I've got to go put it on charge, yeah, for next time.

Where's the plug socket, anyone know?

Goodbye. See you.

'From the heights of the Scottish Highlands

'to the shores of East Anglia, I've travelled across Britain...'

We got a fish!