<P> In September 2001, British Army Major Charles Ingram became a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, joined by his wife Diana, and a close friend and college lecturer, Tecwen Whittock . After the first day of filming, the group devised a scheme that would allow Ingram to win the £ 1 million cash prize when he returned for the second day of recording, on 10 September - for each question he faced, the correct answer would be signalled to Ingram by a cough made by Whittock; Ingram would differentiate the way he received this to avoid making the scheme too obvious, such as reading aloud all four answers, or dismissing an answer and then choosing it again later . Although the scheme proved successful, by the time he had reached the final questions, production staff off - stage had become suspicious over the amount of background noise being made by Whittock's coughing, while noting that Ingram seemed to show no specialist knowledge of any subjects he faced with each question . </P> <P> After the second day of recording ended, the production staff ordered an immediate investigation on the grounds that cheating had occurred, suspending the broadcast of both episodes that had been filmed . Ingram was subsequently informed that he was being investigated for cheating and would not receive his winnings . While reviewing the recording, production staff began to see a pattern between Whittock's coughing, and Ingram's unusual behaviour when he answered questions; at one point, they noticed Ingram gave an answer when Diana had coughed after he read it aloud . By this point, Celador was convinced that cheating had occurred, and the matter was handed over to police . Both the Ingrams and Whittock were charged with "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception", and taken to Southwark Crown Court in 2003 . </P> <P> During the four - week long trial, the Prosecution provided evidence towards the charges, which included a recording of Ingram's second day on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, pager telephone records for a previous scheme the group intended to use, before deeming it too complicated - a system of four pagers intended to be hidden on Ingram's body, in which a pager's vibrations signalled the correct answer - and testimony from one of the production staff and a "Fastest Finger" contestant attending the recording, Larry Whitehurst . Although the Defence provided evidence claiming Whittock's coughing was a result of dust allergies and a hay fever he was suffering from, and Whittock himself testified against the accusations, the Prosecution refuted these claims with their evidence, including footage that showed Whittock stopped coughing when he became a contestant after Ingram . On 7 April 2003, the group were found guilty, with all three given suspended prison sentences and fines, with the Ingrams later ordered to pay legal costs within two months of the trial's conclusion . On 24 July 2003, the British Army ordered Charles Ingram to resign his commission as a Major, in the wake of the trial . </P> <P> In the aftermath of the trial, the scandal became the subject of a documentary entitled Millionaire: A Major Fraud, presented by Martin Bashir and broadcast on 21 April 2003, with a follow - up two weeks later entitled Millionaire: The Final Answer . The documentary featured excerpts from the recording that had been enhanced for the Ingrams' trial, footage of the actions made by Ingram's wife in the audience, and interviews with production staff and some of the contestants who had been present during the recording . None of the defendants in the case took part, with Ingram later describing Major Fraud and a subsequent programme of the matter, shown on ITV2, as "one of the greatest TV editing con tricks in history". Chess grandmaster James Plaskett later wrote an essay arguing in favour of the group's innocence; journalists Bob Woffinden, and Jon Ronson, each wrote a piece influenced by this essay, with Woffinden collaborating with Plaskett on a book entitled Bad Show: The Quiz, The Cough, The Millionaire Major, published in 2015, arguing that Ingram's appearance on the show coinciding with Whittock's was "chance". A play based upon the events of the scandal was written by James Graham, entitled Quiz, and was performed from 3 November 2017 to 9 December 2017, before being performed in the West End from 31 March 2018 to 16 June 2018 . </P>

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