Chris Tarrant: 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire should be open to the public'

Chris Tarrant has revealed that he is "constantly arguing" for members of the public to be allowed back on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.

The 64-year-old criticised ITV's decision to axe regular editions of his long-running gameshow in January and claimed that he misses the opportunity to change the lives of ordinary people.

"At the moment there's no shows for members of the public and I think that's wrong," he told Radio 5 live's Richard Bacon. "I'm constantly arguing with ITV about it. I think the celebrity versions are the icing on the cake. But I think they are missing the cake.

"I think it is still about giving little old ladies £25,000 that will completely change their life. And I think we've kind of lost sight of that. It's got to be live, it's got to be celebs, it's got to be charity and all that. That's fine and they get big audiences. But I still think they should be doing good old Millionaire with members of the public."

The latest celebrity special of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, which featured the likes of Fern Britton and boxer Joe Calzaghe competing alongside their children, won 4.6m viewers back in July.

The show was given revamps in 2007 and 2010, cutting the number of questions required to win the top prize and introducing early speed rounds.

Watch Judith Keppel become the first winner of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in 2000 below: