Chris Tarrant Explains Why Quiz Failed To Change His Mind About Charles Ingram's Guilty Verdict

The former Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host has said there's "no question" of the Ingrams' guilt.

ITV’s latest hit drama Quiz came to an end on Wednesday night, leaving much of the nation second-guessing Charles and Diana Ingram’s guilty verdict.

The three-part series told the story of the infamous Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? “coughing scandal”, which saw the Ingrams accused of cheating their way to the gameshow’s top prize.

However, while the drama left many of us pondering whether the Ingrams were actually innocent all along, there’s one man who was less than convinced by the show, and that’s presenter Chris Tarrant.

During an interview with Radio X the morning after the Quiz finale aired, Chris insisted: “[There’s] no question in my mind at all that he was guilty!” 

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Chris Tarrant
Chris Jackson via Getty Images

Although he conceded that Quiz was “very well made”, Chris noted: “It is a drama, it’s not factual. So most of those conversations were made up because that’s what playwrights do.

“I mean the bottom line is he’s a rotter and a cad and a bandit and he was guilty. No question in my mind at all that he was guilty!”

Addressing his biggest “beef” with the show, he continued: “There were so many things in there that they didn’t include.

“My beef with it is that they did a very strange but very convincing defence QC – that woman, Helen McRory – a very good defence wind-up, but they did not do any prosecution wind-up. 

“Now, in any court of law the prosecution does the last bit and when the Major and his wife and Tecwen [Whittock, who also stood trial] were on the actual court case, the prosecution guy did the most brilliant sum up, bringing all the strands in – the coughing and the bleepers and all the stuff – and went to the jury and they went ‘guilty, guilty, guilty’.

“They didn’t do that last night at all, they just stopped on her, and you’re going ‘oh yeah, I think he might be… oh poor bloke, poor little man – all that – maybe he’s innocent’. I think it was – that bit was a bit of production company skulduggery basically. I mean, they wanted you to think ‘blimey I don’t think he was guilty’.”

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Chris Tarrant with the Ingrams in 2001
Shutterstock

One aspect of the drama that Chris was impressed by was Michael Sheen, who portrayed the presenter in Quiz.

He told Good Morning Britain earlier this week: “I thought ’he’s going to be just like all my mates, and all the impressionists, Mike Osman, Rory Bremner, etc… but Michael Sheen is an actor, he’s not an impressionist, he’s a superb actor.

“And because I’ve spent so much time with headphones on, I know what my voice sounds like. Radio people know what their voice sounds like, and I know exactly what my voice is, and I’m [watching Michael Sheen] going, ‘it’s pretty close, actually’.” 

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Michael Sheen in Quiz
ITV

Chris added: “And also, he does weird things with his body that I’m watching and going, ‘oh god, I do do that’. There’s a way he stands which… I don’t know, I actually do do that. He’s very good.”

The Chris Moyles Show, airs every weekday from 6:30am and on Saturdays from 8am on Radio X.