Quiz (TV series)

Quiz is a British drama television serial developed for the ITV channel and AMC and written by James Graham, based on his play of the same name commissioned by William Village and the book Bad Show: the Quiz, the Cough, the Millionaire Major by Bob Woffinden and James Plaskett. It is directed by Stephen Frears and consists of three hour-long episodes. The series focuses on the disgraced Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? contestant Charles Ingram, a former army major in the Royal Engineers, and how he unexpectedly won the £1 million jackpot on the quiz show in 2001, followed by a criminal trial in which he and his wife were convicted of cheating their way to success.

Quiz
Promotional poster
Genre	Drama
Based on	Quiz by James Graham Bad Show: the Quiz, the Cough, the Millionaire Major by Bob Woffinden James Plaskett
Written by	James Graham
Directed by	Stephen Frears
Starring	Matthew Macfadyen Sian Clifford Mark Bonnar Aisling Bea Elliot Levey Risteárd Cooper Trystan Gravelle Michael Jibson Helen McCrory Michael Sheen
Music by	Murray Gold
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of episodes	3
Production
Executive producers	Dan Winch William Village James Graham Stephen Frears Andy Harries
Producer	Alice Pearse
Cinematography	Hubert Taczanowski
Editor	Pia Di Ciaula
Running time	46–54 minutes
Production companies	Left Bank Pictures AMC Networks
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	13 April (2020-04-13) – 15 April 2020 (2020-04-15)

Quiz premiered on ITV on 13 April 2020. The series received positive reviews from critics. Released during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns worldwide, Quiz received a large audience — similar to the Netflix documentary Tiger King — with the first episode being seen live by an average audience of 5.3 million in the UK. While the show was still airing, Ingram's Wikipedia article was one of the most viewed on the site.

Summary

In 2001, at the height of the public obsession with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, a British army major named Charles Ingram and his wife, Diana, apparently swindled the British game show. The morning after Ingram bumbled his way to a million pounds, broadcaster ITV and production company Celador realized something had been amiss: a series of coughs by the Ingrams' alleged accomplice, Tecwen Whittock, may have led Ingram to the answers. It was a massive scandal, resulting in a court case that found all three guilty.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.K. viewers (millions)
1	"Episode 1"	Stephen Frears	James Graham	13 April 2020 (2020-04-13)	9.05
Major Charles Ingram doesn't like quizzes, but for his wife Diana and brother-in-law Adrian, knowing the answer is a way of life. As both Diana and Adrian do not win as much as they hoped on the new TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, all eyes turn to an unsuspecting Charles to win the million-pound prize. Meanwhile, the repeated reappearance of middle-class, professional quizzers has not gone unnoticed by the ITV team and producer Paul Smith makes a vow to stop them by any means necessary.
2	"Episode 2"	Stephen Frears	James Graham	14 April 2020 (2020-04-14)	8.74
Charles returns for a second night in the hot seat with a new strategy. After his previously hopeless performance, he proves massively successful, his dithering answers invariably turning out to be right. However, the production team finds his sudden change of fortunes suspicious and begins looking into an unusual pattern of coughing from the studio audience.
3	"Episode 3"	Stephen Frears	James Graham	15 April 2020 (2020-04-15)	8.97
Hapless Charles, the man who has never heard of Craig David (one of his questions), is a national laughing stock amid accusations that he hit on right answers after affirmation coughs from his co-conspirators. Persecuted and hounded by the public and press, Charles, Diana, and Tecwen head to court. But his barrister works hard to try to convince the jury that Charles and his wife are innocent. At first, it seems the case for the prosecution is solid, but as the case for the defense gets underway, the jury learns there is far more to the story than they first thought.

Cast

• Matthew Macfadyen as Charles Ingram
• Michael Sheen as Chris Tarrant
• Sian Clifford as Diana Ingram
• Mark Bonnar as Paul Smith
• Helen McCrory as Sonia Woodley QC
• Michael Jibson as Tecwen Whittock
• Aisling Bea as Claudia Rosencrantz
• Trystan Gravelle as Adrian Pollock
• Elliot Levey as David Briggs
• Risteárd Cooper as David Liddiment
• Jasmyn Banks as Nicola Howson
• Andrew Leung as Kevin Duff
• Martin Trenaman as DS Ferguson
• Nicholas Woodeson as Nicholas Hilliard QC
• Paul Bazely as Lionel from Legal

Production

Development

In March 2018, Deadline Hollywood reported that Left Bank Pictures was developing a television adaptation of Quiz. In April 2019, Left Bank was in talks for Stephen Frears to direct the adaptation.

In August 2019, it was announced that ITV and AMC co-commissioned the drama series, with Graham writing and Frears directing all three episodes.

Filming

The scenes in the Who Wants to be a Millionaire? studio were filmed in a set constructed at Wimbledon Studios. Scenes were also filmed outside Southwark Crown Court and inside a former court building in Hammersmith.

International broadcasts

In Australia, the Nine Network, which aired both Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and its Hot Seat spin-off between 1999 and 2023, aired the serial in three parts on consecutive Thursday nights in late 2021. The first part, which aired on 25 November 2021, followed an episode of Hot Seat in which contestant Antony McManus became the show's final winner.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 95% approval rating based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 7.57/10. The website's consensus reads, "With clever writing, a slick production, and a pitch perfect Michael Sheen, Quiz crafts a captivating snapshot of a wild scandal that will keep viewers on their toes."

Ingram himself, who has always denied the charges, praised the series, calling it "balanced".

External links

• Quiz at IMDb