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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Jessica Sansome

Who is Judith Keppel? When did she win Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Where is she now?

ITV is taking a trip back down memory lane with a brand new series from Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: The Million Pound Question is a new six-part series which starts tonight, Sunday November 22.

The episodes will revisit former winners as well as see celebrities who have also sat in the famous hotseat, such as Naga Munchetty and Catherine Tyldesley, chat about their time on the show.

There will also be a look through the archives for golden moments from former famous contestants including Jonathan Ross and Peter Kay.

The first episode will feature Judith Keppel, the first UK millionaire from the hit gameshow.

Judith looks back at her memorable time in the hotseat with Chris Tarrant by taking viewers step by step through her question journey.

She also talks about life after Millionaire and how winning the jackpot changed her life.

So,when did she win Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and what has she been up to since?

Judith became the first ever winner in November 2000 and the only woman to have ever pocketed the prize.

The £1million question saw her correctly guess that Henry II was the husband of Eleanor of Aquitane.

Twice-divorced Judith, now 78, was a newly-qualified garden designer at the time who was trying to set up her own business and struggling to make ends meet, the Mirror reports.

Judith when she won the gameshow in 2000 (Mirrorpix)

She was determined to get on the show and concocted a plan by calling 250 times.

After finally landing a place on the programme, Judith's time had come.

When she reached £16,000 before her episode ran out of time, the mother-of-three treated herself to a cashmere sweater from Harrods.

After winning the huge jackpot prize a week later, teetotal Judith, now a grandmother of five, had a simple celebration with a cola and enrolled on a four-day money management course.

With her cash win, she bought a relatively modest £20,000 Audi, holidayed in India and Asia and made a donation to a tiger conservation charity.

A distant cousin of Camilla Parker-Bowles, Judith swapped her Fulham townhouse for a small London flat, and bought a property in Albi, southwest France, before landing a regular role on BBC game show Eggheads in 2003.

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