Beat Luke Littler live on Netflix today: one leg of 501, 20 challengers and £501,000

Netflix is showing "Beat Luke Littler" from Manchester Central today from 8pm: one leg of 501 per challenger, £501,000 in prize money, 24 players, 20 places.

Darts in prime time: tonight Netflix is broadcasting from 8pm German time (7pm local time) live from Manchester Central the event "Beat Luke Littler". The task facing the challengers sounds simple and is still brutally hard: whoever takes a single leg off reigning world champion Luke Littler wins £501,000.

One leg, one winner – and then it's over at once

The format is built for maximum drama. Every challenger gets exactly one leg of 501 points against Littler. Nothing more. If the world champion wins, the next player steps up to the oche. But if Littler loses a single leg, the main prize winner is decided – and the event ends on the spot. Anyone further down the running order doesn't get a turn.

24 players have been nominated, at most 20 of them will actually get a shot at Littler. 16 participants are seeded straight in and split into four groups of increasing difficulty. The draw decides the order in which they play. The remaining four places are handed out by the audience – and those players come right at the end, provided Littler is still unbeaten by then.

The 16 seeded challengers

Kasey Smith
Makinley Cooper-Johnson
Taylon Forrester
Tony Cole
Lauren Bloomfield
Zac Spain
Mark Pooke
Pwyll ap Llyr Edwards
Will Kemp
Brett Todd
Theodore Wallich
Pearse Mackle
Jasper Scarrott
David Wawrzewski
Jayden Walker
Mitchell Lawrie

Mitchell Lawrie is, at 15, one of the youngest in the field. He and Jayden Walker are seeded straight in and don't have to go through the audience vote.

The Netflix audience hands out four places

Eight more players face each other in four head-to-heads – not at the board, though, but at the remote control. Netflix viewers vote live on which of the two they want to see against Littler. The four winners of those votes get the last four places.

Katie Sheldon vs. Sonny Johal
Bhav Patel vs. Zac Griffiths
Fallon Sherrock vs. Jarod Becker
Jacob Gwynne vs. Ashley Coleman

The organiser describes these eight as the most experienced players in the entire field – with Fallon Sherrock there is even an internationally known player on the ballot, who of all people depends on the viewers' vote. Whether the nominees who end up not playing at all receive a fee is not known.

John McDonald comes out of retirement

For one night a familiar face is back on the microphone: John McDonald takes on the role of Master of Ceremonies. The 66-year-old said goodbye to the PDC after the World Championship final in January 2026 and was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame as a farewell. The comeback was apparently suggested by Littler himself.

"Evidently in the production meeting, Luke Littler said they should get me. I thought that was nice. He's a nice kid", McDonald said. And he went on: "It's a special event and for that reason I'll come out and do it." He sees his return to the screen above all as a win for the sport: "I'm looking forward to being back on tele, back entertaining, and once again darts is the winner."

Lineker presents, Osman supplies the numbers

Gary Lineker hosts the evening, with Richard Osman at his side as the statistics expert. The talent line-up also includes Angry Ginge, former darts pro Laura Turner and comedian Lee Mack. The live show is produced by Netflix and Workerbee, a Banijay UK company, in partnership with the PDC.

The field has deliberately been cast wide: ages range from 14 to 57, and the players come from the UK and abroad. Among them are schoolchildren from Wales and Scotland, a bin worker from Bedford, the manager of a Nando's branch, a former British Army captain and an Australian jockey with more than 7,500 races behind her.

Schedule and coverage

Date: Friday, 30 October 2026
Start: 8pm German time (7pm UK time)
Location: Manchester Central
Coverage: live on Netflix, an active subscription is enough
Running order: first the 16 seeded players in four groups, then the four winners of the audience vote

The number 501,000 is no coincidence, by the way: it comes straight from the 501 points every leg starts with. An outsider has to win just one of them tonight – against the best player in the world, on camera, with no second chance.