Chris Tarrant reveals his “beef” about Quiz show to Chris Moyles

16 April 2020, 10:59 | Updated: 16 April 2020, 11:31

"He was guilty!" Chris Tarrant reacts to ITV's QUIZ | The Chris Moyles Show | Radio X

The former Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host spoke to Chris Moyles about his take on the ITV show, which recreated the Major Ingram cheating scandal.

Chris Tarrant has appeared on The Chris Moyles Show to talk all things Quiz and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

The veteran broadcaster is one of the people portrayed on the ITV show, which follows the events of the huge Who Wants To Be A Millionaire cheating scandal, which saw Major Charles Ingram and his wife Diana cheat their way to winning £1 million.

Now, Tarrant joined Chris Moyles this morning to break down the myths about the dramatised show and explain why he has some beefs with it.

"There were so many things in there that they didn’t include," he revealed to Moyles.

"My beef with it is that they did a very strange but very convincing defence QC – that woman, Helen McRory – a very good defence wind-up, but they did not do any prosecution wind-up.

"Now, in any court of law the prosecution does the last bit and when the Major and his wife and Tecwen were on the actual court case, the prosecution guy did the most brilliant sum up, bringing all the strands in – the coughing and the bleepers and all the stuff – and went to the jury and they went 'guilty, guilty, guilty'.

"They didn’t do that last night at all, they just stopped on her, and you’re going 'oh yeah, I think he might be… oh poor bloke, poor little man – all that – maybe he’s innocent.' I think it was – that bit was a bit of production company skulduggery basically. I mean, they wanted you to think 'blimey I don’t think he was guilty'."

WATCH: Dom & Toby Tarrant recreate the Quiz cough from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire

The TV and radio personality also noted that the show didn't feature Ingram's other convictions: "But the other thing, which they didn’t touch on at all – before Millionaire and all that, before he came on, he’d already been done, arrested and convicted for an insurance scam.

"Something like £30,000 out of Direct Line or something. And he was found guilty on that too. I mean, this is not the behaviour of a serving British Army Major! He was definitely not straight down the line at all."

Chris Tarrant also believes that Matthew Macfadyen, who plays Ingram in the ITV show made the character much more "likeable",

"In my eyes, from my memory of him – wasn’t as likeable, nowhere near as likeable as Matthew’s portrayal".

And when it comes to the real-life Ingrams appealing their conviction, Tarrant is pretty resolute.

"And this thing now about an appeal – I mean it’s nearly 20 years since it happened, I can’t see how they’re suddenly going to launch an appeal, half the people involved are probably dead!"

Listen to the latest Chris Moyles Show podcast: