Chris Tarrant has expressed unhappiness over the way the events in the courtroom were portrayed in the Quiz series finale, labelling Charles Ingram as "a rotter and a cad and a bandit".
The finale saw the trial unfold with a particular focus on Sonia Woodley – Charles and Diana's defence attorney – played by Helen McCrory.
Speaking to Chris Moyles on Radio X, Tarrant accused the series of not showing the prosecution's side enough, saying that he thought there was a "bit of production company skulduggery". The events as portrayed in Quiz led to some viewers sympathising with the Ingrams.
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"There were so many things in there that they didn't include," the former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? host said. "My beef with it is that they did a very strange but convincing QC – that woman, Helen McCrory – a very good defence wind-up, but they didn't do any prosecution wind-up.
"Now, in any court of law, the prosecution does the last bit. And when the Major and his wife and Tecwen [Whittock] were on the actual court case, the prosecution guy did the most brilliant sum-up, bringing all the strands in – the coughing and the bleepers and all the stuff – and went to the jury and they went, 'Guilty, guilty, guilty'. They didn't do that last night at all.
"They just stopped on [Sonia Woodley] and you're going, 'Oh yeah, I think he might be, oh, poor bloke, poor little man... maybe he's innocent'. I think it was, that bit was a bit of production company skulduggery basically. They wanted you to think, 'Blimey, I don't think he was guilty'."
Related: Quiz star Sian Clifford reveals what Charles and Diana Ingram think about the show
Tarrant said that Quiz was "very well-made" as a drama, but it wasn't a factual series, and said that he believes without any doubt that Charles Ingram was guilty.
"Most of those conversations were made up because that's what playwrights do," he said. "The bottom line is he's a rotter and a cad and a bandit... No question in my mind at all that he was guilty!"
In 2003, despite denying the charge against each of them, Charles and Diana Ingram were convicted of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception and given 18-month prison sentences suspended for two years.
Quiz aired on ITV and can be streamed on ITV Hub.
Tune into The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X, weekdays from 6.30am to 10am and Saturdays from 8am to 11am.
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