Charles Ingram appeared on the show on Sept. 9 and 10, 2001, and while he successfully nabbed the £1M prize during the taping, the Ingrams never saw a pence of it.
He was acting like a bit of a lunatic, and it was clear to the viewers that she was simply horrified by it all. But the case against Charles argued that, each time he repeated the correct answer, either Diana or Tecwen would cough to indicate it was the correct answer.
There are some glaring omissions. Diana Ingram married Charles in 1989. Diana was a contestant on the show herself on 9 April, 2001, winning £32,000 after answering her £64,000 question wrong. According to production company Celador's review of the tapes, Charles had help from two people — his wife, Diana, and another contestant waiting in the wings, Tecwen Whittock.After the question and options were read, Ingram would mull over the answers aloud, as they're instructed to do because thinking silently to yourself is bad TV. They were tried and convicted of "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception" — aka fraud — and ordered to pay very costly fines in addition to suspended prison sentences of 18 months for the Ingrams and 12 months for Tecwen Whittock.Charles, a major in the British Army, also lost his job, but rebounded somewhat by making additional television appearances, sometimes with Diana — the pair even competed on another game show, Charles Ingram was in court again in late 2003 for an unrelated insurance fraud charge and was sentenced to community service. “I just feel very sorry for them.”The couple, portrayed on ITV’s hit mini-series Quiz which aired this week, achieved infamy in 2003 after they were found guilty of conning their way to win £1m on what was one of the country’s most popular gameshows.The programme’s producers were immediately suspicious of how the serving army major won the prize and reported him to the police.
Diana Ingram, the wife of Charles Ingram, from Wiltshire, who was accused of cheating in the UK version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Almost every audience initially concluded they were, before changing their minds after hearing the defence case.The production team said the three-part television adaptation was shown across consecutive nights in order to become ‘event television’ – the same justification used for the original series of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.Graham previously wrote Channel 4’s Brexit: An Uncivil War, which helped elevate political campaigner Dominic Cummings in the public consciousness.
On 9 and 10 September 2001, Ingram became a contestant on the ITV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, following his wife Diana and her brother Adrian Pollock who had each won £32,000 as contestants on the show. To help ensure his chance of being fully involved in the quiz, Ingram practised for about twenty minutes per day on a homemade "Fastest Finger First" machine. But that hasn't stopped people from trying to figure out a way to game the system for big profit. ‘coughing Major’ case was made into TV drama QuizCharles and Diana Ingram will ask the court of appeal to overturn their convictions for cheating on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Essentially, the trio were able, with this system, to play the game with the general knowledge of three instead of just one, though all three deny they cheated.Not only did the Ingrams not receive the prize money, but the appearance cost them dearly. – arguing that new audio analysis casts serious doubt on the evidence used to prosecute them.The human rights lawyer Rhona Friedman told the Guardian she had agreed to take on the case after becoming convinced the couple were the victims of a miscarriage of justice. There are inconsistencies between what is on one tape and another.“The idea is that Charles was primed to appear on TV for the first time ever, in front of millions of people, knowing that he was going to be cheating, with a guy sitting behind him that he hasn’t met coughing to indicate an answer, without giving any reaction. The couple now live near Bath where Diana Quiz, by the acclaimed writer James Graham, began as a hit theatre production, which allowed the audience to vote at the end of each half on whether they thought the Ingrams were guilty.
The couple now live near Bath where Diana runs a jewellery business. Major Charles Ingram won a million pounds on the British version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" but was denied that money and brought to court instead after he, his wife Diana and fellow contestant Tecwen Whittock were accused of engineering a coughing scheme to communicate correct answers. Her partner then was Jeff Brazier so he partnered with Diana. Charles William Ingram is a former British army major from Hampshire, born in 1963. He is currently working on a film adaptation of Ink, his play about Rupert Murdoch and the founding of the Sun newspaper.Quiz review – would you like to ask the audience, Major?Major Charles Ingram and his wife, Diana, arriving at court in London in 2002 where he was accused of dishonestly attempting to win £1m on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.Major Charles Ingram and his wife, Diana, arriving at court in London in 2002 where he was accused of dishonestly attempting to win £1m on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.Tecwen Whittock arriving at Southwark crown court in London in March 2003.From left: Sian Clifford as Diana Ingram, Matthew Macfadyen as Charles Ingram and Michael Sheen as Chris Tarrant in ITV drama Quiz. Here's what happened to the couple after the coughing scam was discovered and where Charles and Diana Ingram are now. It would have been the performance of a lifetime and he’s not capable of it.”Contrary to his public image as an aloof former British Army officer, Charles Ingram now maintains a In recent days he has shared his reminiscences about the show, saying that Diana has taken to calling him “Matthew” in reference to actor Matthew Macfadyen who plays him in Quiz.
Charles Ingram paired up with Jade Goody. She intends to allege that audio evidence may have been altered before it was presented to the jury.“Speaking to them and meeting them, I just know that they did not do it,” said Friedman, confirming the paperwork associated with the case will be filed this summer with hopes for a hearing at the end of the year.