Quiz (TV series)

{{Infobox television

| image = Quiz_-_ITV_Promotional_Poster.jpeg

| caption = Promotional poster

| genre = Drama

| based_on = {{Plainlist|

{{based on|Quiz|James Graham}}
{{based on|Bad Show: the Quiz, the Cough, the Millionaire Major|Bob Woffinden|James Plaskett}}

}}

| writer = James Graham

| director = Stephen Frears

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| music = Murray Gold

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| num_episodes = 3

| executive_producer = {{Plainlist|

Dan Winch
William Village
James Graham
Stephen Frears
Andy Harries

}}

| producer = Alice Pearse

| editor = Pia Di Ciaula

| location =

| cinematography = Hubert Taczanowski

| camera =

| runtime = 46–54 minutes

| company = {{Plainlist|

Left Bank Pictures{{Cite web|url=https://www.leftbankpictures.co.uk/quiz|title=Quiz | Left Bank Pictures|website=www.leftbankpictures.co.uk}}
AMC Networks

}}

| list_episodes =

| first_aired = {{start date|2020|04|13|df=y}}

| last_aired = {{End date|2020|04|15|df=y}}

| network = ITV

| theme_music_composer =

| opentheme =

| endtheme =

}}

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{{Cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-08-16/helen-mccrory-and-michael-sheen-lead-cast-of-new-itv-drama-about-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaires-coughing-scandal/|title=Helen McCrory and Michael Sheen lead cast of new ITV drama about Who Wants To Be A Millionaire's coughing scandal|website=Radio Times|language=en|date=16 August 2019|first=Kimberley|last=Bond|access-date=2020-04-14}} commissioned by William Village{{Cite web|url=https://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-commissions-three-part-drama-quiz-directed-stephen-frears-and-produced-left-bank|title=ITV commissions three part drama, Quiz, directed by Stephen Frears and produced by Left Bank Pictures|website=Press Centre|language=en|date=16 August 2019|access-date=2020-04-18|archive-date=2021-12-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204211053/https://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-commissions-three-part-drama-quiz-directed-stephen-frears-and-produced-left-bank}} and the book Bad Show: the Quiz, the Cough, the Millionaire Major by Bob Woffinden and James Plaskett.Quiz, episode 1, end credits. It is directed by Stephen Frears{{Cite news|last=Rajan|first=Amol|date=2019-04-23|title=Stephen Frears 'to adapt' Quiz for ITV|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-48028825|access-date=2020-04-14}}{{Cite news|title=AMC Commissions Three-Part Drama Quiz Starring Matthew Macfadyen, Michael Sheen, Sian Clifford and More|language=en-US|work=AMC|url=https://www.amc.com/talk/2019/08/amc-commissions-three-part-drama-quiz-starring-matthew-macfadyen-michael-sheen-sian-clifford-and-more|date=16 August 2019|access-date=2020-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200502151117/https://www.amc.com/talk/2019/08/amc-commissions-three-part-drama-quiz-starring-matthew-macfadyen-michael-sheen-sian-clifford-and-more|archive-date=2020-05-02}}{{Cite web|title='Quiz': Amazon minTv Quiz|url=https://quizahead.in/amazon-mintv-quiz/|last=Mousumi|first=Ojha|date=2021-09-01|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-04-14}}{{cite web|url=https://www.mindzoffer.in/| title=Amazon Quiz}} and consists of three hour-long episodes.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bt.com/tv/drama/quiz-itv-drama-michael-sheen-coughing-major-scandal-release-date-trailer-cast-characters-plot|title=Quiz on TV: From Charles Ingram to Chris Tarrant - who's who?|website=bt.com|last=Moir|first=Sophia|date=14 April 2020|access-date=3 May 2020}} The series focuses on the 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51645456|title=ITV drama Quiz explores Millionaire cough scandal|publisher=BBC News|website=bbc.co.uk|date=7 April 2020|first=Steven|last=McIntosh}}

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.{{Cite news|date=14 April 2020|title=Quiz and The Nest: Dramas score highly in Easter TV battle|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-52278494|access-date=23 January 2021}}

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.{{Cite web|date=1 June 2020|title=What's the true story of Charles and Diana Ingram's 'Millionaire' game show scam?|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-05-31/amc-quiz-charles-diana-ingram-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire-true-story|access-date=25 January 2021|website=Los Angeles Times|last=Zemler|first=Emily|language=en-US}}

Episodes

{{Episode table

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| viewersR = {{cite web|title=BARB 7-Day viewing data|url=https://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/four-screen-dashboard/|website=BARB}}

| country = U.K.

| episodes =

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 1

| Title = Episode 1

| DirectedBy = Stephen Frears

| WrittenBy = James Graham

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2020|4|13|df=y}}

| Viewers = 9.05

| ShortSummary = 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.

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{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 2

| Title = Episode 2

| DirectedBy = Stephen Frears

| WrittenBy = James Graham

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2020|4|14|df=y}}

| Viewers = 8.74

| ShortSummary = 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.

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{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 3

| Title = Episode 3

| DirectedBy = Stephen Frears

| WrittenBy = James Graham

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2020|4|15|df=y}}

| Viewers = 8.97

| ShortSummary = 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.

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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.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2018/03/who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire-cheating-scandal-stage-play-quiz-being-remade-for-tv-1202339137/|title='Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' Cheating Scandal Stage Play 'Quiz' Being Remade For Television By Left Bank Pictures|website=Deadline Hollywood|first=Peter|last=White|date=16 March 2018|language=en}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://tvtonight.com.au/2021/11/hot-seat-goes-for-the-million.html|title=Hot Seat goes for the $Million|publisher=TV Tonight|first=David|last=Knox|date=22 November 2021|accessdate=25 April 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nine.com.au/entertainment/latest/quiz-tv-show-true-story-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire-uk-cheating-scandal/8039358f-0859-48ae-a061-ee7b2d6c8e53|title=The real story of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? cheating scandal as seen on Quiz dramatisation|publisher=Nine Entertainment|first=Immy|last=Abdullah|accessdate=25 April 2024}}

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."{{Cite web|title=Quiz|website=Rotten Tomatoes|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/quiz |language=en|access-date=2022-10-08}}

Ingram himself, who has always denied the charges, praised the series, calling it "balanced".{{Cite web|title=Charles Ingram: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? cheat praises Quiz - as lawyer plans appeal|url=https://news.sky.com/story/charles-ingram-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire-cheat-praises-quiz-as-lawyer-plans-appeal-11974194|date=16 April 2020|access-date=25 January 2021|website=Sky News|first=Gemma|last=Peplow|language=en}}