Ahem
Cases unlock in order, like levels. This is case 147 of 200.
A TV studio on the outskirts of London, Tuesday, 4 September 2001, 11 pm. The stage of "The Million Ladder" is empty, and the contestant's chair is still slowly turning under the spotlights.
At 10:10 pm, retired captain Nigel Fairweather, who yesterday nearly left with £4,000, got the 15th question right and won £1 million. The executive producer, Gideon Marlowe, locked the cheque in the safe and won't let the episode air.
The sound desk heard too many coughs at exactly the right moments. The captain and his wife, Rosamund, are in the dressing room with their lawyer and aren't saying a word.
The question now is a different one: who fed him the answers. Three people were close enough to do it.
Production room of a TV quiz show in 2001, at night, with monitors showing the empty stage.
Suspects
Godfrey KetteringAccounting teacher at a technical college in Leicester, contestant in the selection row, 53
Philippa DunleavyThe show's contestant coordinator, 31
Marjorie PennickRetired woman and fan of the show, seated in the front row of the audience, 66
The real case
The cough on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"
Elstree, England, 2001
Read the real case