It’s a story that most of us know about: the former army major who cheated the hit show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire out of, ahem, a million quid.
There was coughing from an accomplice and the major was found guilty of fraud. End of story? No, because this is tv and tv likes to eat itself, so now they’ve made a tv drama out of a drama about tv. Keep up. Actually, they’ve created a three-part belter.
In The Times (paywall) Hugo Rifkind calls it simply “sensational.” He muses how Michael Sheen has managed to add Chris Tarrant to the list “people who Michael Sheen looks uncannily like”. The New Statesmen’s Rachel Cooke noted that Quiz was directed by Stephen Frears, responsible for A Very English Scandal, and says “the drama itself was perfection: a delicious extended essay in what we might call Crap Britishness… It was quite delightful to see an ITV drama sending up its own former executives, television not only eating itself, but taking care to cover every morsel with tomato ketchup first.” In GQ Anna Conrad lauds the show: “The Ingrams’ likability in Quiz comes down to its sterling cast. It’s amazing the levels of pain, panic, stress and guilt that Matthew Macfadyen can express simultaneously.” She applauds the programme for generating empathy for the culprits, Charles and Diana Ingram.
In a new twist it is now reported that the Ingrams are considering an appeal against their conviction for fraud. No doubt, writer James Graham wants the rights…
First shown April 2020. Watch the trailer by pressing play on the show image, or by clicking here.
