Quiz stars: where are they now?

ITV miniseries Quiz drew to a close on Wednesday night, with critics and the public heaping praise on the show which told the story of Charles and Diana Ingram.

The couple hit the headlines in 2001 after being accused of cheating to win on TV quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionare?. Both were later found guilty during a lengthy and much publicised trial.

The couple were caught cheating after producers noticed suspicious coughs from a co-conspirator, Tecwen Whittock, when correct answers were read out.

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But, 20 years on, what happened to the real-life characters in this sensational story?

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Charles Ingram

The Daily Mirror reports that Charles Ingram, portrayed in Quiz by Matthew Macfadyen, “became a household name 19 years ago” when he allegedly tried to scam the quiz show.

The father of three, who has a degree in civil engineering, became a major in the British Army in 1995 at the age of 32 and was sent to Bosnia for six months as part of the UN’s peacekeeping operations in 2000.

Following the scandal on Millionaire, in 2003 the Ingrams were found guilty of “procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception”. They received 18-month sentences, suspended for two years, and were ordered to pay £15,000 each.

Later the same year, The Telegraph reports, Ingram was convicted of fraud for claiming £30,000 on invalid insurance. He had reportedly applied for an insurance pay-out after a burglary in August 2001 at his home in Wiltshire, but he had failed to declare £3,000 of previous claims when taking out the policy only a few weeks earlier.

As recently as this week, the Ingrams announced that they will ask the court of appeal to overturn their convictions for cheating on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, arguing that new audio analysis casts serious doubt on the evidence used to prosecute them.

Diana Ingram

Diana Ingram was training to be a teacher when she met Charles and they married in 1989.

I News reports that she had “previously made it to the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? hot seat where she won £32,000”.

The paper adds that she and Charles now live in Bath, where she makes handmade jewellery.

According to her own website, she designs necklaces, bracelets and earrings using “Murano glass beads, Swarovski crystals, seawater and freshwater pearls or crystals”.

Chris Tarrant

Tarrant, 73, became one of the UK’s most well-known TV stars after taking the hosting role on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? from the show’s inception in 1998. He ended up presenting the quiz series for over a decade, leaving in 2014.

Alongside the Channel 5 series Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railways, the TV presenter has featured in the ITV daytime game show Show Me the Telly.

I News says that in 2017, Tarrant became a continuity announcer for the Challenge channel.

In 2019, Tarrant was asked by This Morning hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford if he would ever return to host the show.

Tarrant said: “I did it for 15 years, about 700 shows, I loved it... we had a fantastic time, but I don’t want to do any more. So good luck, it’s a great show.”

Tecwen Whittock

Tecwen Whittock, a lecturer from Cardiff, was “convicted of helping Charles Ingram to cheat his way to victory”, according to The Telegraph. He was given a suspended sentence of 12 months and fined £25,000 for his role in the scandal.

The paper adds that “in the first few years after the trial, Whittock quit his job and attempted to carve out a career as an after-dinner speaker”.

The Telegraph says that Whittock would regale audiences with “very interesting and humorous anecdotes” from his part in the Ingram scandal, according to his now-defunct website.

He has since disappeared from public view.

Sonia Woodley QC

The Ingrams have always denied any wrongdoing and, during their four-week trial, were represented by defence counsel Sonia Woodley QC, played by actress Helen McCrory in Quiz.

At the trial at Southwark Crown Court, Woodley described Charles Ingram as “a hard-working soldier and law-abiding citizen”, urging the jury to consider the “nature of the man”.

The barrister returned to the public eye ten years later when she unsuccessfully defended entertainer Rolf Harris against allegations of indecent assault. She retired soon after the case.

Paul Smith

Paul Smith, played by Mark Bonnar, is the founder of UK production company Celador and the man who first pitched the idea for Millionaire to ITV back in 1995.

Heart Radio says that while executives at ITV “weren’t interested to begin with, several years later it found its way onto our TV screens”.

As seen in the show, Smith ended up leading the investigation into the Ingrams, which led to their arrest and prosecution, and he testified against them in court.

Smith received a CBE in 2012 after being named on the New Years Honours list.

Claudia Rosencrantz

One of the most prominent figures in the show is ITV’s former controller of entertainment Claudia Rosencrantz – played by Irish actor Aisling Bea – who first commissioned Millionaire in 1998.

After a successful stint at the network in which she also commissioned smash-hit I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!, Rosencrantz left ITV in 2005, but “not before she mic-dropped with two little shows by the names of Dancing on Ice and Britain's Got Talent”, Digital Spy notes.

She went on to work at Virgin Media and later the Jamie Oliver Media Group. Claudia was voted one of Britain's most inspirational 50 women in 2018.