Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Quiz’ On AMC, A Miniseries About Britain’s ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ Cheating Scandal

In 2001, Major Charles Ingram won the top prize on the UK version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, and he immediately fell under suspicion, not only because his wife and brother-in-law had already been on the show, but because he started his stint so poorly. He, his wife and a third co-conspirator went to trial in ’03 for a cheating conspiracy that involved a “syndicate”, a homemade “Fastest Finger” machine and lots of coughing. Quiz is a fictionalized account of that scandal.

QUIZ: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A bank of cameras are shown as we hear reporters talk about Charles Ingram (Matthew Macfadyen, most recently of Succession fame) and his wife Diana (Sian Clifford) approaching the courtroom to stand trial in the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? cheating scandal. A graphic says “LONDON SEPTEMBER ’03”.

The Gist: When the two of them take their seat in court, they’re joined by Tecwen Whittock (Michael Jibson), who says, “Hello. I believe we’re charged with co-consipiracy. Nice to meet you… at last.”

After the crown’s opening argument, we flash back to the ITV offices in October of 1997. David Liddiment (Risteard Cooper) starts his first day as the network’s head of programs, and he’s met right away by the entertainment chief, Claudia Rosencrantz (Aisling Bea). He expresses to her that he wants “event” programming, where millions of people gather around the TV to watch the same show, like in the old days. Claudia has a thought about that: A simple quiz show format that is originated in the UK instead of imported from the US. Other networks have dismissed it because of its seeming simplicity, but Rosencrantz thinks there’s something to it.

At Celador headquarters, studio founder Paul Smith (Mark Bonnar) and producer David Briggs (Elliot Levey) are trying to firm up the game play of a show they call “Cash Mountain.” At a certain point, they settle on the simple question and answer aspect, with the money doubling with every question, so at a certain point, the contestant will have a lot to lose as they ponder their answer, which they’re given unlimited time to think of. And they’ll have three “helping hands”: Take out half the answers, ask the audience and phone a friend. “A pub quiz, a uniquely British invention combining our two greatest loves: Drinking and being right,” Smith says.

When they take the concept to ITV, Liddiment is doubtful at first, but then they have him play the game, and the tension he feels when he puts up his own money convinces him to order a pilot. With host Chris Tarrant (Michael Sheen) on board, the pilot for Cash Mountain is enough of a proof-of-concept that Liddiment orders a one-week strip of special episodes. Though he tells them to change the name and the set. Smith tells the set designers to put speakers in the chairs to pulse the bass up through the contestants’ bodies, make the studio dark, and all of the other signatures of the show that will become Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

In Upavon, Wiltshire, Major Charles Ingram is just starting a desk job at the Royal Army base there. The decorated veteran and his family recently moved to the small town to be closer to Diana’s family, who all play pub quizzes together and are quite competitive. When Millionaire is announced, Diana watches the first week with her brother Adrian Pollock (Trystan Gravelle). He becomes obsessed with getting on the show, calling into the contestant number many times until he gets in, and he makes it on the air, but doesn’t get past the Fastest Finger chairs.

The show is doing incredible ratings, and they’ve just sold the rights to ABC for an American version, among other international editions, but both Smith and Briggs get suspicious when they see Pollock show up four different times in the chairs before he gets in the Hot Seat. During this time, he makes a homemade “Fastest Finger” machine and also meets with someone from a “Syndicate” that will help him get in the hot seat and answer as his “cousins” when he does Phone-a-Friend. He ends up calling his father when faced with a question about Labor Day in the U.S., and his dad doesn’t know the answer.

Adrian ends up with £32,000, which he considers a disappointment that doesn’t cover his debts. He gives his sister the homemade “Fastest Finger” machine he used to practice with, and she makes it on, with Adrian in the audience. “I thought we got rid of you!” Tarrant jokes. Now the producers are definitely suspicious. When Diana ends up with £32,000 as well, she tells Charles that she’s giving some of the money to Adrian, who thinks he needs to run away to avoid people collecting on his debts. It forces both Adrian and Diana to ask Charles to try out for the show, something he doesn’t even want to do. In the meantime, Whittock, who’s gotten word of Adrian’s Fastest Finger machine, wants Adrian to make on for him, as well.

Our Take: Written by James Graham, James Plaskett and Bob Woffinden and directed by Stephen Frears (who is also an EP), Quiz is a 3-episode examination of the very real Millionaire scandal that resulted in suspended sentences for the Ingrams and Whittock, and caused Ingram to resign his commission. But, considering the show is more about cheating a game show and not about something like murder or treason, the writers and Frears give the show a tongue-in-cheek air about it that matches the gravitas of the scandal.

It’s a pretty neat little package: Episode 1 sets up the show’s origins and how Ingram became a contestant; Episode 2 goes over his two episodes in the Hot Seat, the first of which looked very shaky until he somehow righted himself the next night despite being unsure of many of his choices; Episode 3 covers the trial and media coverage.

Even with this relatively brief running time, there are a bunch of scenes in Episode 1 that would be considered filler. Oh, sure, watching Ingram sing “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” with his new boss is funny in a cheeky way, but it goes on too long, as does the scene where Smith and Briggs have Liddiment play the game to see how much tension the format really has. While it’s fun to see a fictionalized version of how a game show that’s now an institution got its start, it felt like a lot of throat clearing, considering that what Quiz is about is the scandal itself. What we would have preferred to see was less of the planning and setup, and more of how the first week of shows became such a big hit that people got obsessed with getting on any way they could.

The performances are great all around, though, from Macfadyen’s fumbling but sincere turn as Charles to Bonnar’s confident depiction of Smith, who was so sure of this simple format that he kept plugging away at refining it every time he pitched it to a network. But it feels like this could have been told better in a 90-100 minute movie than a 135-minute miniseries.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Charles walks onto the Millionaire set with Tarrant, about to start his second night in the Hot Seat.

Sleeper Star: Michael Sheen is almost unrecognizable as Chris Tarrant, but brings the proper amount of smarm to the role he had as the show’s host.

Most Pilot-y Line: When Liddiment couldn’t get an answer about the Titanic from the staff situated right outside his conference room, he says “You’re all fired!” which we guess is dry British humor, but seems a bit harsh.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Quiz isn’t exactly a heavy lift for the viewer; it’s only 3 parts — though probably would be better as 2 — and is about a scandal that has more silly elements (a lot of coughing, for instance) than serious ones.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Stream Quiz On AMC.com