“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” is back on the air. ABC’s latest celebrity revival of the iconic game show is being hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. When “Millionaire” debuted in 1999 (with Regis Philbin as host) it changed American TV forever. And we have the Brits to thank for that.
“Millionaire” was created by a three man creative team working at UK entertainment company Celador. They sold the concept to underdog network ITV, which was desperate for a hit. The show’s first broadcast came on Sept. 4, 1998. Three years later “Millionaire” would experience a massive controversy.
And it’s all chronicled in the new three-part limited series “Quiz”, which premieres Sunday May 31st at 10pm ET on AMC. If you’re a big fan of “Millionaire”, there’s no question you’ll be hooked by this saga. In 2001, shortly after his wife Diana (Sian Clifford) won 32,000 pounds on the program, British Army Officer Charles Ingram got in the Hot Seat… and hit it BIG. However, a scandal surrounding Ingram’s million-dollar win (**cough**) quickly (**cough**) emerged.
Stephen Frears, whose recent films and miniseries include “Philomena”, “Florence Foster Jenkins” and “A Very English Scandal”, directs the 2.5-hour “Quiz” with intent and precision. This series is inspired by the 2017 stage play and based on the book “Bad Show: The Quiz, The Cough, The Millionaire Major”.
Part 1 focuses on the creation of “Millionaire” (originally called “Cash Mountain”) and its emergence as a cultural phenomenon in the UK. Much of the dialogue is deliciously funny. Then we really get into the Ingram family’s interest in the show which, seemingly overnight becomes an obsession for not just them but the entire country. An underground community of wannabe contestants develops. Their sole goal is to outsmart the show’s producers and increase their odds for getting picked to get on the show — and then to win a lot of money.
Frears perfectly incorporates real-life footage throughout “Quiz”, including a pivotal scenes from the show’s second-ever episode in which a young woman who used her “Phone a Friend” lifeline to call her father. Unfortunately, her dad didn’t know the answer. In this moment, played-out live in front of millions of viewers, we see the daughter’s heart break — not only because she’s going to lose the game, but because she realizes, likely for the first time, that he father isn’t infalible.
“Millionaire” co-creator Steven Knight told me when I interviewed him last year, that this is when he knew he and his team had something real: “This isn’t just a game show, it’s like a drama unfolding.” Knight isn’t individually portrayed in “Quiz”. He and co-creator Mike Whitehall are a composite character of Paul Smith (played by Mark Bonnar).
Michael Sheen plays former UK “Millionaire” host Chris Tarrant. Sheen is tasked with mimicking Tarrant’s voice and expressions during the scenes from key “Millionaire” episodes, and he pulls it off masterfully. He also gets a handful of scenes outside the studio over the course of the series that are all very entertaining.
Part 2 dives into Charles Ingram’s “Millionaire” appearance and the immediate impact. Frears uses intense close-ups to pull us deeper and deeper into the unraveling narrative playing out on live TV. The game, which we’re all so familiar with now, began as a unique concept, complete with its own unique set of challenges. And a lot of grey area when it came to rules and potential cheating. One of the series’ best scenes features the show’s creators, producers and legal team watching the footage of Charles Ingram’s game, trying to figure out if they’ve been robbed, how they’ve been robbed and who’s to blame. It’s filled with humor, insight and honesty… and then takes a surprising and startling turn.
Part 3 of “Quiz” is mainly devoted to the courtroom proceedings. It’s the least showy section, but James Graham’s script provides an eye-opening look at the loopholes of the structure of TV game shows. This final act also explores the question of whether what happened was more serious than just an extraordinary crime under extraordinary circumstances. Or… was a crime actually committed?
Who Wants to Watch “Quiz”? My Final Answer is… YOU!