Charles’ (Matthew Macfadyen) appearance on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? played out on the latest episode of Quiz.
If you want to avoid spoilers for Quiz, stop reading now.
The episode opened with Adrian (Trystan Gravelle) in a remote part of Wales and he called Diana (Sian Clifford) to find out how Charles was getting on preparing for the show. Diana told her brother that Charles needed all the help he could get.
The next day Charles went to the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? studios where he went through a trial run on the fastest finger round. He came last and the floor manager realised that Charles was the husband of Diana.
In his dressing room, Charles used a test machine to practice and he was interrupted by Adrian, who knocked on the door. When it came to the taping time, Charles won the fastest finger round and made his way to the hotseat.
Between takes Chris (Michael Sheen) asked Charles who he was in the studio with and he realised that Diana had been in the hotseat on a previous episode. Charles took his seat and the questions started, with Charles moving through the first question with relative ease.
A second question about Coronation Street threw him and Adrian stood panicking backstage with his mobile phone in his hand but no reception. Adrian went outside to make a call and was caught by the runner who told him to go back inside.
Charles asked the audience to help him with the answer and he got it right. For the following question he phoned a friend, and Adrian was once again caught outside the studio on his phone. After getting that question right, time was called on the filming and Charles was told he’d have to come back the next day. Chris read out the names of the next contestants taking part in the fastest finger round and Tecwen Whittock (Michael Jibson) was one of them.
The floor manager visited the Ingrams in the dressing room to give them their hotel details but Charles insisted they had to return home. Diana excused herself and called Tecwen for a quick chat.
When filming resumed the next day, Charles took his seat as Diana and Tecwen watched him from the audience. Charles told Chris that he needed to be more confident as he’d given away answers he should have known the day before.
Resuming at the point of winning £8,000, Charles deliberated over his answer and the runner told the control room that she thought he would be out of the chair very soon. As Charles read the answers out loud, Tecwen coughed when he said the right one and Charles got it right.
Moving on Charles was asked a music question for £32,000 and once again he read out the answers. Tecwen didn’t cough and Diana looked nervous. Charles used his final lifeline but he still didn’t know the answer. As he deliberated back and forth, Diana coughed when Charles said Craig David. Explaining his answer after saying he didn’t know who Craig David was, Charles got the answer right.
David Briggs (Elliot Levey) made an emergency call to Paul (Mark Bonnar) and told him he believed that Charles was cheating somehow. Paul agreed to come down from his office and watch the recording.
Once again Charles cycled through the answers until he got the correct one and the production team were suspicious about how Charles was getting the right answers. Chris held him a cheque for £250,000 but quickly took it away, tore it up and moved on to the half a million question.
Charles confidently verbalised the answer for the next question while Diana looked nervous. Using the same technique, Charles talked through the answers and Tecwen coughed when he heard the right answer. When Charles changed his answer, Chris made a joke, and he won £500,000.
As the show progressed to the final question, the floor manager realised the glitter wasn’t in place in case Charles did get to £1 million. As Charles read through the answers, Diana made a comment that was noticed by the control room. Paul arrived on the floor and watched as the scenario unfolded.
Diana grew frustrated in the audience and Tecwen asked a fellow contestant if he knew the answer. Charles claimed not to know what a googol was but was adamant it was the correct answer shortly after Tecwen coughed again. Before Chris revealed the answer, the production went to a break.
David told Paul they should stop filming but Paul insisted they continued filming. Chris noticed David and Paul stood in the wings, and filming began again. Charles was told that he’d won £1 million and Chris dashed over to his seat to congratulate him. Diana ran down from the audience in tears and embraced Charles.
As Charles was showered in glitter, David and Paul looked very suspicious in the wings.
Charles and Diana took a taxi to a plush hotel where they celebrated their win. Meanwhile, back in the control room Paul was alerted to a coughing pattern that may have helped Charles win.
Calls spread between all the people involved in the show as Paul alerted them to the suspicion that Charles had cheated. While Charles and Diana lounged in bed, happy about their win, the ITV execs met with Legal to discuss the situation.
The execs watched a tape of the episode and they noticed that the coughing was quite obvious. They talked about editing out Charles and not airing his win but someone noticed the glitter on the floor as Tecwen took the hotseat.
David brought a publicist to see Charles and Diana saying they wanted to work out a PR plan. Charles let it slip that Diana and Adrian were writing a book about how to get onto Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and that sent alarm bells ringing. They returned to the ITV meeting and David was adamant they cheated.
Paul suggested that someone was helping get the right answers into the studio but said it wasn’t possible as no one had a mobile phone on them. David corrected him and said they never really checked. As the execs tried to figure out whether to cancel the cheque or call the police, they watched the episode again.
David realised that Diana’s brother had been at the studio but they were interrupted by the news of the 9/11 attacks on the TV.
Paul called the authorities who sat in on a call from Charles. He told Charles they’d referred suspicions to the police and would not be airing the programme or honouring the check. Charles said he refuted the accusations and hung up the phone.
Charles told Diana about the call and she worried about a photoshoot that had been set-up to tie-in with her book. Diana speculated that Charles may be the subject of a hoax and told him to call it back. When he refused, Diana called Paul to see if it was really him. When it was confirmed it was, Diana made sure they went to the press to talk about their win in an attempt to keep their money.
Paul spoke to Chris to see if he’d noticed anything and Chris denied he had. Meanwhile the control room worker showed the authorities the footage of the different coughs and honed in on Tecwen.
The police arrived at the Ingram’s house and arrested Charles and Diana. The police asked for a copy of Diana’s book
Jumping to the court case Sonia Woodley QC (Helen McCrory), defending the Ingrams and Tecwen, built her case that the trio were victims of coincidence.
Read our full recap of Quiz episode 1
Read our preview of Quiz episode 3
Quiz concludes tomorrow (Wednesday 15th April) at 9pm on ITV.
