Quiz - ITV

[southeastdweller]

It's a three part drama about the Who Wants to be a Millionaire coughing scandal in 2001.

www.radiotimes.com/news/2020-04-08/quiz-itv-drama-air-date-cast-trailer/

Anyone else planning on watching it?

An innocent person, determined to get their conviction overturned, is hardly likely to make fraudulent insurance claims and get themselves another conviction a few years later. You’d think they’d be more concerned than ever about proving themselves honest.

It seems extremely likely they did cheat. You also need to remember this was an ITV drama. Of course it’s not completely true to the characters - Charles was made out to be a bumbling innocent and his wife to be the schemer, whereas accounts from people who knew him say that he was far more knowing, and not altogether a pleasant sort of guy.

I am not sure I think they did cheat. How could they be sure that Diana and the other guy (can't remember his name) would know all the answers? Thy didn't know what the questions would be did they.

Also the guy that supposedly helped them didn't do very well himself did he? So he knew the answers to the Major's questions but not his own!

Also lots of the audience were coughing throughout the show. Any show you go to people cough almost throughout. I find it really annoying in the theatre or cinema. The Major had never met the other guy but recognised his cough. Seems very unlikely.

None of them had to know all the answers though did they? There are only 15 questions altogether. We don’t actually know how many Ingram knew himself- he may well have been bluffing at times when he gave the appearance of being uncertain.

I highly doubt it was as simple as ‘Ingram knew nothing and relied 100% on coughs from Whittock’ I imagine it was less black and white than that... but looking at the evidence overall, the phone calls from the wife to Whittock, the family’s obsession with getting on the show and winning, the dodgy behaviour of the brother during the recording and Ingram’s subsequent conviction for insurance fraud ... it doesn’t look good

Also, there could easily have been other signals which weren’t touched on in the drama- eg: stroking ear (he seemed to do that a lot!) means ‘I know the answer to this one but I’m going to talk around the houses first! They would obviously have tried to hide the fact they were cheating as much as possible- no one is going to answer all the questions they know within a couple of seconds and then behave totally differently for ones they don’t. And as for the point that there was lots of coughing generally in the audience- I imagine there may have been another signal from Ingram when he wasn’t sure he’d picked up the right signal from Whittock or his wife. Didn’t Whittock cough more than once during some questions?

Anyone else find the thing about the ‘cough expert’ professor a bit odd too? I mean, surely someone would know if they had a persistent cough? Why did it only come to light after Whittock was accused of coughing that he had about 3 or 4 medical conditions and coughed uncontrollably? He’d been on the show previously too... there was no mention of uncontrollable coughing then

Why did it only come to light after Whittock was accused of coughing that he had about 3 or 4 medical conditions and coughed uncontrollably? He’d been on the show previously too... there was no mention of uncontrollable coughing then

Not sure when you think his persistent cough should have come to light. His doctor and others were certainly aware of his it before the show, as was Whittock. Contrary to your assertion, the evidence is that he and others knew well before he went on Millionaire that he suffered from a persistent cough.

He hadn't been on the show previously. He was next in the hot seat after Ingram. He drank several glasses of water in the interval between Ingram's win and his appearance. His GP and others gave evidence that this would have controlled his coughing.

Surely if you knew you had a persistent cough, you’d have a bottle of water handy at all times during a recording?

Like I say, I don’t for a moment think it was as simple as Ingram not knowing an answer, Whittock magically knowing everything Ingram didnt, and the cheating being as simple as that. I suspect Ingram knew a lot more than he let on and there was a lot of bluster to cover up the fact that occasionally he needed help. It may only have been one question he relied on help for. That’s the nature of the game isn’t it? That it just takes one question to make or break a contestant.

I also find it hard to believe that anyone innocent and hoping to have their conviction overturned would, within a few years, pick up another conviction for fraud!

If you were going to cheat it seems strange you.would rely on coughing,it's like yawning once somone start ,s everybody does ,right now during the current crisis if I'm shopping I'm very aware of trying not to cough ,even though I don't have a cough but because I'm so aware of it the more I feel I can't clear my throat the more I want to!

I think coughing was tried after the pager idea failed. The whole thing seems quite bizarre until you remember there was a whole network of people obsessing about getting on the show and winning money. They really went to quite extraordinary lengths!

And as I’ve said all along, I suspect Ingram knew a lot more than he let on and the bumbling act was a bluff. He may well have known the £million answer. Perhaps even the one before. The whole premise of the game is that it takes just one question to bring a contestant down, so being able to rely on help for even one question could be the gateway to big money. When you look at it like that, you can see how they spotted a weakness in the show format and exploited it. It’s just erroneous to assume that Ingram was a fool and Whittock had some incredibly extensive general knowledge. It’s highly unusual for a game show to enable contestants to take as long as they want over answering, and to voice their ideas aloud, and the structure of the game (just not knowing one answer could lead to a massive loss) was different to other game shows too

I am not sure I think they did cheat. How could they be sure that Diana and the other guy (can't remember his name) would know all the answers? Thy didn't know what the questions would be did they

If Tecwin didn't know the answer then presumably he wouldn't have coughed at all and the Major would have taken the money at that point. Of course they wouldn't have known the questions that doesn't mean no one would try cheat, cheating would be to increase the likelihood of winning not to guarentee it.

IIRC, in the programme, didn't Tecwin check with the contestant next to him for that final question? Did that happen in real life?

Surely if you knew you had a persistent cough, you’d have a bottle of water handy at all times during a recording

You are assuming Whittock would have been allowed to take a bottle of water in to the recording. You are also assuming he would have anticipated that conditions in the studio would trigger his coughing. His coughing is mainly caused by hay fever and a dust allergy. He may have thought he would be safe in a TV studio. In any event, you clearly think you know better than the medical experts who gave evidence - and no, there wasn't a "cough expert" professor. There were medical experts whose expertise includes coughs.

I also find it hard to believe that anyone innocent and hoping to have their conviction overturned would, within a few years, pick up another conviction for fraud!

It was the kind of fraud that many people commit routinely - failing to declare previous claims when taking out an insurance policy. The prosecution claimed that Ingram deliberately didn't declare previous claims as he knew he wouldn't be insured. The defence claimed Ingram had simply forgotten about the previous claims which appear to have been made around 3 years before he took out this policy.

And the "within a few years" mischaracterises what happened. The conviction was within a few months of the Millionaire conviction and the offence was committed two years before he appeared on Millionaire. If he had not been convicted in the Millionaire case he probably wouldn't have faced prosecution in this case.

Ok so the Major may have known almost all the answers but nice and neat that Whittock knew the answers to the ones he didn't know. If Whittock was that clever how come he didn't win a large sum.

Also yes he could have coughed more than once for the right answer but with other people in the audience coughing how would the Major have recognised his cough? Surely he was sitting behind the Major so could not be seen?

My DH has a persistent cough and I think I could recognise his cough but not necessarily if there were lots of others coughing too. Also I have known my DH for 40 years, the Major didn't even know Whittock at all

Whittock asked the guy next to him the answer to the google question.
Then coughed at the required point - if I remember correctly.

‘It was the kind of fraud that many people commit routinely - failing to declare previous claims when taking out an insurance policy.’

So people routinely lie about previous insurance claims, or ‘forget’ that they’ve claimed huge amounts... okaaaay

Pretty sure at least one of the claims he made was for almost 20k! Easily forgotten..

From the documentary at the time, Whittock was on just after the major. He only won £1000 though.

From what I remember, his neighbour on the fastest finger realised what Tecwen was up to, just before the Googol question. He said he himself knew the answer, so he listened out for the cough, which did indeed come when the major mentioned “googol”. I think he was a witness in the trial.

Also yes he could have coughed more than once for the right answer but with other people in the audience coughing how would the Major have recognised his cough? Surely he was sitting behind the Major so could not be seen?

To be fair, if you're listening out for a cough and know the area and direction it should be coming from, and it comes shortly after mentioning one of the answers I don't think it'd be too difficult. Ingram couldn't see him but they were seated quite closely compared to the rest of the audience.

no one is going to answer all the questions they know within a couple of seconds and then behave totally differently for ones they don’t

But isn't that exactly what people do tend to do? If I'm sure of the answer to a quiz question I will come straight out with it, I won't dither around. If I'm not a 100% sure, or I hope I might remember or work out the answers to a question then I certainly would take my time.

Judy, most people wouldn’t cheat though. If you’ve planned to cheat, it’s not that much of a stretch to plan your behaviour accordingly is it ?

Pretty sure at least one of the claims he made was for almost 20k! Easily forgotten..

You are wrong. The claims he did not declare came to a total of £3k. There had been a claim for £19k but that was sufficiently long before taking out this policy that he didn't have to declare it.

Just doesn't make sense to me. I am not saying they were innocent but a lot of it doesn't add up.

We only heard the tape that had had Whittock's coughing made louder. A general cough among loads of other coughs just would not stand out I don't think.

And another claim for 19k on top of the ones he didn’t declare Gets more interesting by the minute!

Just to add that my understanding is that the claims concerned happened almost 3 years before he took out the policy that led to the conviction. He was supposed to declare claims that had happened within 3 years of applying for the policy. So it is by no means implausible that he would remember the claims but think they were more than 3 years ago.

So people routinely lie about previous insurance claims, or ‘forget’ that they’ve claimed huge amounts

Despite your scepticism, insurers detect over 350,000 false applications per year. It is thought insurers only detect a very small proportion of false applications. The true figure is thought to be in excess of 3.5 million. Even where a false application is detected it hardly ever leads to a prosecution. It is, in all honesty, astonishing that Ingram was prosecuted for this. Normally all that would happen is that the insurer wouldn't pay out on claims.

And another claim for 19k on top of the ones he didn’t declare

Yes, I mentioned that claim. I'm not sure why you find it interesting. There is no suggestion that claim was in any way fraudulent. He had been burgled. And, as he wasn't required to declare this claim, it was in no way relevant to anything.

prh you’re very heavily invested in defending Ingram’s insurance fraud and promoting his ‘innocence’

I am not defending his insurance fraud, simply pointing out that what he did is common and that people don't normally get prosecuted for it.

I am not promoting his innocence. Given the scientific evidence the original jury wasn't allowed to hear (which I understand shows that the coughs attributed to Whittock were actually made by at least two individuals) I do not believe the verdict was correct. But no, I'm no more invested in this case than I am in any other possible miscarriage of justice.