Cast your mind back to the year of 2001. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire has taken over our screens and with it comes one of the biggest TV scandals of all time. Remember when that guy cheated by having someone in the audience cough the answers for him? Yeah, that scandal! Fast forward to today, genius creatives have turned it into a stage show, so we can experience the scandal in all of its’ glory. I present to you QUIZ: the Coughing Major Millionaire Scandal. Rory Bremner stars as Chris Tarrant, alongside other famous faces, including Charley Webb from Emmerdale, Lewis Reeves, and Mark Benton.
We’re invited on a comedic journey to witness the makings of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire itself, and the growing popularity of the show among the public that ultimately led to the scandal. We meet the Ingram family who are avid quizzer and, like many, enthused by the idea of a quiz show with such high earning potential. It’s a battle of guilty vs not guilty; did the Ingram family take part in the show with malicious intent, or was it simply excellencethat they took home the million?
As the audience, you are fully immersed into the show. At times, I felt like I was in the live studio audience for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and at others as though I were part of the jury in a court room. Before you enter the theatre, you are given a personal device from a member of staff in the foyer; there are moments in the show where you are invited to take part using your keypad – with A, B, C, or D options just like the real show! Leave your bias at the door, because the audience has power over the fate of the Ingram family. With the added brilliance of Rory Bremner’s take on Chris Tarrant, QUIZ is truly realistic.
I must admit, I was a little sceptical going in because, to me, it’s quite a niche British culture reference to make an entire stage show about. However, I was excited to see exactly how they would make this work. It’s fair to say, QUIZ exceeded my expectations. It’s funny, it’s tense, it’s gripping, and it has an abundance of TV knowledge that will please the mind of any avid TV watcher. It can’t go unmentioned that the entire cast are fantastically talented; many of the actors taking on multiple roles throughout the show, often with very quick changes, and executing each character so perfectly that they keep the story believable.
QUIZ: the Coughing Major Millionaire Scandal is at the New Theatre in Cardiff until the 21stOctober. It’s a great opportunity to escape the cold Autumn nights and indulge in one of the best British TV scandals of all time.
