Sian Clifford & James Graham Tease ‘Hysteria’ Behind ‘Quiz’s True Story (VIDEO)
What would happen if someone were to cheat in one of TV’s biggest game shows? AMC’s Quiz gives viewers the answer to this question as it depicts the true and fascinating tale of Charles and Diana Ingram, a couple who were accused cheating their way to a million pounds playing the UK’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Taking on the sensationalized couple’s roles in the three-parter written by James Graham and directed by Stephen Frears are Succession‘s Matthew Macfadyen and Fleabag‘s Sian Clifford. The show follows Charles’ time as a contestant and the suspicion that sprouts when it’s discovered that coughs from the audience provided by Diana (Clifford) and an accomplice may have aided in cheating his way to the top prize.
“People had huge doubts about whether he did it authentically,” Graham tells TV Insider in an interview from TCA. “He was arrested, this case went to… a huge trial in England in 2003 and they were found guilty of the crimes. But our story resurrected, fifteen years later, questions whether or not the perceived narrative is quite true or not and whether… they actually did it at all.”
Michael Sheen (Prodigal Son, Good Omens) costars as Millionaire‘s host, Chris Tarrant, who was well known around the country, as Graham adds, “when [Who Wants to Be a Millionaire] was on originally in the UK, it was getting 19 million viewers, which is a third of the United Kingdom… So when people were accused of cheating on it people were obsessed.”
(Credit: Matt Frost/ITV/AMC)
While Clifford notes that the news about Charles and Diana did break in the United States, “it didn’t get hysterical as it did in the UK, and it was hysterical and it influenced the trial. It’s considered a trial by media and certainly that’s something I wouldn’t have considered until I read James’ brilliant script,” she adds.
Check out their full preview above and don’t miss Quiz when it debuts on AMC beginning May 31.
Quiz, Series Premiere, Sunday, May 31, 10/9c, AMC
