Black was initially assisted by Christopher Biggins, but more famously for eight series by Bob Carolgees, famous for his glove puppetry act Spit the Dog (who previously appeared in the first series with a puppet ferrett), with Gordon Burns and Tessa Sanderson as roving reporters.

Other featured acts were "Cilla-grams," where Black would perform a song in a musical sketch relevant to the surprise a person was receiving (Example: a soldier was celebrating his 21st birthday, so the featuring song Black sang was "Celebration" by Kool & The Gang).

The concept of the first series had been to film surprising and often unusual moments similar to those previously seen on Game for a Laugh.

This included a phone game that used viewers numbers and answering questions to try and form a winning line.

In the show, Willoughby is joined by various locations reporters, these have included Marvin Humes, Mark Wright, Dave Berry, Peter Andre and Matt Johnson.

[4] A previously unbroadcast episode of the show, hosted by Cilla Black that featured appearances from Irish boyband Westlife and singer Gareth Gates, which was originally produced in 2003 to celebrate the series' 20th anniversary, was broadcast on ITV3 on 27 December 2015, four months after Black's death.

The theme song from series one to eight was written by Kate Robbins and was often imitated by Black impersonators, beginning "The more the world is changing, the more it stays the same...".