Chris Tarrant has been a TV face for five decades, graduating from the anarchy of fabled children’s show Tiswas to become the host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Away from the cameras, his easy charm made his Capital breakfast show one of the most popular radio programmes of its era.
The upcoming series, which is due to air next month, was filmed without a studio audience due to Covid-19, with an adapted format to adhere to the government guidelines around social distancing.
The contestants will still have the choice of four lifelines, but the Ask the Audience option will be replaced by another Phone a Friend, alongside the 50:50 and Ask The Host lifelines.
Matt Ruffalo stars in and executive produces Sky Atlantic’s I Know This Much Is True, which is based on the novel of the same name by Wally Lamb.
The series, adapted from Graham’s play of the same name, explores the story of the ‘coughing major’, which saw Charles (Matthew Macfadyen), Diana Ingram (Sian Clifford) and Tecwen Whittock (Michael Jibson) cheat their way to a million pounds on the quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
The “audacious heist” took place in 2001, when Major Ingram was a contestant on the show and with the help of his wife Diana and accomplice Whittock, navigated the notoriously difficult quiz to win the top price.
James Graham was an undergraduate at Hull University when he became fascinated by daily press reports of the trial of a respectable home counties couple accused of cheating their way to the top prize in ITV’s Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? At the time, Millionaire was one of the biggest shows on TV, achieving audiences of more than 8 million; at its peak, an incredible 19 million tuned into the programme.
Quiz shows are enjoying their golden age. Never before has the armchair quizzer had so many opportunities to show off their knowledge in front of the TV. The Wall and Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? prosper in primetime, but it’s during the daytime and early-evening schedules that quiz shows come into their own.
