Who wants to host a millionaire? Michael Sheen is up for the challenge

If you’ve had enough drama surrounding coughing then there might be an escape for you – a drama about coughing. Tomorrow night sees the arrival of ITV’s new series, Quiz.

It’s based on the scandal of how Major Charles Ingram, his wife Diana and an accomplice tried to cheat their way to the jackpot on popular quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.

Sian Williams, better known as the sister in sublime black comedy sitcom Fleabag, plays Diana Ingram while Spooks star Matthew Macfadyen plays the disgraced former military man.

Michael Sheen is best known for playing real-life people in movies and TV – including Tony Blair, Sir David Frost and Brian Clough.

Now he’s tackling the role of quiz show host Chris Tarrant in the big-budget drama.

What drew him to the role though wasn’t a chance to mimic another real person.

“It’s about far more than just the ‘Coughing Major’,” explained Michael. “And it says so much about us as a nation in so many ways. It says a lot about television, about entertainment, about how public perceptions can be influenced by all kinds of different things. It’s a very British heist that happened.

“It very much reminded me of the sort of stuff Peter Morgan was writing when we were doing things like The Queen, The Damned United, Frost/Nixon and all of those.

“Peter’s eye for what makes a really good story, that is something that catches people’s interest and takes them into places you wouldn’t expect to go with that story.

“Then you are able to tell a much bigger story about who we are as a nation, as a culture, as a society.

“Through telling a specific story about something very familiar. Quiz was very much in that groove.”

When it comes to inhabiting real characters, Michael is aware how difficult it is to stop a performance becoming a simple caricature – and the original host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire agrees.

“It’s a challenge with people who can be easily caricatured,” said Michael. “I’ve heard Chris Tarrant himself saying he hoped the portrayal of him wouldn’t be over the top.

“He is someone incredibly familiar to us as an audience with a very particular kind of voice. You look for things to hang on to in playing someone like that. Because audiences will recognise that and, hopefully, it will help them believe I’m this person.

“But, if you make too much of those things then it does just become a caricature.

“Because Chris Tarrant is so brilliant at what he does on that show, I had to watch it over and over again to see what it is that he is actually doing a lot of the time. Because a lot of what he is doing is covered up.

“He is being brilliant. He is doing so many things at the same time. And he makes it look effortless.”

Quiz, ITV, Mon, Tue, Wed, 9pm.