Episode 9 Letterbox

This, my friends, is the Letterbox.

The most elaborate piggy bank ever made.

Inside, it holds £2,500 in prize money.

But you can only get your mitts on that if you correctly crack

the eight-letter password. Consider the exposition done,

it's time to play Letterbox.

Well, hello, and welcome to Letterbox,

the show that's all about cracking passwords.

Let's meet our first two players

hoping to get their hands on the cash -

Jake and Dean, to my right.

I'm just looking at your little faces and I'm thinking,

you've got to be related.

-We are brothers.

-You're brothers.

Quite similar eyes.

-Very.

-Yeah.

Now, Dean, are you the baby brother?

I am indeed, yes.

-Is he bossy?

-He can be, very much so, very bossy.

-Really?

-Yes.

-I look after him, though.

He does look after me so that's always...

That's not what I heard on your stag party, Jake, but more on that later.

And they're up against Jay and Ali.

Jay and Ali.

APPLAUSE

Now, please tell me how you two met.

-Are you going to do it?

-Yeah, it's a long time ago.

We used to work in a restaurant together in Liverpool.

Were you chefs, waiters, waitresses?

-Waiters. Waiters.

-But now, best of mates.

Now I can't get rid of her.

When you were waiters -

I've been a waitress oh so many times

and probably will be again quite soon.

Don't you hate it when you're a waiter/waitress,

and somebody goes like that.

-You ignore them!

-It's a no-no.

-You ignore them.

Very rude.

OK. Now, listen.

Jay and Ali, who's going to be playing first out of you two?

-That'll be me.

-And who's going to be going first?

I'll be playing first.

Ah, younger bruv is stepping up.

-Yes.

-OK, so please take your positions. Let's play.

OK, gang, here is your first password.

Let's have a little look.

As you can see, we are looking for a five-letter password and there is a

hint to help you.

Let's have a look and see what that is.

It's a song title.

We tossed a coin backstage. Jay, you're going to go first.

So, please, my love, can I have your first letter?

I'd like to start with an A.

An A, let's see if there's an A in this word.

Oh, very strong, right in the centre there.

Carry on.

OK. I think I'm going to go for an R.

For an R.

Let's have a little look.

What are you thinking?

OK, I think I'd like to try for a C.

A C.

Let's see if there's a C in this song title.

-Oh, I've got it.

-Oh, oh!

OK, I think I'd like to go for a Y.

A Y. Have we got a Y?

-Yes.

-OK.

-And...

-I'm going to go for a zee.

-A zee?

-Zed.

-Zed.

-Going a bit American on us there.

-Zee, zee?

AMERICAN ACCENT: Zee, let's have a zee,

let's see if there's a zee.

Yay!

Well done!

Listen, you've cracked the first password, which is Crazy.

Didn't even give Dean a chance!

Sorry, Dean.

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

Please choose two of these mystery letters, my love.

-OK.

-Off you go.

Lovely. Ooh, yes, interesting.

Lovely. So, Jay, you know two of the letters that are not in this final

password. Best of three, Dean, please don't worry.

It's now time to play password two.

APPLAUSE

Right. Here is the second password, good luck.

OK, we're looking for... Oh, it's a big'un.

..a nine-letter word here.

Let's see what the hint is.

City.

Jake, it's your turn to go first.

Can I have your first letter choice, please?

So, we shall start with an I.

I. Lovely.

-Aye-aye.

-Aye-aye, Captain.

Let's have a little look, see if there's an I.

Very good. Still your go, Jake.

Let's go with an A.

A. Another vowel, sensible.

Let's have a look.

Yes, we do.

Next choice, please, my love.

Let's try an S.

S. S.

-S for...

-Snake.

Snake. Serendipitous snake.

Oh, I'm so sorry, Jake, my love,

we pass over to Ali.

Please can I have...

..an E.

You'd like an E, you absolutely may have one.

Is there an E?

Yes. Well done.

Jay's rubbing his palms quite nervously.

-R.

-R.

Do we think there's an R in this city?

Let's have a little look.

Have we got an R?

Ooh, now, that is very good,

you've got the first two letters there.

-Can I go for an M?

-M?

Let's go for M, let's have a little look.

In this city... No.

Don't worry, Ali, don't you worry,

still a long way to go with this.

Jake, what are you thinking, my love?

Let's go with an O.

O. Let's see if there's an O

in this... No, there's no O.

Back to Ali.

-An L.

-L.

L for ludicrous!

Let's have a look, L.

No!

Sorry, Ali.

Ali, please, just keep yourself...

Everything is all right. I'm here,

don't worry, Jay's behind there.

Jake. Dean is getting a little bit cross, I can report, Jake.

Let's go for the last vowel, the U.

U, let's see if we've got a U in this pesky city.

U... No.

Oh, wow.

-I've got it.

-Ali.

-K.

-A K.

Let's see if we've got a K in this city.

Wow. I still don't know what it is.

Ali.

-V.

-V.

V for very, very good.

V.

Ooh! Oh, hello, yes.

-J.

-J.

Have we got a J in this city?

We do. Oh, my God.

And what's the last letter going to be, Ali?

A Y.

Have we got a Y in this city?

Let's have a little look.

Yes! Well done.

Well done, Jay, listen.

Like skittles, you've cracked the second password,

which was Reykjavik.

Of course, that means you are going straight through to the semifinal,

so congratulations.

Come on in, guys.

APPLAUSE

Now, Dean, I hope you're not going to be arguing

all the way back to Brighton.

-There's a possibility but...

-A possibility.

It's been so lovely having you here.

-Thanks for having us.

-No, it's been great.

But once again, as a reward for cracking a password,

you get to choose two more letters from the old Letterbox.

Just the grey ones. Let's see.

Go, Ali.

Lovely.

Now, Jake and Dean, sadly this is the end of our road here today.

Thank you so much for being with us, Dean and Jake.

APPLAUSE

Now, Jay and Ali, the big news is,

you've got four of those letters that are not in the final password.

But now it's time to meet our next contestants in heat two.

Hello, and welcome to Carolynne and David.

-Hi, Mel.

-Lovely to see you.

-Hello.

What a lovely waistcoat that is, David.

-It's lovely, isn't it?

-It's very perky.

Now, how do you two know each other?

-We're married.

-You're married.

How long have you been married?

15... 15 years.

What do you get on your 15th anniversary?

-Is it tin or something?

-No.

-Nothing.

-A placard saying "Well done".

Yes. Welcome to Letterbox, it's really nice to meet you.

And you, my friends, are up against Nadia and Sadiya.

Lovely sort of rhyming, it's very pleasing, that.

Nadia and Sadiya.

Yeah, we have a third sister, she also has a rhyming name so...

What is she, Radia?

She's Aliya.

Aliya, Aliya.

Is she between you two?

-She's between, yeah.

-She's between.

And who's the...?

I'm the oldest. And Sadiya's the youngest.

Now, Sadiya, I understand that Nadia likes a bit of a celeb spot.

Yeah, that's an understatement.

Really? To what lengths would your sister go to, I don't know,

get a selfie or an autograph from someone that she likes?

Just, you know, waiting out in the rain sometimes.

Light drizzle, sometimes.

Can I ask for whom?

-Anyone, really.

-Peter Purves?

-Anyone.

-Valerie Singleton?

-Lesley Judd?

-Who are these people?

Yes, exactly. Exactly.

They are absolute heroes from the 1970s, so a little bit old for you.

Anyway, listen. That is not important.

What's important is this.

Now, remember, whoever cracks the most passwords will be going through

to play Jay and Ali in the semifinal.

Carolynne and David, can I ask you who is going to be going first?

-I'm going first.

-David. Lovely.

And Nadia and Sadiya, who's going to go first?

-I'll be going first.

-Nadia, because you're the elder sib?

-I'm the oldest.

-So you feel...

She'll just blame me.

OK, so please take your positions and let's play.

-Right.

-Let's get cracking.

Here is your first password.

Have a look at this.

So, we're looking for a five-letter word.

We'll give you a hint.

Your hint for this word is food and drink.

OK, so we tossed a coin backstage.

Nadia, you're going to go first.

Can I have your first letter, please?

Could have an I, please?

I, you most certainly can.

Let's have a...

Ooh, Nadia, I'm sorry.

Would've been too easy.

Doesn't matter, doesn't matter.

David, what do you think?

I'll start with an A, please.

An A?

-A, yes.

-The first letter of the alphabet?

The very first one.

No.

Oh. Interesting times.

-Nadia, what are you going to go for?

-Can I have an E, please?

E, absolutely.

Have we got an E in this word?

Let's hope. Yes, nice.

What are you thinking now?

Could I have an O, please?

An O, you absolutely may.

O.

Sorry, Nadia.

Goes back to David, what do you think, David?

-R.

-R.

-Arr.

-Arr.

-Arrr.

Arrr. Let's have a look and see if we've got an R.

Have we got an R? No.

No! Nadia.

Can I have a U, please?

A U? With my pleasure.

Let's have a look and see if we've got a U.

Yes, well done.

Now, Nadia, still you.

-A T, please.

-A T.

A T...

No T.

No T. David.

Let's go with a G.

-A G?

-A G.

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

Have we got a G?

Yes.

David.

A P.

P. Is there a P in this food and drink?

No.

Nadia.

Could I have a D, please?

Absolutely. Let's see if there's a D.

We do have a D, well done.

OK, could I have an F, please?

F. Have we...

Yes, we do. Fudge!

Well done, Nadia!

Well done, Sadiya.

Now, listen, you cracked the first password,

which was Fudge.

And as you know, you get to choose two letters from our remaining ones

here in the Letterbox. Not the red ones.

-This one. Whoops.

-There we go.

And another one, lovely.

So those two letters are important, Nadia.

You probably know, because they are not in this final password, OK?

Now it's time to play password two!

Exciting times.

Now, listen, Sadiya, you are 1-0 up,

so crack this next password and you sisters will be going through to the

semifinal. No pressure on either of you.

Good luck. Here is your second password.

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

What's our hint going to be for this?

Animal kingdom.

Carolynne, it's your turn to go first.

-OK.

-Can I have your first letter, please?

I'm going to go for E, please.

E, let's have a little look.

Have we got an E?

Yes, we've got two of them!

-Ooh.

-That's a cracking good start, Carolynne,

what are you going to go for next?

OK, we'll go back for an A.

An A, we're going to go vowel-wards.

No.

No, interesting times.

Sadiya, what are you thinking?

I'm going to try for an S, please.

S. Here we go, S.

No, goodness. Carolynne.

-I, please.

-I.

OK, let's see if we've got an I in there.

No. Sadiya.

I'm going to try an N, please.

-N.

-N.

N for naughtiness.

Let's see if there's an N in there.

No. Carolynne.

-D?

-D?

Surely, surely!

Oh, well done.

Right.

-Animal.

-OK.

I can see a food in there

but I can see a food in mainly anything.

L, please.

L. L?

# La la la laaaa... #

-No.

-No.

Can I try a Y, please?

A Y. Let's see if we've got a Y.

Have we got a Y? No, we don't.

Now, your sister, there's a lot of this going on.

There's a lot of this, as if she might know what it is.

-Carolynne.

-OK.

-H.

-H.

Let's have a look.

-Very good.

-Oh!

Sorry.

Give us your next letters.

-G.

-G.

Have we got a G in there?

Very, very good choice, two Gs.

And your final letter choice, please, Carolynne?

-O, please.

-O.

Hedgehog.

Now, listen, congratulations,

-Carolynne, that was absolutely brilliant.

-Thank you.

You cracked the second password and you, of course, can choose

two letters from the Letterbox.

Not the red ones, please.

Choose away, my love. Good.

So both pairs have cracked one password apiece,

so we'll be going to a decider,

to see who goes through to the semifinal.

This is very exciting.

-Who's going to play?

-David.

-David is going to play.

-Nadia.

Nadia is going to play.

So let's play the third and deciding password.

Well, well, well, exciting times here in Letterbox land.

Very, very good luck to both of you.

Here is the deciding password. OK, what have we got?

We are looking for an eight-letter word and the hint is...

weather. Nadia, it's your turn to go first.

Can I have your first letter, please?

Can I have an A, please?

A, good safe start,

let's have a little look.

Oh, we certainly do.

A is the Fonz's favourite letter.

A!

Still with you, Nadia.

Hey, I'll have an E, please.

E, let's see if there's a little E

in that weather word.

No, no E.

David, what are you thinking?

Um, go with an H.

Let's see if we've got an H.

H for...

Have we got an H?

No. Right, back with you, Nadia.

Can I have an I, please?

I, you certainly may.

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

Very well done.

Third letter there. OK.

Off you go again, Nadia, what are you thinking?

Nothing.

Nothing at all?

Could I have an R, please?

R, yes, R.

Very good.

Oh.

Your sister looks like she might just be...

Oh, no.

Yes, she's huffing and puffing behind you there.

-Oh, no.

-Right, what are you thinking, Nadia?

Could I have a T, please?

At T, T, my treasure,

you certainly may.

T. T. No, no T.

David.

Oh, it's a pesky one, this one.

-An L.

-An L.

-L.

-L, David.

Let's have a look.

-Well done.

-Right.

-Well done.

-Oh.

Now, there was a little peep.

Yes, I heard that.

There was an "Oh!" from Carolynne, behind you.

Ah, what about a C?

A C. Have we got a C?

No C. Nadia.

OK. OK.

OK. Nadia, do you need...

Do you need medical assistance?

-B.

-A B.

B for butter. Have we got a B?

I see where you're coming from now.

Yes.

Yes, yes, we do. Nadia.

Could I have a Z, please?

A Z, you most certainly may.

We do, we've got two of them.

-What's the last letter?

-D, please.

A D, have we got a D?

Yes!

Oh, Nadia, come on, bring it in.

APPLAUSE

Bring it in. Oh, my goodness.

Nadia. I thought you were going to have a little turn there.

Are you all right now, are you OK?

-I am!

-OK. Is she often like this, Sadiya?

-She gets like that.

-She gets like this, OK.

-Listen, congratulations.

-Thank you.

You've won that all-important password,

which means that you and Sadiya are through to the semifinal.

APPLAUSE

Carolynne and David, oh, I saw that look she gave you there, David.

Oh, no. Carolynne, it was very tense up here.

-It was very tense.

-It was.

His brain went somewhere, probably in a blizzard.

A blizzard of fudge.

-Yes.

-So, David, Carolynne,

can you please hand over those letters to Nadia and Sadiya, via me?

I'll be the conduit.

There you go, you can take those through to the semifinal with you.

Thank you so much for playing, David and Carolynne.

-Thank you.

-Good luck, girls.

Right, Nadia, Sadiya, listen, you've got four letters now to help you.

You know they're not going to appear in the final password,

so you stay there, as it's time to bring back Jay and Ali

to play the semifinal.

So, Jay and Ali, Nadia and Sadiya, welcome to the semifinal.

In this semifinal there's just one password to crack

and it is the name of a famous person. OK.

And they can be alive or dead.

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

and play for the money. And this time, you're playing together.

Let's play.

So here is your semifinal password.

Have a little look.

What have we got?

Right, first name, four letters,

second name, five letters.

Now remember, we're looking for a famous person, OK?

We tossed a coin backstage.

Jay and Ali, you won the toss, so you're going to go first.

Can I have your first letter, please?

What are we thinking?

Is it my, I'm going to, OK?

-Yeah.

-An E, please.

An E, come on, Ali, let's have a little look.

This famous person.

We do. The very last letter of their surname.

That helps you along a bit. What are you going to go for now?

Well, I just don't know, really.

-I don't.

-I mean, listen, I had a go, it's now your turn.

-Go for it.

-Nice. Fairness, fairness.

We've negotiated, I'll go for an A.

A, OK, We'll go for an A. Jay says A again, let's have a look.

-A.

-Oh, yes.

Well done, well done.

-Great.

-Back to you, Ali.

An O, please.

You're going to go for an O. Let's have a look and see if there's an O.

Come on. Yes.

O, well done. Three vowels straight out.

OK, now it gets interesting.

Ali, what are you thinking?

I'm thinking, I'm thinking an L.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Or an R.

-Either.

OK, an L, please.

L, let's see if there's an L in this name.

-Oh.

-No L.

No L. Right.

Over to the sisters.

OK.

Can we go for a Y, please?

A Y.

Let's see if we've got a Y in this person's name.

Y. Y, oh, oh.

Sisters, share your thoughts, what are you thinking?

OK, can we go for an N, please?

-An N?

-For November.

N for November.

We do.

Two Ns.

INDISTINCT WHISPERS

Right. Nadia and Sadiya.

Yeah, so can we go for a J, please?

A J.

Let's see if there's a little J in there.

A J, yes.

Can you give us another letter, Sadiya?

Can we go for a H, please?

-H.

-Yeah.

Yes, there is.

And your final letter?

-A W, please.

-A W.

-Is there a W? Yes, there is.

-Awesome.

Now, did you suddenly think it was John Payne?

She still thought it was Payne, when I said W, she said, "Isn't it a P?"

Who... Who's John Payne?

Who is that?

Who's John Wayne?

-Sorry.

-Sadiya.

Sorry, I don't deserve to win it.

Listen, my love, the most famous ever cowboy/film star, John Wayne.

-He was a little bit before your time.

-She was born in the '90s.

She was born in the '90s.

He was born in the 1890s, quite possibly.

Anyway, listen, you are through to the final.

APPLAUSE

Oh, Jay and Ali.

So close.

Never mind, eh. It's been absolutely fantastic having you on the show.

Could you please, if you will, hand over your letters to the sisters?

Those are for you, my loves.

-Well done, guys.

-Good luck.

-Jay and Ali, thank you so much for playing.

-It's been lovely having you on.

-Thank you.

APPLAUSE

Nadia, Sadiya, you now have eight letters to help you crack that final

password. It's time to unlock the Letterbox.

Well, well, Nadia, Sadiya, the sisters,

you've done brilliantly to get this far,

and now just one final password stands between you and the £2,500,

which I can see in the old Letterbox.

Here it is.

Let's have a look at this.

OK. This time we're looking for an eight-letter password.

No repeat letters, OK?

Now, this can be any word at all

and I'm afraid there's no hint to help you. OK?

But what you do have, of course, is those eight cheeky letters there,

which you've won along the way,

which we know are not going to be in this final password, OK?

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

Let's have a little look.

So we've got a W.

We've got an X.

A V.

An A.

I could have been a hand model.

A Y.

An N.

A T.

And a Q.

Right, now, the good news is

you've eliminated these letters from the final password.

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

£500 will be docked from your £2,500 prize money.

So should you make five mistakes, yeah, it's a big fat nada.

As John Wayne would have said, Sadiya, "Nuttin'."

Listen, good luck, Nadia and Sadiya, and let's unlock the Letterbox.

Come on.

Shall we go for, like, a vowel, so shall we...?

E. E or I, which ever.

-E is the most common one.

-OK.

-Shall we try that?

-Let's go for an E.

You're going to go for an E?

-E.

-You're going to go for an E.

-Yes, we do.

-Starts with it.

Starts with an E, well done. That's a very, very good start.

£2,500 still intact.

So, it looks like there would be another vowel in there.

Shall we just work our way across it, shall we just go for an I?

-Yeah.

-Do you think, Yeah?

-Go for an I? Yeah. You sure?

She's quite bossy, isn't she, Sadiya?

That's good, it's all good, she's the elder sister.

Let's go for an I.

Yes, we do. OK.

That was a good tactic, well done. What are you going to go for next?

Shall we just go for another vowel or something?

-Do you want to go for another vowel?

-I don't.

-R is the most common.

-R is fine.

-OK. We'll go for R, please.

You want to go for an R.

Is there an R in this final password?

Yes, there is.

Oh, well done, girls.

Look at that. That's helpful, isn't it?

-Yeah, yes. So...

-To a degree.

-A bit.

-A bit.

Right, what's the next one going to be?

Um...

-What are you thinking, girls?

-Let's go for it, let's go for it.

-M.

-M for mighty.

No.

OK, listen, all is not lost. Only £500 was lost.

£2,000. Come on, that's still pretty good, isn't it?

What are you going to go for next, though?

-That's the key thing.

-Um, there could be an EU word,

those are common words. Could we have a U, please?

U, have we got a U in this final password?

Yes, we do.

-So shall we go for a P?

-Yeah, let's go for a P.

We're going to go for a P, please.

OK, have we got a P in this final password?

Yes. My friends, we do have a P.

-We've got it.

-Have you?

-We think we know it.

-Have you indeed?

Oh, they're holding hands.

Breaking my bones.

Her hands are really soft because she doesn't do any work.

Crack on, crack on with the game, please.

Can we have a H, please?

An H.

Have got a H in this final word?

Have we?

Yes, we do.

Nadia, keep calm.

-Can we have an O, please?

-O.

Let's see if that's featured in the final word.

There you go.

And the last letter, please, girls.

I don't trust you to say it.

-Can I have a C, please?

-A C.

Let's have a look.

-Oh, my God.

-Yes!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You owe me £500 for the end.

Which is all here. Listen,

I love this bit. I'm the banker, I'm the banker.

There we go, that is 2,000 freshly milled notes for you, ladies.

Euphoric, which is what I sense you might be now.

-Yes.

-Nadia, Sadiya, thank you so much for playing.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

Amazing. And just to check,

we've got an E, we've got at U, P, H, O, R,

I, C.

It's what you are now.

It's euphoric, absolutely.

Will anyone else be able to crack the password?

Feel free to pop your head through our Letterbox next time to find out.

Goodbye. See ya.