CHRIS Tarrant has rubbished suggestions Charles and Diana Ingram are innocent of cheating on Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
The television presenter – who hosted the ITV show for 16 years – has furiously hit out at suggestions in the dramatisation of the affair, Quiz, that the disgraced major and his wife were innocent.
Writing in the Mail, he said: “I have just one slight problem with Quiz. It suggests the Coughing Major Charles Ingram might possibly be innocent of fraud.
“And that is blatant nonsense. It’s ridiculous that this show can be broadcast over three nights and yet nobody is saying, ‘Hang on a minute, this man’s a crook. He’s guilty every step of the way.’
“Just this week actor Matthew Macfadyen, who plays Ingram, had the cheek to claim that ‘it feels like [Ingram and his wife] have suffered disproportionately’ since he appeared on the show. What nonsense!
“Ingram and his wife Diana (or Cruella, as she became known to the Millionaire team during the police investigation and who is played by Sian Clifford, better known as Fleabag’s sister in the hit BBC hit show) made a crass, brazen attempt to cheat us out of a million quid.”
Actor Matthew Macfadyen, who plays Ingram in the drama, recently told GQ that he doesn’t know if they are innocent or guilty.
He said: “No. It left me just as completely bewildered as when I started.
“What happened to them was extraordinary, as well as horrific in many ways. They were really vilified publicly and sort of aggressively after the events. They suffered quite a lot, I’d say.”
The Ingrams were both convicted of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception on April 7, 2003.
Both Diana and Charles were given an 18 month prison sentence suspended for two years, while Tecwen Whittock, the cougher, received a 12 month sentence suspended for two years.
