JANINE YAQOOB OLIVIA BUXTON Coughing Major was a cheat.. I don’t know why TV questions it
Chris Tarrant on new ITV drama
They don’t use the sum up by the prosecution. It’s bending the rules
TARRANT ON DRAMA HINTS THAT MAJOR WAS INNOCENT
A TV drama that suggests the cheating Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? “coughing Major’ might be innocent has been blasted by former show host Chris Tarrant.
Quiz, which begins tomorrow on ITV, re-enacts the 2001 scandal in which Charles Ingram won £1million through answers signalled by coughs from wife Diana and an accomplice in the audience.
All three were jailed after suspicious producers went through the tapes following the win – but drama writer James Graham says there is “evidence” the Major wasn’t cheating.
And credits at the end of the drama, starring Matthew Macfadyen and Fleabag’s Sian Clifford, say the Ingrams “are considering an appeal”.
But Tarrant stormed: “This drama never needed to be made. Somebody has to redress the balance and just remind everyone the Major is a crook. The Ingrams were guilty as sin.”
And he revealed an audience member even clocked the scam before producers.
The bogus win was never aired – with clips only surfacing on a documentary – and Chris says he was gobsmacked when Ingram had £100,000 and went for the million which meant getting 15 questions right.
“He was clearly a maniac as he kept shouting ‘crash and burn’. I thought ‘Are you mad?’ You have a hundred grand why are you going to crash and burn?”
TRICK
That moment saw a bumbling Ingram change his multiple choice answer to ‘who had a hit UK album with Born To Do It in 2000?’ seemingly out of nowhere. “Ingram says ‘I am pretty sure it is A1… Yes A1. Then he changes his answer to Craig David,” says Chris, 73.
Chris had on an earpiece and only heard the cough from the wife that did the trick when he heard the tape.
“There were so many all the way through. At one point he says ‘I am sure it is Berlin. I think it is Berlin… I suppose it could be Paris’, then Tecwen Whittock (the couple’s accomplice) coughs and Paris becomes the final answer. “I will never forget the noise in that studio. The guy defied logic.”
But when the cameras stopped rolling on the popular 19-million viewers show, Chris began to have doubts. “There was a guy sat alongside Tecwen who refused to clap, saying, ‘he was cheating’. Then a researcher girl told me the Major had told her to f*** off when she was putting his champagne on ice. I thought that was weird. And my manager also heard him and his wife arguing. Why, when he’d just won a million?” Chris’s theory is that Diana – who herself had won £32,000 on the show – wasn’t happy he’d pushed their luck. “I reckon if he had got to £125k or maybe even £250k and had gone ‘that’s it, let’s get out of here’ it might have been OK. But she said, ‘You’ve blown it’. They disappeared and they didn’t buy a drink for anybody.”
Police were called in and Ingram, his wife and Whittock were convicted by a jury for procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception.
The Ingrams got 18 months and Whittock 12 months suspended. Each were fined £15,000. With costs, the Ingrams had to pay £115,000.
Writer Graham argues: “Charles was painted in the press as an idiot, but he had been accepted into Mensa, putting him in the top 2 per cent of IQS.” The defence QC in Quiz, played by Helen Mccrory, says: “Chris Tarrant didn’t hear the cough, people either side didn’t, yet for some reason the Major heard the cough. I mean, really?” But Chris – who admits he likes Michael Sheen’s portrayal of him – fumes: “They don’t use the prosecution sum-up at all which is bending the rules. “Then when the credits come up saying ‘The Major and Diana are considering an appeal’ you think no way!” janine.yaqoob@mirror.co.uk Three-parter Quiz begins tomorrow at 9pm on UTV