Suffolk couple Helen and Charlie who scooped £1 million on ITV’s Limitless Win on the ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’

A Suffolk couple who won £1 million on a TV quiz show have spoken of the surreal and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Helen and Charlie, from the Bury St Edmunds area, scooped the highest cash prize in the history of ITV’s Limitless Win, fronted by Ant and Dec.

The presenters said the atmosphere in the studio was as electric as some of the gloriously epic Saturday night TV they had been involved with such as Will Young and Gareth Gates in the Pop Idol final as well as Susan Boyle and Diversity on Britain’s Got Talent.

The couple scooped the life-changing amount after answering a question about how many years it had been since Blur beat Oasis to the UK number one spot with the song Country House.

On winning £1 million, the couple, who have two children, said: “It is taking some time to get used to and still feels absolutely surreal.

“We both feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to be on the show, and then even luckier that we got the right question at the right time and that we have walked away with the money.

“If we can do it then I'm sure others will be able to win even more in the future.”

Helen, 49, is an NHS communications director and Charlie, 47, is an NHS finance manager.

Charlie said they were going to take their time deciding what to do with the cash.

“We will pay off our mortgage and Helen has a significant birthday this year, so we are planning to go to New Zealand to see one of Helen's closest friends who lives there,” he said.

“We also need a new (second hand) car which might now be a bit nicer than we were planning.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us so we will use the majority of it to set us and our children up for the future.”

They realised the scale of the moment when they locked in the answer for the £1 million and the whole audience gasped, Charlie said.

“But although I knew the answer, the only reason we were able to walk away with the money is because Helen 100 per cent trusted me to lock the answer in – that level of trust means more to me than the money ever will,” he said.

Charlie is a big fan of both Blur and Oasis and saw Blur at Mile End stadium in London in the summer of 1995, where he thinks they debuted Country House.

He saw Oasis three times in 1995/1996 and remembers that the first conversation he had when he arrived for his first term at university in 1995 was about Blur versus Oasis.

“I guess I must have filed the whole Blur/Oasis thing next to significant events in my life, which also meant that there was no way I could be wrong,” Charlie said.

The first people they shared the news with the next afternoon – 18 hours later – was Helen’s mum and dad, who had been staying with them when they went on the show.

“Helen's parents only wanted to know the amount because they thought it would have been around the £50k mark – their jaws dropped when we told them how much,” Charlie said.

“They have been so supportive to us, as have all our friends and family, so it was lovely to have had that moment with them.”

The couple are fans of the show and said they shout at the telly when it’s on so decided to put themselves forward.

Ant said he jumped on and nearly broke the desk during the big moment.

Dec joked they would have to take £950,000 for a new desk from the couple’s winnings.

Ant said: “They will still get 50k though.”