An unemployed father-of-three has become the UK's first TV quiz show millionaire.

Ian Woodley, 39, won the prize in a competition on Chris Evans' TFI Friday programme - and promised: "I'm staying unemployed".

He beat off six competitors by successfully answering the £1m question: "In the film American Pie, what was the pie made from - cherries or apples?"

Mr Woodley said afterwards that he almost gave the wrong answer because the right one - apples - seemed too obvious.

The Charlton Athletic supporter, from Lee, south London, said his first big purchase would be a corporate box at his club's ground, The Valley.

He promised to "sort" his children, Greg, 14, Laura, 11, and Michael, eight, - and offered to support his ex-wife if she wanted to give up her job.

The big prize was only the first in a series of Christmas million-pound giveaways.

It was followed by a £12.9m rollover jackpot on the National Lottery later on Christmas Eve on BBC One. ITV then weighed in with four editions of its quiz show phenomenon Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - one on Christmas Eve, three on Christmas Day.

But the show, hosted by Chris Tarrant, did not follow in TFI Friday's footsteps. It awarded a top prize of £125,000 on Christmas Day.

The only show guaranteed to create a millionaire, was Evans's, after running a quiz for several weeks.

Last week, 35-year-old insurance clerk Clare Barwick from Worthing, West Sussex won £1m on Evans's Virgin Radio when she correctly answered that writer George Eliot, and not TS Eliot, was really a woman.

Evans announced his plans to create two millionaires in September, which he said was in response to the lack of big winners on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

The big-money quiz - which has attracted audiences of up to 19m viewers for ITV - has only a given away a top prize of £250,000 so far, to Essex fire officer Jonathan Green in September.

Now TV executives and viewers will have to wait until its new series in January to see if Chris Tarrant's show can repeat what its US spin-off did last month - and actually give the top prize away.

Christmas also saw three ticket holders share a £12.9m National Lottery rollover jackpot. The numbers were drawn in a special programme on Christmas Eve featuring pop group Boyzone.

Cynics will say this seasonal generosity smacks of desperation rather than the spirit of goodwill.

Despite Chris Evans' talents for self-publicity, TFI Friday is regularly thrashed in the ratings by old episodes of The Simpsons running at the same time on BBC Two.

Over at ITV, network executives want to ensure the channel's share of viewing for the year is comfortably over 39%, justifying a hike in advertising rates.

Others - including BBC One's controller Peter Salmon - have pointed to reports that ITV executives, including director of programmes David Liddiment, are also in line for lucrative bonuses if the channel's ratings end on a high.

Quiz answers: 1 Jim; 2 Suede; 3 Braveheart; 4 Apples