If you're a fan of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire then you won't want to miss the new ITV drama Quiz, which starts tonight and relives the coughing scandal that engulfed Charles Ingram's £1 million win on the show in 2001.
The three-part series begins tonight at 9pm, with the second and third episodes airing on Tuesday and Wednesday night.
In September 2001, Ingram managed to win the top prize on the gameshow but coughing patterns from the audience left the producers suspicious that all was not quite right. The episode never aired and in 2003, Ingram, his wife Diana and college lecturer Tecwen Whittock, were found guilty of conspiring to cheat. However, they have always claimed innocence.
19 years on, Quiz will dramatise the whole saga, with Succession's Matthew Macfayden playing the role of Charles Ingram. "People may think they know this story but there is so much more to be discovered in this drama. I think the audience will find it both very interesting and surprising," said Macfayden.
It’s the sort of story where you can all sit down as a whole family, from grandparents to kids, and everyone will have a different opinion as to what happened. Whether they did it or not. It’s nicely nuanced. I was thrilled to bits to be a part of it."
Sitting across from Macfayden will be Michael Sheen, who transformed himself to play host, Chris Tarrant. Judging by his comments, the show should be a gripping watch:
It is an extraordinary story. It’s one of those things that has such potential. At first you think, ‘Oh really? A story about Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? Is that going to be that interesting?’ Initially you think it’s going to be a little bit flimsy, maybe. Then you realise that actually it’s a way to explore all kinds of much bigger, complicated, complex issues. That you can’t take anything for granted when it comes to how it looks on the surface.
Irish comedians Aisling Bea and Risteard Cooper also appear in the show.
Oh LORD I’m so excited to be in this. Yes, it’s a show about coughing during a pandemic - @SiansUniverse & Matthew MacFayden star in #Quiz written by the inimitable @mrJamesGraham & directed by Stephen Frears. All about THAT 90s coughing scandal of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? pic.twitter.com/haSkWG17KC
— Aisling Bea (@WeeMissBea) April 13, 2020
Given that we're all obsessed with quizzes to pass the time these days, this could not be coming out at a more perfect moment. We're looking forward to it.
