Tecwen whittock biography sampler

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But with success came a unique set of problems: the first was the formation of the “syndicate”, an underground network of quizzers who bent the rules to appear on the show multiple times – which tangentially resulted in ’s coughing scandal, the focus in Quiz, for which Charles and Diana Ingram and Tecwen Whittock were found guilty of cheating. It was said in court that Charles, the former army major who won the top prize of £1 million, listened for coughs from Whittock, who sat in the audience to steer him to the correct answers. That episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was never aired, as they underwent trial. 

What Quiz does well, with 19 years' worth of hindsight, is to humanise the scandal. Looking back at , the phenomenon of reality TV was at its peak, including the likes of Big Brother, Pop Idol, Popstars, Shipwrecked and What Not To Wear. The nation’s voyeurism carried weight, it was a time when public opinion could grant contestants wealth, possibly leading them to longer TV careers, or leave them branded with nicknames they could never escape (Nasty Nick).

In the later episodes of Quiz we see the full extent of the backlash aimed at the “coughing major” and his family. They’re mobbed by reporters, coughed at by strangers, spat at, egged – their dog even gets shot. As the Ingrams’ defense lawyer, Sonia Woodley QC (played by Helen McCrory) says in the show, it was a new era for Britain of justice as entertainment.

Quiz makes it easier to emphathise with the Ingrams. Diana and Charles are painted as awkward, stiff-upper-lip Brits, rather than sinister plotters – her obsessed with quizzes, him obsessed with her. Charles is shown being dragged into Diana’s fascination with the show. After she enters him as a contestant, he professes matter of factly in bed, “I don’t even like quizzes.”

The Ingrams’ likability in Quiz comes down to its sterling cast. It’s amazing the levels of pain, panic, stress and guilt tha

Quiz, the new AMC Sunday night drama, tells a story that is one of the U.K's most famous television scandals, but is much less well known in America. In the AMC miniseries, we see Charles Ingram (played by Succession's Matthew McFadyen) in court with wife Diana (Fleabag's Sian Clifford) after they were accused of deception after producers claimed they had cheated during Charles' appearance on the British version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

A bit of background on the couple's history on the quiz show first. Charles found himself in the hot seat after both Diana and her brother Adrian Pollock (Trystan Gravelle) had already been on the show and had both won £32, (around $40, today).

The pair were both involved in a group called The Consortium (called The Syndicate in Quiz) which worked to rig the selection process for the show, and then act as the 'phone a friend' for the contestants they managed to get in the Millionaire chair.

On September 9 and September 10, (as the show points out, just prior to the 9/11 attacks in the U.S.), Major Charles Ingram filmed his two-part appearance, at the end of which he won the top prize of £1 million ($ million).

However, producers were suspicious of how he had won, and his episode did not air. The makers of the show noticed, for one, that Charles had a habit of changing his answer to a right one at the last minute. For example, for a question where the correct answer was U.K. singer Craig David, he initially said he had never heard of him before eventually choosing him as the answer.

Crucially, these producers also noticed a series of coughs on the right answers of each questions, suggesting Charles was being led by an accomplice in the 'fastest finger first' chairs on the show. Specifically, the producers thought that Tecwen Whittock (Michael Jibson) was the one doing the coughs.

Eventually, Charles and Diana Ingram as well as Tecwen Whittock were arrested, and charged with procuring the exe